JM - You brought to light something that I personally missed, even after re-reading the label several times when the product was originally introduced last fall.
On the label, directly below the product's name (which is why I missed it), is the phrase "Only for sale to, use and storage by commercial applicators".
Now, for some regulatory-basics and "the rest of the story".
*ADVION is a "general-use pesticide": which means that the EPA does not require a purchaser to hold a pesticide applicators license.
*However, some state regulatory agencies may supercede this EPA "designation", and require purchasers of either SPECIFIC or ALL pesticides to be licensed as commercial, non-commercial or private applicators - especially if the application will be made to property that is not personally owned by the applicator and/or if the property is within an incorporated city limits.
*In TX (and several other states), a license is not required for a person to make pesticide applications to THEIR OWN property UNLESS the pesticide is designated as "restricted-use" (Federal) or "state-limited-use" (State).
Back to your comments before I tangent too much:
When a mfgr wants to "incentify" new chemistry with commercial applicators, the most effective means for doing so is to self-impose a restriction against "retail" sales. This tactic allows the commercial guys have a new tool that is supposedly unavailable to anyone else. To accomplish this objective, the mfgr simply places the statement referenced above on the product's label.
As we all should know, the product's label IS the law. Therefore, designating the product for "commercial use only" technically prevents the sale of the product to retail customers (including those who are licensed as private applicators) even though the EPA and most state regulatory agencies recognize ADVION as "general-use" and would otherwise allow the product's purchase and use by anyone - licensed or not.
I'm basically trying to explain that the "commercial use only" stipulation on ADVION's label is a marketing strategy. In a couple of years, after the product has been thoroughly established within the commercial market, the "commercial applicator stipulation" will be removed from the ADVION label, opening up the legitimate market for this product to anyone - licensed or not.
Things like this put us distributors and/or dealers in a precarious position.
Recall that the referenced label-text did NOT say "LICENSED commercial applicator". Well, someone could walk into our office and claim that they are a "commercial applicator". We're not obligated to confirm the buyer's statement, since a commercial applicators license isn't legally required to purchase the product. Do you see where I'm headed with this logic??
I'll leave it at that.......
