Opinion ID: 2168802
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: reimbursement for postage charges

Text: Affiliated Foods argues that the district court erroneously found that the postage charges incurred in mailing the advertisements to the members' customers were part of the purchase price for the advertising materials. In essence, Affiliated Foods argues that it was simply reimbursed for the cost of postage which it passed through to members who had the ads mailed directly to their customers by Affiliated Foods. Affiliated Foods' argument on this subject involves a question of fact. Therefore, we review the district court's order for errors appearing on the record. The district court upheld the deficiency assessment for the period after January 24, 1993. Implicit in its holding is the factual determination that Affiliated Foods mailed the advertisements to its members' customers as part of the retail sale of the advertisements. We conclude that there is competent evidence to support the district court's factual finding on this issue. First, the Affiliated Foods policies and programs handbook states that [a]n agreement form is required for retailers who wish to participate in [Affiliated Foods'] weekly ad group. The agreement form allows each member to choose, in writing, the method by which Affiliated Foods is to distribute the ads. If a member chooses to have Affiliated Foods apply its bulk mail registration to the ads and mail them directly to the member's customer list, the postage charge appears on the member's weekly billing statement. This evidence is competent to support the district court's finding that the ads were mailed as part of their retail sale. Thus, Affiliated Foods' argument on this point is without merit.