Resilient, tough and tested. These are just a few of the words analysts and retailers alike used to describe the convenience store and petroleum industry over the past 12 months. With the economy suffering its most difficult period in some 80 years, convenience stores held up rather admirably considering how consumer confidence plunged and the…
Marketing Cigars in Tough Times
Despite the SCHIP tobacco taxes that hit on April 1, 2009, cigar sales continue to persevere. The federal taxes on large cigars rose from 20.719% of the wholesale price with a tax cap of 4.875 cents per cigar to 52.75% of the wholesale price with a tax cap of 40.26 cents per cigar. The tax…
Cigarette Excise Tax, Ohio Cigarette Tax Changes Bring Higher Prices
An Ohio coalition refutes the findings of a recent report claiming that increasing Ohio’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack would bring the state $299.7 million per year. The report released yesterday, entitled, Tobacco Taxes: A Win-Win-Win for Cash-Strapped States is based on national and state surveys of registered voters. “Any economist will tell you…
Electronic Cigarettes
Convenience store retailers are all too aware of the many problems related to selling cigarettes. Ever-increasing taxes equal lower profit margins, smoking prohibitions reduce retail sales, not to mention fire hazards, odor, and of course, health problems. NJOY changes the old paradigm for the better. It is a rechargeable electronic cigarette used by more than…
Federal Judge Sides With Electronic Cigarettes
A U.S. judge has ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the authority to regulate electronic cigarettes, The Wall Street Journal reported. In a 32-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon sided with electronic cigarette maker Smoking Everywhere Inc., and found that the FDA did not have the authority…
Opportunities Exist for Cigars
TOP PERFORMERS Altria Sales & Distribution (John Middleton) Swisher Swedish Match HONORABLE MENTIONS Altadis USA Republic Tobacco The SCHIP tobacco tax rates that hit in April 2009 are costing cigar smokers more, but sales continue to persevere. As of April, the federal taxes on large cigars rose from 20.719% of the wholesale price with a…
FDA Looks at Future of Tobacco Products
Confusion Reigns Supreme C-store operators aren’t the only ones left scratching their heads by the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) first foray into tobacco regulation.During the FDA’s teleconference, Catherine Lorraine, a lawyer for the administration, said, “I just want to draw your attention to the portion of the definition of a cigarette, which specifically refers…
Opportunities Abound
The NACS Show is my annual reminder of just how much innovation exists among the many talented retailers and suppliers I communicate with every day. I expect this year’s show—amazingly the 14th of my career—to be one of the most interesting I’ve ever attended. While the event has so much to offer, a black cloud…
Roll-Your-Own Climbs Amid Tax Hit
Mounting cigarette costs are driving smokers to test cost-effective tobacco alternatives, such as roll your own (RYO). The 2009 NACS State of the Industry report, which polled 156 retail firms with 20,553 stores as of December 2008, found that pipe and cigarette tobacco sales had the strongest growth of all tobacco products and were up…
Harm Reduction: The Voice of Reason
Despite all the naysayers, safer tobacco products are a reality convenience store owners should embrace. Great strides have been made within the last year to introduce new tobacco products that would, from my perspective, reduce harm when compared with traditional cigarettes. I must say, though, that I would have never thought the quest for harm…