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February 28, 2005

A Newsletter of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Inc.

By: Thomas A. Briant, Executive Director

The mission of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets continues to be carried out because of the support provided by tobacco retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers and accessory companies through the renewal of their association membership. The 2004 NATO Membership Dues Invoice will be mailed to your business if you are listed as the key contact person in the NATO database.

Retail, wholesale, accessory and manufacturer members should check the appropriate membership dues box on the enclosed invoice and then process the invoice for payment. Please note that annual membership dues may be paid by check or charged to VISA, Mastercard or Discover. For the several retail NATO members that primarily sell tobacco products over the Internet (defined as generating more than 50% of sales from on-line Internet orders), your dues need to be calculated as if you operated a retail store in each state that you sell tobacco products.

Also, if any address or contact information has changed, please make the changes on the enclosed invoice so that the NATO database can be updated. This is especially true if you changed e-mail addresses or have a new e-mail address because NATO can communicate with members more quickly through the use of e-mail than regular mail.

Board of Director Election Results: The results of the annual board member elections have been finalized and the following NATO members were elected to two year terms on the NATO Board of Directors: Velma Hartley, Dave Kepler, Joan Livingston, Steve Norman, Frank Armstrong, Tim McKinney, Chuck Pavona and Mike Cusano. Also, NATO retailer David Newman was appointed by the board to fill a vacant retail board seat. A special thank you to Tom Trader (R.J. Reynolds) and Kimberly Woodard (McLane Company) for being board of director candidates.

Current Board of Directors: With the recent annual board elections completed, the following is a list of your NATO board of directors and current association officers:

These fifteen board members serve NATO as volunteers and they pay for their own travel expenses to attend NATO board meetings and conferences. NATO’s policies and direction are established by this group of dedicated industry representatives.

Project S.T.O.P. Update: NATO staff members have begun calling NATO retailers and wholesalers to inquire how customers have been responding to requests to sign up for Project S.T.O.P. and to determine if NATO members need additional Project S.T.O.P. displays or refills of sign up cards. NATO has already utilized Project S.T.O.P. by e-mailing Pennsylvania consumers in the database to oppose a $.35 per pack cigarette tax increase in that state.

All NATO members should continue to sign up customers as a part of Project S.T.O.P. With state legislatures and Congress coming back into session for 2004, Project S.T.O.P. will be activated each time a state legislature or Congress proposes to unfairly increase cigarette and tobacco taxes.

State Legislative Update: In late December, the Pennsylvania governor signed into law a cigarette tax increase that raised the tax from $1.00 per pack to $1.35 pack. NATO worked to oppose this tax by writing directly to Pennsylvania legislators, drafting letters for Pennsylvania NATO retail members to send to their legislators, sending customer alert sheets to NATO retailers to provide to their customers and broadcasting an urgent Project S.T.O.P. tax alert via e-mail to Pennsylvania consumers in the Project S.T.O.P. database. Also, a bill has just been introduced in Missouri that would increase cigarette taxes by $.57/pack to $.74/pack and raise OTP taxes from 10% to 33.5%. NATO staff members are once again prepared to work with NATO members to oppose these kinds of tobacco bills during 2004.

Congressional Update: The U.S. Senate and U.S. House are scheduled to convene the 2004 Congressional session on January 20th. NATO legislative consultant Jackie Cohen will continue to monitor any tobacco-related legislation that may be considered by Congress. In the event Congress takes up tobacco bills, NATO will inform its members and respond to the legislation.

Plan to Attend the NATO Expo: Every exhibit booth at the upcoming NATO Expo has been sold out and this promises to be an excellent buying trade show for NATO members. In fact, some NATO manufacturers have pledged to offer an additional show special exclusively to NATO members which will make the buying portion of the Expo even more profitable for association retailers and wholesalers. The Expo will take place on March 23-25 at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. The Expo is also an excellent opportunity to learn more about the NATO association and its work by attending the NATO Annual meeting to be held on the morning of Wednesday, March 24th. To register on-line go to www.natoexpo.com or call the Expo registration office at 1-888-737-3976.

NATO to Conduct Retailer Survey: In the upcoming March issue of the NATO Monitor and the March edition of Tobacco Outlet Business magazine, NATO members will be asked to complete a short retail survey to learn about the top concerns of tobacco store owners in today’s marketplace. While NATO is primarily focused on working with association members on legislative issues, the results of the survey will assist the NATO board in determining whether to have NATO become involved in issues other than legislative efforts.

Swisher NATO Membership Promotion: A special thank you to Swisher International for signing up 160 new retail stores as NATO members. NATO is working with Swisher International to have another 40 tobacco stores join under this special membership promotion.

Welcome New Manufacturer Members: NATO welcomes Calico Brands, Rouseco, Inc. and U.S. Cigar Sales as new NATO manufacturer members.

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