Family Dollar's Values & Image

• What does Family Dollar value? The recent announcement by Family Dollar Stores that they will begin selling cigarettes and other tobacco products provides a most unfortunate answer to that question: profits over health.

• Family Dollar's decision to sell tobacco products is at odds with its family-friendly image. There is nothing family-friendly about selling products that cause more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.

• Tobacco use is not a family value. Families across America have been devastated by tobacco use, both by the loss of their loved ones and the impact on their finances.

• Even though smoking is the #1 cause of preventable death in the United States, Family Dollar has declared it wants to help its customers more easily and cheaply get access to tobacco products. Health is a family value, but apparently not a Family Dollar value.

• Any reputable business has to balance what is good for their bottom line and what is good for the customers and communities they serve. Family Dollar's decision puts tobacco products in the view of their customers (including kids) and makes tobacco products more accessible (convenience and price), throwing everything out of balance.

• Tobacco is the only legal product that when used as intended will harm or kill you. Family Dollar should help promote healthy living instead of promoting products that cause disease and death.

Family Dollar's Customers Do Not Benefit

• Family Dollar's core customer is among the most financially stressed: a female head of household in her mid 40's making less than $40,000/year. Low income people, like their core customers, have the highest smoking rates of any socioeconomic group. Family Dollar should help promote healthy living instead of promoting products that cause disease and death to people who are already stressed by their economic status.

• Family Dollar has to recognize that many of its customers will end up choosing between having food on the table or cigarettes to smoke. A study by the American Journal of Health Promotion found that cigarette consumption is associated with increased "food insecurity" --not always being able to put enough food on the table.

• Family Dollar prides itself on saving its customers money through deals and discounted prices. While this is great for the grocery budget, it will be harmful to the families and communities Family Dollar serves. Lower tobacco prices leads to increased sales and use. Increased tobacco use places greater financial strain on family budgets. It also increases health care costs for employers, workers and taxpayers. For example, state Medicaid program expenditures for tobacco-related diseases total more than $30 billion a year. Discounted tobacco products are more alluring to price-conscious customers who may be thinking about quitting or who are currently trying to quit. It also lowers the price barrier for teens. Greater access and lower prices are Big Tobacco's dream come true.

Family Dollar Bucks The Trend

• Family Dollar's decision is a reversal of a promising trend among pharmacies, grocers and retailers that have elected to pull tobacco products from their shelves. For example, Target hasn't sold tobacco products since 1996, Wegmans since 2008, and many Kmart stores are now going tobacco-free. Additionally, none of Family Dollar's chief rivals, including Dollar Tree, sell tobacco.

Family Dollar's Decision Burdens Customers

• Family Dollar's core customers have limited access to health care and thus are more likely to have their tobacco-related illnesses diagnosed later, after their conditions have worsened and they are in greater need of care and services.

• Family Dollar claims they are doing this for the convenience of their customers, but there is nothing convenient about the cancer, heart disease, oral disease and lung disease that result from tobacco use. Nor do local communities find it convenient when they end up paying for the additional tobacco-related health care costs and are impacted by the lost productivity caused by tobacco use.

Family Dollar's Decision Will Help Market Deadly Products

• The tobacco industry continues to spend more than $10 billion a year to ensure that cigarettes and other tobacco products are advertised heavily, displayed prominently and priced cheaply to appeal to both kids and current tobacco users. With nearly 4,000 kids trying their first cigarette every day in America, Family Dollar should not contribute to the marketing and sale of these addictive, deadly products.