Stat Surveys introduces new retail report

Statistical Surveys, Inc., an MRAA Rewards benefits provider, has introduced a new marine dealer retail sales report. This report, to be formally introduced at the Norman-Spencer Marine Retail University event in Brockton, Mass., this Wednesday, is designed to provide marine dealers with the tools they will need to improve inventory turns and drive more sales by helping them understand how to stock the correct product for their market.

Additionally the report will provide the following features:

  • A map showing the placement of the boats being sold in your area, with a dot on a map for each unit sold.
  • All reports contain a two-year, percent-change indicator so you can identify the “hot products” for your market.
  • You can design the market boundaries for the area that you serve, even if it crosses state lines.
  • A ranking of the top boat models being sold in your area, by segment, and featuring a two-year comparison.
  • A ranking of the top boat lengths by type of boat.
  • A listing of the top cities by type of boat.
  • A ranking of the boat sales by zip code, by type of boat.
  • A section of sales by city with what is being sold in each city so that you will be able to view by city, by make and by boat type the boats that are being purchased in your area.

What is the benefit to you? For the first time ever you can be informed of the buyer’s product preferences in your area.

Many times a manufacturer representative will tell you that you should stock a certain make and or size because they are really moving at a national level. You may find that your market is completely different than what is happening at a national or even a regional level that’s not reflective of your territory. As an example, pontoons are selling very well nationally, but in Massachusetts they do not sell that well. So before you make a buying error that could cause you to ultimately discount at a loss to move the product, use the Dealer Area Report to help you stock the right type and amount of product.

Another important service of this report is to outline for you where the buyers are located. Once you understand where the buyer is, it’s just a matter of getting them into your dealership. This report will help you understand where buyers in your market are, giving you a distinct advantage over your competition.

This report is available at a discount of up to $120 annually to MRAA Members. Interested dealers can stop by the Stat Surveys booth at any Marine Retail University event or contact Ryan Kloppe, national marine sales manager at 616-281-9898, ext. 127.

MRAA launches monthly payment plan for Retail Members


MINNEAPOLIS — The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas has launched a monthly payment plan option to make dues payments easier and more affordable for its Retail Members.

With this new offering, MRAA’s New and Renewing Retail Members can choose whether to pay their annual dues of $300 all at once via a check, money order or credit card payment or to spread them out into 12 credit card payments of $25 per month.

“The seasonal nature of the boating business requires dealers to constantly be adjusting their businesses in order to align their expenses with their revenues,” says Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “By introducing this monthly payment option, dealers can take care of their dues on the schedule that best fits their business’ needs. It is one more example of how the MRAA is always evaluating and re-evaluating our offerings to ensure they meet and exceed our members’ needs and expectations.”

For just $25 per month or $300 per year, MRAA Retail Members are automatically enrolled in the MRAA Rewards Program, which offers more than 20 benefits proven to save dealers money, increase their revenues and enhance their performance. In addition, they gain access to the MRAA Rewards Resource Center, which includes hundreds of pages of members-only content, tools, forms and other documents to help dealers and their employees succeed in today’s competitive marine environment.

“I don’t know of anywhere else that dealers can turn where they have access to so many different ways to improve their business and at such a reasonable price,” says Liz Walz, MRAA Director of Membership & Marketing. “Each of our benefits, resources and events can make a real difference in a dealership’s success. Many dealers achieve a return on their investment in MRAA Membership by taking advantage of just one.”

About Marine Retailers Association of the Americas

Tthe Marine Retailers Association of the Americas is the only North American association dedicated to furthering the interests of boat and engine dealers and other marine-related retailers throughout North America. Under the umbrella of MRAA Rewards, the MRAA offers a host of cost-saving, revenue-generating, business-improvement, and professional-development benefits exclusively for its members. MRAA is the united voice of marine retailers. For more information, visit

Correct Craft signs on as MRAA Partner Member

MINNEAPOLIS — Correct Craft Inc., the manufacturer of the Nautique boat brand, has been named a Partner Member of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas.

“Correct Craft may be known among boaters for its many design innovations, but within the marine industry, the company has developed a reputation for its innovative approach to business,” says Matt Gruhn, President of MRAA. “Its leaders are not afraid to make bold moves when they feel it’s the right path for the company, its customers, and its dealers. Correct Craft does a lot to support the dealer community, and we are proud that they have chosen to partner with MRAA as one element of this strategy.”

