Road improvement and food delivery fee for sales to Minnesota

[mochasassy]

Minnesota has a new fee for deliveries with a value over $100.00.

The fee is 50 cents collected by ebay and submitted to the state in the same way as sales taxes.

Here's a link the the Minnesota Department of Revenue with the details.

Retail Delivery Fee | Minnesota Department of Revenue (state.mn.us)

[gurlcat]

Ha I should have read all the replies, hadn't seen yours yet when I went hunting for weight statistics.  
However this 50 cent fee isn't being charged to "the general public."  Most often it will be charged to Amazon and Walmart, who are making a lot of money off of citizens in Minnesota (or any given state) without contributing to that state's road maintenance, either because they are using EV's or fueling up their trucks in other states.  

Likewise, if I sell a $100 necklace to a Minnesotan and whichever carrier delivers it in an EV, I'm not only taking money out of Minnesota that the buyer might have spent there instead, I'm not even contributing to Minnesota's road maintenance from which I benefitted.  But with the 50 cent fee, I will be.  I have no problem with that.  

EDIT: And I wish Alabama WOULD do it too.  Our roads are terrible!  

[fern*wood]

Maybe I'm not understanding your post, but I don't think the batteries weigh 9000lbs.  Isn't that the whole vehicle?  I also doubt a semi only weighs in at 2130lbs, so that probably is just the fuel.   The comparison had me confused.

[johnrj1226]

~6 lbs per gal for gas  8 lb,4 for water - do the math..  e.g. 10 gallons of gas is 60 lbs 20 gals twice that amount BUT the second the engine is started the weight goes down depends how much you keep the foot on the accelerator and jack rabbit start up etc.  The  EV remains the  same weight no matter the state of charge. 

Been around ICE and electric 3/4 wheel fork lifts since 1967 - hung up my spurs in 2007.  Right now  in the forklift industry in the USA 60% of forklift are electric/battery powered  of which the highest %  of sales being those  little electric pallet handlers like  one sees at Alidi. and riding on the back of  soft drink and beer delivery truck 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

The overall sad thing here in Indiana is the materials used for roads these days compared to in the 1970's. My Parents never had to dodge holes in the road. 

Indiana claims to be the crossroads of America. I suggest avoiding Indiana in your travel if possible. It is nothing but constant road work here year-round. 

I actually found Ohio roads were great in the late 1990's. Not sure about today. 

Poor / cheap materials are being used today along whenever there is a 1/4" of snow or less, the salt trucks are running and getting overtime pay. REALLY?

It's a complete political / contractor game to keep sucking $$$ from the taxpayers.

[johnrj1226]

Think what the damage that will be done  to the asphalt roads in the Sunbelt  states, Los Vegas, AZ, TX,  and so on.  TX puts a higher amount a aggregate in their asphalt to minimize the damage (grooving  in the traffic lanes) BUT your tires wear out  much faster.  Fore ever positive there is very often a negative.  See Engineering at its very best is still a compromise - a professor told  us that..  Yes I have a **bleep** in Auto Engineering & Technology.  BUT never engineered one thing.  Went into Sales/Marketing to offer customers solutions to their material handling issues.

[1786davycrockett]

@richard1rst 

One of my Minnesota buyers just got hit with that 50 cents "Road Improvement and Delivery Fee" -- for a purchase of only $19.65!

But the fee isn't supposed to kick in for purchases less than $100.00!

I've filed a complaint on eBay Facebook for business; but I have a feeling I'm not going to be the only one.

[a_c_green]

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@gurlcat wrote:
That is fascinating and makes sense.  It also got me thinking about the comparative potential road damage, because I had a vague memory of hearing that EV's are heavier because of the batteries.  So I googled it just now.  YOWSA, I didn't realize those batteries could weigh up to 9000 pounds! 

---

9000 pounds is the weight of the entire Hummer, not just its batteries. (Curb weight of the 2023 Hummer EV is listed as 9,063 pounds, to be precise.)

Regarding brake pad wear for stopping heavier electrics, I don't have numbers for that, but I would point out that the vehicle can use regenerative braking to recharge its batteries while slowing down without having to touch the brake pedal at all. It's fun to watch the Charge/Discharge power assist scale on our old 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid, when coasting down from highway speed maxes out the Charge reading as the batteries sop up the juice being generated from the idling wheel motors. 🙂

[gurlcat]

Gasoline and diesel are not the same substance so their weight is different.  

[meekamaye]

Of course they added this tax, it's MN, land of 10,000 taxes (including taxing Social Security). 

With a surplus of $17 billion dollars what else do you do but spend $19 billion? And then add more taxes to make up for the difference. Only in MN can you spend a surplus, go in the hole and find new ways to tax the normal citizen. 

Yep, if MN sends a politician from here to become VP, watch the national debt skyrocket.

[johnrj1226]

At one time ( 1950, 60s Michigan had the  best road in the US.  The ain't today.  Michigan had 32 wheedlers.  When LBJ was  President Texas took the top spot - the Johnson, mainly Lady  Bird were well connected to  the right people to  git er done.  Plus  she  had Blue Bonnets plated on the grassy  medians near favorite cities

[gurlcat]

Ha I TOTALLY hope she picks Walz for VP.  But everywhere I look there are Minnesotans saying they hope she doesn't, because they want to keep him there!  Can't blame them.  I like him more than maybe any other politician I have seen in my whole life.  

Yeah, taxes.  Must not bother the citizens too much.  Minnesota has ranked in the top 4 happiest states in America since 2019, even despite it being winter nearly half the year there.  Minneapolis ranked #1 happiest city this year.  

[johnrj1226]

Bet a dime to a do-nut  that they won't give up their block heater any time soon.  The run time on an EV in those  "wintry" sub zero day or weeks  place  hell with a battery run time ( and turns any fluid for the gear train turns to frozen grease plus the people heater eats up kwH big time.  Yep  hard to get the advertised mileage/per charge or even close to it.  I'm happy where ever I've  lived  but I detest the two times I lived thru -27 F wind chill -80 to -100 f wind chill - once in Illinois south of Chicago (1982) and once in Masillon, Ohio (1978).  Move South of the Mason-Dixon line (TX & GA) and never regretted it - too hot out side go find air conditioning.................you can do that naked.

[meekamaye]

Come and get him. Not sure who wants him but then I live in the land of "rocks & cows" which was his comment about rural MN when commenting there is no one in rural areas to vote. Minneapolis is a disaster. Murders and mayhem abound. I grew up in the metro area and never had any fear going any place in the city of Minneapolis. Now I do... Crime in Minneapolis, Minnesota (MN): murders, rapes, robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts, auto ...

[johnrj1226]

Every state I lived in - 5 in all - charge a road tax on every gallon of gasoline/diesel you buy at the pump.  Some states don charge diesel for off road use - like farmers, construction equipment.  There are other taxes  some states charge on fuel.

[johnrj1226]

Looks like you ship your eBay stuff from not from Minnesota but from here -

"Shipping:

Free Standard Shipping. See detailsfor shipping

Located in: Mobile, Alabama, United States"

R U moving to the "happy state"?????

Have an college roommate  we both graduated in 1967 and still stay in touch.   He lives  near  Minneapolis out  in the open area -  he enjoys the skiing and doing ski patrol and doesn't  go into  the big city of Minneapolis too much. Tells me the politics are all jacked up.  He was born and raised in the Hand State near  Grand Rapids. He's  1 of 10 GDIs and dorm rats that played together and earn our degrees at WMU that still stay in contact and hook up from time to time

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Life In Minnesota  in the winter time