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the asphalt was laid within the brief period that it remained in
its emulsified condition, its change of state into a rock hard
solid provided utility only to the owner of the paved surface.
If, however, petitioner managed no better than to place or show,
and all the emulsified asphalt was not laid within 2 to 5 hours
of receipt, the unlaid amount would become entirely and
irrevocably worthless to everyone. In either event, the utility
provided by the material entirely vanished within 2 to 5 hours of
its receipt. This peculiar physical property of the emulsified
asphalt is a material difference that distinguishes it from the
roofing materials, electrical materials, and caskets of the
aforementioned cases.
Furthermore, unlike Wilkinson-Beane, Inc., the variable
factor in the cost of the service provided by petitioner was the
relative complexity of the client's site, and the additional
amount of labor and machinery required to lay the asphalt on a
more complex site, not the relative "magnificence" of the
material. The facts of the instant case are thus distinguishable
from those of Wilkinson-Beane, Inc. and its progeny.
In Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Inc. v. United States, 743 F.2d
781, 790 (11th Cir. 1984), the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh
Circuit considered the issue of whether the taxpayer, who was in
the business of producing and selling newspapers, was required to
use an inventory method of accounting. The taxpayer argued that
it was in a service business (the business of providing
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