Headquartered in Orlando, Fla., Correct Craft has an 88-year history of innovation in the boating industry. In 2012, the Water Sports Industry Association named the company Manufacturer of the Year and recognized its G-Series as Most Innovative Product. Just last week, the company announced its latest innovation, the Nautique Surf System.

“We’ve found that one of the best ways to support our dealers is to provide them with high quality, cutting edge product that drives traffic into their businesses,” says Bill Yeargin, President and CEO of Correct Craft. “However, we also recognize that success in today’s marketplace requires studying the latest trends and technologies. By partnering with MRAA, together we can offer dealers the resources and educational opportunities to help them reach and exceed their goals.”

About Marine Retailers Association of the Americas

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas is the only North American association dedicated to furthering the interests of boat and engine dealers and other marine-related retailers throughout North America. Under the umbrella of MRAA Rewards, the MRAA offers a host of cost-saving, revenue-generating, business-improvement, and professional-development benefits exclusively for its members. MRAA is the united voice of marine retailers. For more information, visit About Correct Craft

Celebrating 88 years of excellence in the marine industry, Correct Craft is the producer of Nautique boats and the owner of Orlando Watersports Complex (through its subsidiary, Aktion Parks). To get more information on the company or see the complete line of Nautique boats, visit www.nautique.com. To learn more about Orlando Watersports Complex, visit www.orlandowatersports.com.

The Insider’s Guide to Beating Shipping Rate Increases

PartnerShip® Digs into the 2013 Small Package Rate Increases and
Helps Shippers Lessen the Impact

Near the beginning of every New Year, the shipping experts at PartnerShip dig into the small package carriers’ annual rate increase announcements. We like to read between the lines for our customers, digest the tables and charts, see what information is out there that FedEx and UPS didn’t say, or maybe just hinted at. As always, how much more expensive your particular small package shipments will be in the New Year largely depends on many factors, including shipment volumes, sizes, weights, and modes.

Seemingly every year through this exercise, we reveal a familiar story: the actual rate increases most shippers will experience in the New Year are larger than the average rate increases announced by FedEx and UPS—in some cases much larger. This year is no different, except for a new wrinkle. Like years past, many services and lanes will feature rate increases larger than the average increases the carriers announced. But this year, our analysis shows the increases are somewhat lower on the more expensive premium services, and higher on the deferred services the carriers offer, to capitalize on the impact of shippers trading down to economy services.

As the global economy struggles to grow, both major carriers have noted a significant shift by customers away from premium package-delivery services toward less expensive “economy” modes. Part of the reason for these changing market dynamics is that the difference between express and ground delivery times continues to shrink for both FedEx and UPS. Many businesses and consumers no longer believe the 1-2 day difference in shipping time is worth the extra cost of a premium service, unless it “absolutely, positively has to be there overnight,” as the old FedEx commercial used to say. Also, as technology products get smaller and lighter, the carriers charge less to ship them (the Apple iPhone 5 is about 17 percent lighter than the original iPhone). Such diminishing revenue must be made up somewhere.

Both FedEx and UPS have witnessed explosive growth in business to consumer (B2C)/home delivery shipping, fueled by large catalog and online retailers. In 2012, UPS reported that about 40 percent of the parcel shipments moving through the UPS U.S. network in Q3 were B2C shipments as the result of ecommerce transactions. Given that Amazon.com is currently the 8th most visited website in the world and certain analysts predict the online retailer will overtake retail giant Wal-Mart in overall sales by the year 2020, it is safe to predict that B2C shipping will continue to grow.

Trends show that customers are willing to defer shipping to slower, more economical services. As such, our analysis of this year’s rate increases shows much higher percentage increases on economy services to try to offset customers trading more expensive, faster options for more economical, slower options. Where the carriers will make up that revenue is by simply charging more for the products and services shippers use the most. We think it’s safe to predict that rate increases on lightweight, B2C services will continue to outpace other premium service rate hikes well into the future.

