Cite as: 505 U. S. 214 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
these activities can reasonably be viewed as requests for orders covered by § 381, Wrigley was subject to tax unless they were either ancillary to requesting orders or de minimis.
We conclude that the replacement of stale gum, the supplying of gum through "agency stock checks," and the storage of gum were not ancillary. As to the first: Wrigley would wish to attend to the replacement of spoiled product whether or not it employed a sales force. Because that activity serves an independent business function quite separate from requesting orders, it does not qualify for § 381 immunity. Miles Laboratories, 274 Ore., at 400, 546 P. 2d, at 1083. Although Wrigley argues that gum replacement was a "promotional necessity" designed to ensure continued sales, Brief for Respondent 31, it is not enough that the activity facilitate sales; it must facilitate the requesting of sales, which this did not.8
The provision of gum through "agency stock checks" presents a somewhat more complicated question. It appears from the record that this activity occurred only in connection with the furnishing of display racks to retailers, so that it was arguably ancillary to a form of consumer solicitation. Section 381(a)(2) shields a manufacturer's "missionary" request that an indirect customer (such as a consumer) place an order, if a successful request would ultimately result in an order's being filled by a § 381 "customer" of the manufac-must be more formally attributed to the out-of-state company itself, or to the agents of that company in their agency capacity—as was, for example, the rented office in Northwestern States.
8 The dissent argues that this activity must be considered part of "solicitation" because, inter alia, it was "minimal," and not "significant." Post, at 243. We disagree. It was not, as the dissent suggests, a practice that involved simple "acts of courtesy" that occurred only because a salesman happened to be on the scene and did not wish to "harm the company." Post, at 242, 244. Wrigley deliberately chose to use its sales force to engage in regular and systematic replacement of stale product on a level that amounted to several thousand dollars per year, which is a lot of chewing gum.
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