Each college has an Amazon Business Account through which all Amazon purchases made for business are required to be made. Benefits of the Business account are:

• Free Two-Day Shipping on eligible orders over $49 (learn more)
• Free standard shipping on eligible orders over $25 (learn more)
• Pricing and quantity discounts on over 8 million items not available through other amazon accounts
• Sales Tax Exemption on purchases
• Custom reporting for your transactions
• Access to a specialized Customer Service team

To sign up for an Amazon account contact ap@gmhec.org.

To access the Amazon account, please always use smile.amazon.com and choose as the organization you will support your college.

Personal Use? The Amazon Business Account may only be used for business purposes to avoid violation of tax exemption regulation.

Shipping Address: Enter your departments shipping address.

Payment: At this point you need to have a College purchasing card to be able to purchase on Amazon.

Returns: are handled the same way as on consumer accounts (albeit word on the street is that the business support teams might be a bit more lenient with free returns...)

Reporting: The Amazon Business Account allows for reporting on what was purchased in the past by user. If you are an administrator, you can also run reports on purchases for your department.

Amazon Customer Service: (866) 486-2360 Monday- Friday 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. EST and Saturday & Sunday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST. Amazon Business general Help & FAQs.

• After contacting ap@gmhec.org, you will receive an email invitation from Amazon to join the business account. Click the “Accept this invitation” button in the email.
• Then click the “Continue” button.
• You will be prompted to enter your name, your college.edu email address and to create a password.
• Click on “Create Account”.
• You’ll see an “Almost Complete!” window.
• Click on “Complete”.
• Amazon will send you an email confirming the creation of the account.

• Once you receive the email invitation from Amazon to join the business account, click the “Accept this invitation” button in the email.
• Then click the “Continue” button.
• You will see the screen: “Sign in to the account you will use for business.”
• Enter your college.edu email address and Amazon password for this account (if you don’t remember the password, click “Forgot your password?” to reset the password).
• Click on “Sign In”.
• On the next screen “Choose an account option”, click on “Create a separate account” to separate your personal purchases on Amazon from any business purchases. This action will create a new (personal) Amazon account under a different (personal) email address.
• Click on “Continue”.
• Enter the email address you want to use from now on for personal Amazon purchases.
• Click on “Save and continue”.
• You will be prompted to enter your name, college.edu email and to create a password for the account to buy for business on Amazon.
• Click on “Create Account”.
• You’ll see an “Almost Complete!” window and you can choose to copy your address book and payment methods. Be sure to only use a college shipping address and only the college’s purchasing card as a payment method for the business account.
• Click on “Complete”.
• Amazon will send you an email confirming the creation of the account.

• After contacting ap@gmhec.org, you will receive an email invitation from Amazon to join the business account. Click the “Accept this invitation” button in the email.
• Then click the “Continue” button.
• You will be prompted to enter your name, your college.edu email address and to create a password.
• Click on “Create Account”.
• You’ll see an “Almost Complete!” window.
• Click on “Complete”.
• Amazon will send you an email confirming the creation of the account.

Generally, the colleges are exempt from Sales tax except in California and thus sellers should not charge sales tax.

– If Amazon was the seller:

• Call (888-280-9552) to have the sales tax refunded

– If 3^rd party seller:

• On amazon.com go to “Your Account” and to “Your Orders”.
• Find the item that was charged tax and click the “Contact the Seller” button.
• Enter as the subject “Tax Exemption Refund Request”.
• Include the order number and amount of sales tax charged.
• The seller is required to respond within 72 hours.
• They may ask for some additional information, if not, they typically just issue the refund.

If you have any issues contacting the seller, or other questions, contact the Amazon tax team at (888) 280-9552.

As a general matter, the Consortium colleges do not pay for personal prime membership.  Amazon does now offer a prime membership for educational institutions. Here are the benefits of that Prime Membership. At this point, Middlebury College has purchased business prime for all its users.