Quick Facts

  1. UPS rate increase in effect December 31, 2012
    • 4.9% average rate increase for UPS Ground (5.9% average increase -1% reduction in the fuel surcharge)
    • 4.5% average rate increase for UPS Air (6.5% average increase -2% reduction in the fuel surcharge);

  2. FedEx rate increases in effect January 7, 2013
    • 4.9% average rate increase for FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery services (5.9% rate increase -1% reduction in the fuel surcharge)
    • 3.9% average rate increase for FedEx Express services (5.9% average increase -2% reduction in the fuel surcharge)
  3. UPS will enjoy an extra week of the rate increases by beginning 12/31/12 to FedEx’s 1/7/13.

Your Rates May Will Vary

It’s important to remember that the FedEx and UPS rate increase announcements are presented in terms of averages. You might think then that your 2013 small package shipping rates with FedEx and UPS should go up about 4.9% for ground shipping and 3.9% to 4.5% for air shipments. If you guessed this way to forecast and budget your 2013 shipping costs, you might want to make some adjustments!

Like we detail in this article every year, the FedEx and UPS average rate increases are just that—averages. The “average rate increase” is arrived at by larger rate increases on certain shipment types and lower increases on others. Like always, several factors will determine your real rate increase title=impact in 2013, among them your package characteristics (size and weight); the service you most often utilize (ground or air); and the zone to which you ship your packages.

2013 Ground Package Rate Increases

As stated earlier, both the FedEx Ground and UPS Ground rate increases are based on a 5.9% increase in the base rate, less a 1 percentage point reduction to the index-based ground fuel surcharge. But let’s examine the true impact to your bottom line based on the weight of packages you ship and the zone to which they are shipped.

FedEx Ground and UPS Ground have identical published base rates for ground packages up to 70 pounds, making apples to apples comparisons possible. Overall, the largest percentage increase for both carriers occurred on packages weighing 20 pounds and less, regardless of zone. This is a result of many shippers migrating lower zone air shipments to the carriers’ more economical ground services. The increase for all packages under 20 pounds ranges between 5.8% and 8.9% over 2012 rates.

Air Rates Increase Dramatically for Smaller Packages

The increases in base rates for FedEx Priority Overnight ranged from 4.0% to 6.5% for packages 150 pounds and lighter. On the UPS side, base rates for UPS Next Day Air increased an average of 5.1% to 7.7%. Of note this year is that FedEx Envelopes are not leading the rate increase tables in terms of largest percentage rate increase, for the first time in recent memory. UPS Letters, true to recent form, were above the stated average in all but one Zone. This year’s highest rate increases appear to have less to do with weight than distance, according to our analysis. Everything from Envelopes/Letters to 150 pound packages is seeing above average rate increases beyond Zone 4/104. This is bad news for higher zone shippers.

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As we said at the outset of our article, this year’s largest rate increase percentages are featured on many of the slowest and least expensive shipping options the carriers offer. As we begin to dissect slower and more economical services, we correspondingly begin to see larger average rate increase percentages. As the tables below illustrate, FedEx Standard Overnight and UPS Next Day Air Saver saw rates on shipments of nearly all weights and to almost every zone rate increase beyond the stated averages the carriers announced. FedEx Standard Overnight increases range from 4.6% to 7.5% on packages less than 150 pounds, while UPS Next Day Air Saver increases range from 5.2% to 8.5% over the 2012 rates.

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Correspondingly, our analysis shows that the rates for shipments in every weight break and every zone we examined for FedEx 2Day and UPS 2nd Day Air went up by more than the stated averages the carriers announced. The rate increases for FedEx 2Day ranged from 6.5% to 7.5% for packages less than 150 pounds we analyzed; and all rates for packages in the same range increased anywhere from 7.5% to 8.8% over 2012 rates for UPS 2nd Day Air.

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Some of the largest increases occur with FedEx Express Saver and UPS 3 Day Select services—some weights and zones actually hitting double-digit rate increases, which we haven’t seen for a long time. Every FedEx Express Saver weight and zone we analyzed featured rate increases above the stated carrier average, ranging from 6.0% to 10.3%, with the largest increases in the shorter zones. UPS also took substantial increases on its 3 Day Select service as you can see in the below table, with increases ranging from 5.4% to 9.7%.

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UPS Air Rates vs. FedEx Air Rates

Our analysis examines UPS Daily Rates and FedEx Standard List Rates. It is important to acknowledge that in early 2011, UPS introduced a new set of base rates, Standard List Rates. UPS Standard List rates are higher than UPS Daily Rates and virtually identical to FedEx Standard List Rates. UPS has been placing all new customers who establish a UPS scheduled pickup account on Standard List Rates, rather than Daily Rates as they did in the past.

