RTDA Report
Chris Tarler, 47, Vice President of Operations, and Keith Toney, general sales manager, for Cornell & Diehl, Inc., Hand Blended Pipe Tobaccos of Morganton, N.C., have just returned from the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA) annual gathering, this time in New Orleans, which is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina of four years ago.
On a general note, the RTDA attendance was down about 25 percent, says Tarler. But on the positive side, he saw more young 20-to-30 somethings retail store owners who have taken over tobacco shops as older heads retire. That’s a good picture for the industry: youngsters coming in, which means they will carry on, and bring new, fresh ideas to the business.
Tarler says he thinks the drop in attendance is likely a case of the economy being off. Plus, some distributors made pre-orders before the show, he says.
“There were about 750 retailers who signed up for the show,” says Tarler. “I think the reason attendance was down had more to do with the economy. Stores just have not been stocking as much.
“But, overall, it was well attended.It was a nice show with beautiful displays. Both cigars and pipes were well represented,” Tarler says.
“I just think people didn’t have the money to go to the show,” he said.
Tarler said that just about everyone at the RTDA agreed that the nation’s droll economy figured heavily in the off-attendance. Plus, he said, many stores are changing hands.
C&D Sales Manager Toney also pointed out that the last time the RTDA was held in New Orleans was two weeks before Hurricane Katrina wrecked New Orleans, becoming one of the five deadliest storms and the sixth strongest to ever strike North American shores.
As for some of the new FDA Tobacco Control Act laws that are on the nation’s books now, Tarler says most of the people he talked to at RTDA are not that worried.
“The impression I got from pipe and cigar people, like Castello, Peterson, Fuentes, Comancho, is that the FDA law really isn’t making the retailers run scared, but is scaring the consumer,” Tarler says.
“If nothing else weird happens, most feel the industry should be fine. That is the prevailing view. It is a good positive,” he says.
“The fear, most said, was coming from the consumer level and not the retail level.”
And, Tarler pointed out, that pipes and cigars represent a much smaller percentage of the industry. It would take a great deal of effort to raise that much revenue in taxes from pipes and cigars.
He also noted that small tobacco manufacturers, such as C&D, have a couple of years to implement the law, and probably another four or so before the laws take effect for those manufacturers.
Still, he says, there is the worry from some corners of the business that the new FDA Tobacco Control Act recently bulldozed through Congress, will at some point take aim at pipes and cigars.
Politically speaking, Tarler says, it was much easier for President Obama’s Administration to get the SCHIP law passed right away. Now, the nation is focused on health care and Congressmen are discovering just how much discourse over that issue is out there in the hustings. It ain’t a pretty sight, and isn’t going to go away soon.
The health care issue has taken the focus away from tobacco and Congressmen are now finding out that their jobs are at stake as well.
“But, it is good to get that conversation going. I’m just not sure how long it takes to get that information to the those ears who need to hear it.”
It was refreshing to hear what Chris had to say about implementation of the Family Tobacco Control Act. If he is right, we may have more time to stock our cellars with tobacco. Thank you for providing this valuable information.
The one concern I have is will there be some pipe tobacco manufacturers, distributors, or dealers who, as a result of cost increases because of the additional SCHIP tax and their understandable reluctance to raise costs to consumers, who will downgrade the quality of the tobacco that is used in their products.