From Sales Tax to Faxing

Day 1: $293.75 ($185.63 to the state (sales tax and auto registration) $108.12 for products are services)

$185- State -tags this one is a no brainer considering it is state law for a resident to register their vehicles. So I feel very confident that the funds are going to our state. If only I was as confident that the funds would go to repair the awful roads.
$ 4.78 -Kmart-Diet Dr. Pepper (which also included a bottle deposit another income source for the state), Hickory Farm sausage snacks: Hickory Farms is headquartered in Ohio making it an American company, but as I look at my sausage package I don’t see a Product of or Made in label. There is a US inspected label so I am unsure if it is an American Made product.
$ 48.57 -GNC-Vitamins & Perky Turkey Jerky: What confuses me is that in both the vitamins and jerky the packaging says distributed by, but does not have a Product of or Made in info. Again like the Hickory Farm sausages this leaves me wondering where the product was made and using ingredients from where. I just sent an email to Performance Enhancing Meat Snacks, Inc. in Colorado to see if they can answer the question for us. Wow within 3 minutes I got a response which is below:

“Thank you for the note! Yes our jerky is a product of the USA. Our meat is domestic and the jerky itself is "cooked" in Salt Lake City, UT.

Perkiest regards! “

$ 11.18- Hallmark Cards: I have always loved Hallmark stores. Full disclosure I am a Gold Crown Member and love the fact that many of the stores are independently owned. My dream at one point was to have my own Hallmark store. The Worldwide corporate headquarters is in Kansas City, Mo. The three cards I purchased were all made in the USA.
$8.72-Belleville Cleaners- From what I can find out on a quick internet research this is a locally owned dry cleaner
$35.00-Gardener’s Choice- A local landscaping company that I had driven by this for days when I called them to do our sprinkler winter blow out.
.50- UPS Store-Fax-This is a franchise store, but I am unsure if it is a sole local owner or like so many franchises this day bought by a corporation who owns many stores.
So that is that for Day 1 I have emailed the FDA regarding the distributed by labeling on food products to get a clear understanding of why there is no country of origin on the label. They unlike Perky Jerky were not as quick to respond. So I can not report it in this post.