And keep in mind that both carriers have Retail Rates, with higher base rates than either Standard or Daily Rates, which affect customers who ship from a retail store location. These rates, while not included in this analysis, are also increasing for 2013.

 

Don’t Forget About The Surcharges!

Both FedEx and UPS also announced increases to other fees and surcharges for 2013. It may surprise you to learn that fees for extra services can account for up to 20% or more of your total transportation costs. The table below provides a look at some of the 2013 changes in store for a few of the more common carrier service charges.

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Conclusion

As it has been in the past, the real impact of the 2013 rate increases depends on what you ship, where you ship it, and the size and weight of your packages. The important takeaway when thinking about your shipping expenses in 2013 is that the announced average increases paint an inaccurate picture of the true impact these new rate increases could have on your business. If you find yourself confused by rate bases, average increases, and surcharges – rest assured that you are not alone

PartnerShip, a leading national freight management company and small business advocate, helps more than 16,000 organizations reduce their small package, LTL freight, and tradeshow shipping costs. PartnerShip has the experience and expertise to help you get the most from every shipping dollar. Businesses that participate in one of our exclusive PartnerShip® Shipping Programs receive valuable consultation and carrier routing services, helping them counter annual carrier rate increases with significant savings. Our services are available at no cost. Let one of our shipping experts provide you with a free, no obligation shipping analysis and a review of your existing carrier agreements to ensure you are getting the most for your shipping dollar. Call PartnerShip today at 800-599-2902, email us at sales@PartnerShip.com, or visit us online at PartnerShip.com.

What dealers can expect from Washington, D.C., in 2013

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Thursday, January 3, the 113th Congress was gaveled into session with great hope for reduced polarization and paralysis, but with no real evidence that they’ll lift anytime soon.

Some say the worst is yet to come, but others point to the bi-partisan support of H.R. 8, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 passed to resolve the tax issues of the fiscal cliff, as a key indicator of a willingness of the two parties to work together. H.R 8 provides about $600 billion in additional government revenues, but the president has already said he wants more tax revenue, and Republicans say tax increases are not on the table. These viewpoints set the stage for more polarization.

There will be hard fought discussions, and hopefully legislation that cuts government spending as the next phase of the fiscal cliff deal hits in the few weeks. Just look to the current news to see predictions the U.S. may default on its debt as soon as February 15 as the basis for the next battleground to demand deep federal spending cuts and hopefully a reduction in federal regulations.

On other issues, MRAA will be part of the team in Washington that negotiates a legislative compromise for re-authorization of the Sport Fish Restoration Trust Fund. The fund was re-authorized for two years in 2011, but may come up in Congress in 2014. 2013 will be spent working out legislation that fishing and boating groups can support. The $600 billion annual fund is key for sport fish restoration, fishing and boating outreach, boating access, education, and boating safety. MRAA wants to open the discussions with support for expanding the Clean Vessel Act to include the purchase of equipment to comply with Clean Marina programs and increased funding for outreach.

Other key issues will include protection of waterfront properties for marine usage, repeal of ethanol blend gasoline for boats at least at the E15 level, continued opposition to mandatory adult life jacket wear requirements, increased funding for dredging and an expansion of federal dredging funds for small boat harbors and channels used primarily for recreational boating and fishing.

The American Taxpayer Relief Act re-authorized the Estate Tax at 40%, an increase from the 35% in effect for the past few years. MRAA will continue its efforts to repeal the Estate Tax, but if that is not possible, at least reduce the maximum tax rate.

One of the most important issues facing marine retailers in 2013 will be Congressional efforts to reduce federal regulations and government control of small business. This will be a long and hard fought fight, but is a fight that must be pursued to greatly reduce the cost and complications of doing business.

MRAA looks back on legislative successes

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, January 2, 2013, the 112th Congress of the United States finally ended. Many may think the slow rate of legislating is a good thing, but for the record, the 112th Congress was the most unproductive Congress since 1948, when President Truman called Congress the “Do Nothing.” Congress passed only 220 public laws.

