Recently, it was called to our attention that the Family Dollar chain of stores will begin selling tobacco products in the next few months. We consider the company’s decision to sell dangerous and deadly tobacco products to their low-income clientele base, rooted in greed. On the main page of the Family Dollar website a statements reads, “Welcome to family dollar, your neighborhood family discount store where you’ll find the products you and your family need the most at lower prices.”
Did Family Dollar truly consider families when they made the decision to sell tobacco?
A pack a day cigarette habit takes $2,548 a year away from a family; money that could otherwise have been spent on basic needs, like food and clothes, both of which are sold relatively cheaply at Family Dollar.
Still, the true cost of tobacco stretches far beyond the Family Dollar cash registers and even the family budget. It extends to hospitals that care for adults suffering from tobaccorelated illnesses, to clinics, treating children with asthma and other chronic respiratory problems.
The cost also spreads deep into neighborhoods of color, disproportionately harming our youth.
Family Dollar’s decision to sell tobacco impacts young people like the UMOS Fighting Against Corporate Tobacco (FACT) group on the south side, who mentor other teenagers about the harms of tobacco and about corporate tobacco’s deceptive and dangerous marketing practices.
Or the “Youth Rise Up” group at Pathfinders. They are currently developing an action plan to put a stop to Family Dollar’s infiltrate their neighborhood with even more dangerous tobacco products
“Selling tobacco there (Family Dollar) is a terrible idea, especially when you think of all the children and teenagers who shop there,” said Leo Zamora of Youth Rise Up.
There are 10 Family Dollar stores in Milwaukee, most located in high-poverty areas like the one the Wisconsin Hispanic/ Latino Tobacco Prevention Network serves on the south side of Milwaukee and Pathfinders serves on the north and northeast side.
The nearest chains of Family Dollar stores are walking distance from both agencies.
According to tobacco studies, 28.9 percent of adults below the poverty level smoke.
So from a business standpoint, the decision to begin selling tobacco products in the aforementioned neighborhoods will likely be a profitable one.
So I ask, when executives of the chain decided to begin selling cigarettes, did they really consider “FAMILY,” or was all that mattered the “DOLLAR?”
If you are interested in joining the fight to prevent Family Dollar from selling tobacco in their stores; please contact Marty Hagedorn at (414) 840-2191.
Edgar Mendez,
Wisconsin Hispanic/Latino Tobacco Prevention Network
Marty Hagedorn,
Pathfinders/ Youth Rising Up
