In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Meyercord Revenue, a SICPA company, offered its innovative direct-to-distributor (DTD) tax stamp solution to customers on a temporary basis, in order to prevent potential disruption to tax stamp distribution caused by mandatory stay-at-home orders and other changes forced by the crisis.
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Tjuana Porter, Director of Financial Control for Cook County, IL |
By printing, storing, and shipping agency-approved, secure tax stamps directly to purchasers, the DTD solution reduces the need for in-person fulfillment and program management on behalf of the issuing agency—limiting cost and administrative burden, and streamlining delivery to purchasers.
One of the jurisdictions that partnered with Meyercord to implement the DTD solution in response to COVID-19 was Cook County, Illinois. Recently, SICPA spoke with Tjuana Porter, Director of Financial Control for the Cook County government, about how the solution has helped Cook County adapt to the crisis and continue delivering vitally important tax stamps.
Note: this interview has been edited for length and clarity.
SICPA: Can you tell us a little bit about when Cook County first adopted the DTD solution, and what led to that decision?
Tjuana Porter (TP): We signed up in April [2020], after the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. We had to transition to working from home rather quickly, and all of our inventory was still in the office, so we needed to ensure that we were still able to send out our cigarette tax stamps, which are normally issued on-site in our office. We remembered talking to Meyercord about the DTD solution, reached out to them for more details, and ultimately signed up for the temporary solution.
Since we couldn’t access our existing stamp inventory, we asked for Meyercord to print emergency inventory and then ship it to customers. They were able to get the solution fully up and running within a couple of weeks, including a training on the online system where we can input stamp orders.
SICPA: With the DTD solution in place, what does the stamp ordering and fulfillment process look like, and what is your regular interaction with the Meyercord team?
TP: Our situation is a little bit different than how the DTD solution normally works. When we talked with Meyercord, they explained that, normally, customers order their inventory printed on-demand, but because of the situation facing Cook County, Meyercord printed an emergency order of stamps that look nothing like our annual order of stamps. But, for the sake of what we needed it for, they were able to print temporary stamps for us.
Meyercord gave us username and password access to log on to their online portal. We enter our orders through the portal and once the orders are entered, they are fulfilled at the Meyercord warehouse. Then they gave us access to track our orders—to see when it ships, when it’s received. So, it’s been a pretty simple solution to navigate.
SICPA: How has the DTD solution helped Cook County respond effectively to the COVID-19 crisis and continue fulfilling tax stamp orders?
TP: Cigarette stamps are one of our higher revenue generators, so we had to get them out to wholesalers and, ultimately, to retailers. Continued distribution is important to us in terms of continuing the revenue flow, providing wholesalers with the stamps they are purchasing, and meeting the tax obligation. Because we couldn’t get in to the office to access our inventory, we needed to find a fairly fast, efficient solution and, working with Meyercord, they were able to quickly turn that around for us. The DTD service has been very helpful because we weren’t able to perform normal operations and, had we not had the DTD solution available, we would have been in a very difficult situation.
SICPA: You mentioned that cigarette tax stamps are a major revenue generator. Can you talk a bit more about why it’s so important to keep that revenue coming in the door?
TP: Cigarette taxes are one part of Cook County’s tobacco tax program. Revenue from these taxes goes to support vital county operations.