• If you currently have a prime membership associated with you and your business amazon account, please cancel your prime membership pro-actively by calling Amazon Customer Service at (866) 486-2360. Amazon will refund the prime membership fee based on how many months of the annual membership have already been used.
• Please be cautious not to sign up for prime membership. Currently, Amazon offers on it’s business account prime membership to users and it’s a bit to easy to accidentally sign up for it.
• If you have Prime at home, you can link your personal prime account to your business amazon account. Then you’ll receive the benefit of Prime, i.e., free shipping on small orders, on the regular Amazon business account.
• "Prime Exclusive Items": are a limited set of items sold by Amazon that can only be purchased with a prime membership. In these cases, those items are often available from 3rd party sellers as well (just without the 2-day prime shipping). If your order is above the current threshold for business accounts, you can still get 2-day shipping.

• The Amazon Smile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organization selected by you. Please always enter your business account through AmazonSmile and designate your employer as your charity to earn back some of the dollars spent on Amazon

The Consortium contracted on behalf of its member colleges with SecurShred for any paper shredding and electronics recycling and destruction. SecurShred should be used

• If certified secure destruction is required for paper shredding and electronics destruction
• For recycling services and scanning
• They offer either locked consoles in your workplace for regular pick up or pick up of boxes for shredding
• They provide consulting on what documents need to be treated how per regulations like Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley, Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), Vermont's Protection of Personal Information Law and others
• For sustainability efforts:
• They weigh our waste
• Power of Three program: SecurShred shreds, sends shredded paper to local pulp mill in Glen Falls which transforms the shredded paper into tissues, which Foley Distributors weighs and sells back
• See video on program (scroll down a bit)
• Contact SecurShred at 802-363-6009 for more information and visit their website
• or Contact procurement@gmhec.org for questions on pricing and pickup.

Courtyard by Marriott on 177 Hurricane Lane, Williston, VT

Ask for the Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium rate. Can be used by Champlain College, Middlebury College and Saint Michael's College.

Our rates at the Courtyard by Marriott are based on Length of Stay. The discounted rates are for Studio King Suite and Studio Double Queen Suite, which features a King Bed and pull-out sleeper sofa or 2 queen beds, including a mini size refrigerator in both styles. Rates at the Courtyard by Marriott will be as follows:

Off Season (Nov – May): $105.00
Busy Season (Jun – Nov): $149.00

Note: 48 hour cancellation policy
Reservations: 802.879.0100

Request the Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium corporate rate to receive your discount. Can be used by Champlain College, Middlebury College, Saint Michael's College and the Consortium.

1/1/2022 - 12/31/2022 - $95.00

Note: 48 hour cancellation policy
Reservations: 802.388.7600

• 65.5 cents per mile driven for business use
• For details see IRS Mileage Rates for 2022

Beginning on October 1, 2020, the Federal Real ID Act will be enforced and travelers who choose to use a state-issued driver’s license as a source of identification for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport checkpoints will need to ensure they are compliant with Real ID.

To better prepare your travelers for the Real ID Act and help them fully understand its requirements, we have created the below language for you to share internally within your organization:

Important Information for Domestic Air Travelers

The Federal Real ID Act imposes stricter security requirements for state-issued driver’s licenses and other forms of identification, and it will take effect on October 1, 2020. Once the Real ID Act is in place, every air traveler will need to provide Real ID-compliant identification in order to board domestic flights.

How do I know if I have a Real ID?

Check and see if the upper right corner of your license contains a star inside of a circle (or for California residents, a star on a golden bear). If it does, your license is certified as Real ID, and no further action is required. If you are unsure if your license is Real ID-compliant, please consult the Department of Homeland Security website at www.dhs.gov/real-id.

How do I obtain a Real ID?

You will need to go to your DMV and present an appropriate form of identification as defined by your state. For state-specific details, visit www.dhs.gov/real-id and select your state. You will be redirected to your state’s DMV website where you can find further information.

What happens if I do not have Real ID after October 1, 2020?

Beginning on October 1, 2020, any individual with a driver’s license that is not Real ID-compliant will need to present another acceptable form of identification, such as a valid U.S. passport, in order to board domestic flights.