In this episode, we talk about point-of-sale pricing policies, meaning ways to raise the price of tobacco sold in retail stores. Raising prices is one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco use initiation, decrease consumption, and increase cessation. Learn how point-of-sale pricing policies, including minimum floor prices and bans on price discounts and coupon redemption, can complement tax increases to keep prices high and reduce disparities. Listen below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or LibSyn.

Read a transcript of the episode

Resources:

• Fact Sheet: Point-of-Sale Tobacco Pricing Policies, ChangeLab Solutions & CounterTobaco.org
• Infographic: Point-of-Sale Tobacco Pricing Policies ChangeLab Solutions & CounterTobaco.org
• Increasing Tobacco Prices through Non-Tax Approaches, CounterTobacco.org
• Case Studies:
  • Regulating Price Discounting in Providence, RI
  • Reducing Cheap Tobacco & Youth Access: New York City.
  • Point-of-Sale Pricing Policies in St. Paul: A Story from the Field
• Fact Sheet: Minimum Floor Price Laws, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
• Webinars from ChangeLab Solutions
  • Part 1: Minimum Floor Price Laws: A Strategy to Reduce Tobacco-Related Socioeconomic Inequities
  • Part 2: A Deeper Dive on Tobacco Minimum Floor Price Laws
• Fact Sheet: Price-Related Promotions for Tobacco Products: An Introduction to Key Terms & Concepts, Public Health Law Center
• Fact Sheet: Taxation of Tobacco Products: An Introduction to Key Terms & Concepts, Public Health Law Center
• U.S. State Tobacco Taxes, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Raising Cigarette Taxes Reduces Smoking, Especially Among Kids (And The Cigarette Companies Know It), Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
• Pricing Policies: A Tobacco Control Guide, Public Health Law Center & Center for Public Health Systems Science
• Equitable Enforcement: Decriminalizing Commercial Tobacco: Addressing Systemic Racism in the Enforcement of Commercial Tobacco Control

Referenced Research:

• Brown-Johnson CG, England LJ, Glantz SA, Ling PM. Tobacco industry marketing to low socioeconomic status women in the U.S.A. Tob Control. 2014;23(e2):e139-e146. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051224
• Cornelius ME, Wang TW, Jamal A, Loretan CG, Neff LJ. Tobacco Product Use Among Adults — United States, 2019. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2020;69:1736–1742. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6946a4
• Doogan NJ, Wewers ME, Berman M. The impact of a federal cigarette minimum pack price policy on cigarette use in the USA. Tobacco Control 2018;27:203-208.
• Golden SD, Farrelly MC, Luke DA, Ribisl KM. Comparing projected impacts of cigarette floor price and excise tax policies on socioeconomic disparities in smoking. Tobacco Control. 2016;25(Suppl 1):i60-i66. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053230.
• Henriksen L, Andersen-Rodgers E, Zhang X, et al. Neighborhood variation in the price of cheap tobacco products in California: results from health stores for a healthy community. Nicotine & Tobacco Res. 2017;19(11),1330-1337. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntx089;
• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Dauphinee AL, Fortmann SP. Targeted advertising, promotion, and price for menthol cigarettes in California high school neighborhoods. Nicotine & Tobacco Res. 2012;14(1),1116-1121. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntr122.
• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Johnson TO, Anderson-Rogers E, Zhang X, Williams RJ. Mind the Gap: Changes in Cigarette Prices after California’s Tax Increase. Tob Regul Sci. 2019;5(6):532-540. doi: 18001/TRS.5.6.5
• Henriksen L, Schleicher NC, Johnson TO, Roeseler A, Zhu S-H. Retail Tobacco Marketing in Rural Versus Nonrural Counties: Product Availability, Discounts, and Prices. Health Promotion Practice. 2020;21(1_suppl):27S-36S. doi:1177/1524839919888652
• Keller-Hamilton B, Ferketich AK, Berman M, Conrad E, Roberts ME. Cigarette Prices in Rural and Urban Ohio: Effects of Census Tract Demographics. Health Promotion Practice. 2020;21(1_suppl):37S-43S. doi:1177/1524839919881141
• Kephart L, Song G, Henley P, Ursprung WS. Single Cigar Price and Availability in Communities With and Without a Cigar Packaging and Pricing Regulation. Prev Chronic Dis 2019;16:180624. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd16.180624external icon
• Kong AY, King BA. Boosting the Tobacco Control Vaccine: recognizing the role of the retail environment in addressing tobacco use and disparities. Tob Control. 2021 Dec;30(e2):e162-e168. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-055722. Epub 2020 Sep 23. PMID: 32967986.
• Kong AY, Queen TL, Golden SD, Ribisl, KM. Neighborhood Disparities in the Availability, Advertising, Promotion, and Youth Appeal of Little Cigars and Cigarillos, United States, 2015, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 22, Issue 12, December 2020, Pages 2170–2177, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa005
• Lee JGL, Henriksen L, Rose SW, et al. A systematic review of neighborhood disparities in Point-of-Sale tobacco marketing. Am J Public Health 2015;105:e8–18
• Slater SJ, Chaloupka FJ, Wakefield M, Johnston LD, O’Malley PM. The impact of retail cigarette marketing practices on youth smoking uptake. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(5):440–445. doi:10.1001/archpedi.161.5.440
• Ribisl KM, D’Angelo H, Feld AL, Schleicher NC, Golden SD, Luke DA, Henriksen L. Disparities in tobacco marketing and product availability at the point of sale: Results of a national study. Prev Med. 2017 Dec;105:381-388. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.04.010. Epub 2017 Apr 6. PMID: 28392252; PMCID: PMC5630502.
• Tauras J, Pesko M, Huang J, Chaloupka F, Farrelly M. The Effect of Cigarette Prices on Cigarette Sales: Exploring Heterogeneity in Price Elasticities at High and Low Prices. National Bureau of Economic Research; 2016. doi:10.3386/w22251.

Last updated February 1, 2022