By Roger Holmes, Celsius Tannery, ASA Board of Directors Member

So why would I give the American Suntanning Association one single dime of my hard-earned money?

For years, as we grew our professional indoor suntanning business, we watched every line item of our expenses. But we spent most of our time focused on key performance indicators such as membership per person average, income by unique customer, by equipment, equipment type, product and even by salon square footage, just to name a few.

But, about eleven years ago, after attending an industry meeting in Washington, DC, my financial priorities changed. At that meeting and for the next several years, I learned about FDA’s reclassification of indoor tanning equipment, I heard about the CDC’s attacks on our industry, I discovered an EPA program called “Sun Wise” that was teaching school children to abstain from all sunlight exposure, and I was shocked and dismayed with the implementation of the punitive 10% tan tax which was added to the Affordable Care Act.

It was then that I decided that protecting my business from federal and state government legislation, regulations, and unfair taxes was as important to my business as any of my salon’s income or expenses.

Since that time, I have attended every industry meeting in Washington and have participated in discussions with Members of Congress, Senators, lobbyists, attorneys, public relations groups, and other specialists who that were called upon to help protect our industry from further attacks. And over those many years, I’ve learned to appreciate the resources that are necessary to protect our industry and my business.

As an ASA board member, I know every detail of the thousands of face-to-face meetings ASA has attended over the years and the millions of dollars ASA has invested to help keep our industry viable. As the owner of three tanning salons, I also know that without everyone contributing to this cause, we would surely fall prey to more punitive regulations and unfair taxes. And that is something no indoor tanning business can afford today.

So, after I attended my first few meetings years ago, I better understood the many issues our industry faced, and began to understand what might be done by “those people” in charge of our industry’s protection. And, then it hit me. I finally realized that there was no “those people” to carry out our professional indoor suntanning needed mission. I realized that “those people” were you and me!

So, that’s when I chose to get involved with my time and also with my money, because I finally understood that if I wished to continue to profit from my business, I needed to pay to protect it by supporting a trade association that represented all of us at the federal and state level. $100 per salon is a small price to pay for that level of protection.

That is why I am proud to say I participate in the ASA lotion program as well as being a full dues-paying member and have been for now 10 years.