This Congress found legislating so difficult that lawmakers repeatedly created artificial deadlines intended to spur them to act. The near shutdown of the government early in 2011, the near breach of the debt ceiling in August 2011 that ended with a reduction in the nation’s debt rating, and the fiscal cliff were the three key artificial deadlines.

However, despite the poor production statistics, MRAA had its legislative successes in 2012. The second home mortgage interest deduction was on and off the table in discussions all year, but in the end it was retained in the fiscal cliff final negotiations.

The Estate (Death) Tax was permanently re-authorized with a $5,000,000 individual and $10,000,000 couple threshold (an important first that represents the “success” for marine retailers), but at a 40% maximum tax rate, an increase from the 2012 rate of 35%.

The Sport Fish and Boating Trust Fund was re-authorized for two-years at its current levels of spending authorization.

The usage of sales tax in lieu of the state income tax deduction was permanently re-authorized.

The CLASS Act, Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, which was a key part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and set up a federal program to pay for long term disabilities in a program similar to social security, was repealed because it was unworkable and far too expensive for small business.

Finally, MRAA continued its longtime support for dredging, a reduction in federal regulation, and open waters for all boaters and opposed mandatory adult life jacket wear requirements and ethanol blended gasoline for boating.

Dealers’ Guide to the Fiscal Cliff Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The events and negotiations leading to passage of key legislation averting the so-called Fiscal Cliff were the big story on Capitol Hill this year. The House of Representatives passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act, H.R. 8, 257 to 167. The U.S. Senate passed it 89 to 7 earlier the same day. Many have said this action averted an increase in unemployment and an economic recession.

The bill permanently extended tax rates for families with annual incomes under $450,000 and individuals with incomes below $400,000. It also set a new tax rate on earners with income over $1,000,000 of 39.6%. The bill did not address cuts in government spending and delayed the sequestration requirements of the Budget Control Act for two months that coincides with the expected time the Treasury Department expects the United States may default on its obligations without an increase n the federal debt ceiling.

The extent of the business tax extenders is pretty impressive. MRAA strongly recommends marine retailers work with accountants to analyze how the bill impacts their businesses. However, some of prevalent tax extenders that may impact marine retailers include extension of 15-year straight-line cost recovery for qualified lease-hold improvements and qualified retail improvements, Section 179 increased expensing limitation (Businesses can deduct the cost of equipment placed in service for $500,000 for 2012 and 2013. It is set to revert to $25,000 in 2014), and permanent extension and certain modifications of the 2001 and 2003 Bush-era tax cuts (for example, sets the estate maximum tax rate at 40%).

In addition, the primary and secondary home mortgage interest deductions were permanently repeated for most taxpayers. However, Congress re-enacted the Pease Limitation on itemized deductions for individuals with an adjusted gross income greater than $250,000 and joint filers with AGIs greater than $300,000. The Pease Limitation would reduce the total amount of itemized deductions by 3% of the AGI that exceeds these two thresholds. MRAA believes repeating the secondary home mortgage interest deduction is very important to marine retailing.

Industry Leaders Gather for Third Growth Summit, Establish Recreational Boating Leadership Council

CHICAGO — On Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012, approximately 30 individuals representing diverse organizations and companies with a vested interest in the future of the recreational boating industry reconvened in Rosemont, Ill., for the third growth summit.

An all-industry effort, the growth summit meetings bring together all corners of the industry, looking ahead to address growth challenges that the marine industry will face in the near and long-term futures. In two earlier growth summit meetings, nearly 200 industry stakeholders narrowed their efforts, focusing on six priority action items: attracting younger and more diverse participants to boating; supporting industry marketing efforts; creating stronger boating advocacy and uniting to fend off unwarranted legislation that hampers boating growth; exploring issues related to the affordability of boating; and creating opportunities for growing boating through education and outreach.

In the most recent meeting, participants together created the Recreational Boating Leadership Council, a steering committee to oversee and coordinate these efforts, as well as individual committees to oversee individual priority action items. The group also appointed Matt Gruhn, President of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, as chairman; Jim Frye, President of the Association of Marina Industries, as vice chairman; and Thom Dammrich, President of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, as secretary.

Rather than govern, the new Council’s role is to coordinate efforts and shared resources and communicate progress. During the summit, the Recreational Boating Leadership Council reviewed progress made on the six priority action areas created during the first and second growth summits, identified and discussed shared opportunities and resources to address next steps on these priorities and established leadership teams responsible for moving each priority forward.

