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VendingMarketWatch Top News Stories
A Senate bill to phase out $1
bill, promote dollar coin
bipartisan group of U.S. senators led by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., and Sen. John
McCain,R-Ariz., introduced legisla- tion to phase out the dollar bill over a 4-year period and force the coun- try to begin using the 1.4 billion dollar coins that are in storage at the Federal Reserve. The bill is called the Currency Optimization, Innova- tion, and National Savings (COINS) Act. The U.S. Government Account- ability Offi ce has advocated for this change for more than two decades to reduce government spending. They claim the dollar coin will save money for those engaged in a large number of transactions like large retail stores, vending machine operators and transit agencies. "Promoting the dollar coin is a smart investment for our country that saves taxpayer's money," said Harkin. "With the defi cit looming, we need only look at the cost savings from this effort to understand why this legislation is so urgently needed."
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The Currency Optimization, Innovation, and Na- tional Savings Act would phase out the dollar bill.
"With our nation's debt now over $15 trillion, Congress must look at every area of the federal government, big or small, to save money," said McCain. "By moving from the costly dollar bill to the dollar coin, we can save real money and show the American taxpayer that we are serious about cutting spending in Washington."
Obama seeks school vending nutrition rules
▶ The Obama administra- tion is working on setting nutritional standards for foods that children can buy outside the cafeteria. The administration says it wants to ensure that what they eat contributes to good health and smaller waistlines. The proposed rules are expected within the next few weeks.
Massachusetts vendors fi ght fee hike
▶ Massachusetts vending operators have begun placing
6
stickers on vending machines urging consumers to contact the state department of public health to protest a machine fee increase from $3 to $20 per machine.
tion" of rest stop areas. NAMA believes commercialization of rest stops could diminish vending and rest stops.
Vistar Corp. launches green initiative
NAMA fi ghts rest stop commercialization
▶ The National Automatic Merchandising Association has sent a memo urging members to oppose S.B. 1813, a trans- portation bill which contains "The Portman Amendment" to allow for the "commercializa-
Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com April 2012
▶ Vistar Corp. has teamed up with supplier companies such as Solo, Berkley Square,
Silver Source, Tork and Chinet, to help grow its "green initia- tive" business program. For additional information on the green initiative, visit the cus- tomer center tab on the Vistar Web site, www.vistar.com.
DS Waters to buy Standard Companies
▶ DS Waters of America, Inc. will acquire substantially all of the assets of Standard Compa- nies Inc., one of the nation's largest OCS fi rms. DS Waters is one of the country's largest providers of home and offi ce bottled water delivery service, with a growing presence in OCS and water fi ltration systems. Standard operates three busi- ness units: Standard Coffee Service®
Water Assurance®
, StandGuard Quality and Relyant
Coffee Equipment Services™.
Richardsons halt Wow! Foods, join G & J Marketing Co.
▶ Jimmy Richardson and his sons, Cole and Jason, recently discontinued Wow! Foods, a manufacturer of handheld foods serving the vending and convenience store channels, and have joined G & J Market- ing Co., the Palm Harbor, Fla.- based vend product brokerage. Richardson said he and his son, Cole, are now independent contractors working as national sales reps for G & J Marketing, while his other son, Jason, is a vice president of operations. AdvancePierre Foods bought Wow! Foods packaging materi- als and continues to produce certain Wow! Foods products.
General Mills buys
natural snack maker ▶ General Mills Inc. acquired Food Should Taste Good, a natural snack maker that will become part of General Mills' Small Planet Foods.