The Council will work as a group, improving cross-sector communication and collaboration among all recreational boating stakeholder groups within each of the six priority areas with the goal of growing participation and achieving long-term growth for recreational boating. The Council will meet at least twice annually to ensure progress and share information while addressing each priority.

Attendees at the Dec. 4 Growth Summit included marine dealers, distributors, retailers, boat, engine and accessory manufacturers, trade associations, publishers, government agencies, consumer and youth organizations, banking and insurance companies, standards and safety groups, and marinas.

Leadership teams responsible for each of the six priority actions (marketing communications, youth, affordability, diversity, education, and advocacy) include:

Marketing Communications: The function of the marketing communications priority is to improve recreational boating industry stakeholders’ understanding and support of the industry’s Discover Boating and the Welcome to the Water campaigns. Responsibilities include improving communication among stakeholders about the work done through Discover Boating in order for stakeholders to leverage that work, promoting a unified effort behind Discover Boating messaging, delivering the Discover Boating message through participation events that welcome more people to the water, and incorporating key messaging from the youth, diversity, education and affordability priority areas when appropriate. This action team will also help industry be more engaged and benefit from the Recreational Boat and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) and the Take Me Fishing campaign.
Co-Chairs: Joe Lewis, Mount Dora Boating Center and Grow Boating, Inc., and Carl Blackwell, NMMA and Grow Boating, Inc.
Members: Jim Emmons, Water Sports Industry Association; Nancy Cueroni, National Marine Distributors Association; Michael Cassidy, RBFF; Glenn Hughes, Bonnier Corp.; Dean Waite, Soundings Trade Only; Bill Watters, Syntec Industries.

Youth: The youth priority’s goals are to quantify and inventory existing youth boating programs to understand opportunities and needs, explore opportunities with existing and new high school level fishing and boating club, create an industry-wide commitment to youth programs such as Sea Scouts, share news with industry stakeholders regarding their work and identify areas of opportunity.
Co-Chairs: George Harris, Northwest Marine Trade Association, and Keith Christopher, Boy Scouts of America
Members: Jack Gierhart, U.S. Sailing; Melissa Danko, Marine Trades Association of New Jersey; Randy Short, Almar Marinas; Amy Collins, Boating Industry magazine

Affordability: Because affordability is subjective, the purpose of the affordability priority is to understand buyer habits, explore opportunities for new points of entry (including certified pre-owned), provide education and access to information for boaters and potential boaters on the boat purchasing process, and better communicate the emotional and experiential benefits of the boating lifestyle. Boating affordability is a continuum with many points of entry.
Co-Chairs: Bill Otto, Lake Effect Financial Services/National Marine Bankers Association and Jim Coburn, Michigan Boating Industries Association
Members: Tom Knighten, American Sailing Association and Discover Boating and Bill Sisson, Soundings/Soundings Trade Only

Diversity: Given the changing demographics of the United States and the need for understanding the challenges and opportunities of this growing diversity, the focus of the diversity priority is to quantify the business opportunity that diversity offers, promote greater diversity within the industry and encourage continued outreach to diverse audiences by industry stakeholders, understand how changing demographics impact recreational boating, and share this research and knowledge with the industry.
Chair: Thom Dammrich, NMMA
Members: Lou Sandoval, Karma Yacht Sales, and Margaret Podlich, BoatUS

Education: The focus of the education group will be to rally the industry around Welcome to the Water on National Marina Day events in 2013, which will offer hands-on training and expand access to boating. In addition, this priority is charged with researching the extent to which a lack of skills training is a barrier to boat ownership and conducting market research on hands-on training opportunities.
Chair: Jon Kukuk, Nestegg Marine/Wisconsin Marina Association
Members: Joe Lewis, Mount Dora Boating Center/Grow Boating, Inc.; Jim Frye, Westrec Marinas/Association of Marina Industries; Margaret Podlich, BoatUS; Jack Gierhart, US Sailing; Charlie Nobles, American Sailing Association; Jonathan Sweet, Boating Industry magazine; and members across each represented regional marine trade association.

Advocacy: The advocacy priority will work to improve the industry’s presence on Capitol Hill to protect and grow recreational boating. The group agreed that all members of the Recreational Boating Leadership Council will attend the American Boating Congress (ABC), held May 8-9, 2013 in Washington, DC, and encourage their respective organizations and members to attend in order to increase the importance and impact of the event and enhance the voice of recreational boating. This action team will also serve as a clearinghouse of advocacy issues to expand industry grassroots involvement in issues impacting recreational boating. This effort recognizes that the boating industry is an ecosystem and that legislation or regulation that adversely impacts one segment of the industry will eventually adversely impact the entire industry.
Chair: Jim Currie, NMMA
Members: All co-hosts of the American Boating Congress

The efforts of the Growth Summit are not exclusive to those listed above. We need all stakeholders to take an active role in growing our industry! The Recreational Boating Leadership Council is seeking YOUR involvement and encourages YOU to participate in the Council’s efforts to grow our industry. We need you! Your voice and involvement make a difference! Please contact NMMA’s Ellen Hopkins today to learn more about how you can help or volunteer for a specific priority action group. You can reach Ellen at ehopkins@nmma.org.

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About the Recreational Boating Leadership Council:The Recreational Boating Leadership Council is a group of leaders from across all segments of the marine industry working together to address growth challenges facing the marine industry. To achieve long-term growth, the council is focused on six priority action areas: attracting younger and more diverse participants to boating, supporting industry marketing efforts, creating stronger boating advocacy, exploring issues related to the affordability of boating and creating opportunities for growing boating through educational and outreach.

NMMA, MRAA Make Joint $10,000 Contribution to MTA of New Jersey Recovery & Relief Fund

CHICAGO—January 10, 2013—The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and

About the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey Recovery & Relief Fund: The MTA/NJ Recovery & Relief Fun, a 501 (c) (3) corporation, was organized to provide relief and aid to recreational marine businesses in New Jersey that have been impacted by Hurricane Sandy and other national and local disasters. The MTA/NJ Recovery & Relief Fund will accept donations and contributions to the fund as well as conduct fundraising activities. All of the funds collected will be distributed directly to aid recreational marine businesses and individuals that have been adversely affected by Hurricane Sandy and other national and local disasters.

DONATE TODAY: Anyone wishing to make a donation can send a check payable to MTA/NJ Recovery & Relief Fund, located at 2516 Highway 35, Suite 201, Manasquan, NJ 08736. For additional information, please contact the MTA/NJ offices at 732-292-1051; email: info@mtanj.org.

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About NMMA: National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) is the leading association representing the recreational boating industry in North America. NMMA member companies produce more than 80 percent of the boats, engines, trailers, accessories and gear used by boaters and anglers throughout the U.S. and Canada. The association is dedicated to industry growth through programs in public policy advocacy, market statistics and research, product quality assurance and promotion of the boating lifestyle. For more information, visit NMMA.org.

About MRAA: The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas is the only North American association dedicated to furthering the interests of boat and engine dealers and other marine-related retailers throughout North America. Under the umbrella of MRAA Rewards, the MRAA offers a host of cost-saving, revenue-generating, business-improvement, and professional-development benefits exclusively for its members. MRAA is the united voice of marine retailers. For more information, visit

Fiscal Cliff Deal: Copy of HR 8 for your review

The link below will take you to a copy of the newly passed H.R. 8 that extends certain Bush-era tax benefits and establishes a new high end tax rate of 39.6 percent for earners with annual gross income exceeding $1 million. Other issues addressed are the re-authorization of the estate tax with a $5 million individual exemption and a maximum tax rate of 45 percent. In addition, the language re-authorizes the use of sales tax in lieu of state income tax deductions.

The bill is difficult to read in some places where you need a copy of the current tax code language, but it seems a restriction on the home mortgage interest deduction has been made on incomes over an amount of money between $250,000 and $450,000. MRAA is conducting more research on this.

Download the PDF here.

In addition, a section of the Affordable Care Act was repealed in the bill. It pertains to the CLASS Act. The CLASS Act would have set up a new government fund that employees and employers would contribute to, similar to FICA, for long-term disability insurance. MRAA has spoken in opposition to the CLASS Act to several dozen House Member and Senator offices in the past two years. It was clearly unworkable and too expensive for small business compliance.

H.R. 8 is more than 140 pages long so be forewarned to copy at your own peril.

Larry Innis
MRAA Legislative Affairs