ABSTRACT
The National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) last week released an updated fact sheet for provisions of the Synar Amendment, including revisions made as a result of COVID‐19. The Synar Amendment, named for the late former Congressman Mike Synar (D‐Okla.), requires states to prohibit the sale or distribution of tobacco products to minors. The update, by NASADAD's Lacy Adams, noted the following events.
ABSTRACT
The fact that we are talking about how to survive recession for the second time in two years is a timely reminder that we must not take our clients or our businesses for granted. This article describes the key aspects of your business to think about and some simple marketing plans to put in place that will help you to win customers and survive this current storm in the best financial shape possible.
ABSTRACT
At farmers' markets, the SNAP dollars are doubled, up to $20, to incentivize the purchase of produce through the Double Up Food Bucks Arizona (DFBA) program. In 2020, during COVID, the $20 DFBA limit was removed. To determine the effectiveness of unlimited DFBA in increasing DFBA transactions, sales, and redemptions at one Heirloom Farmers Market in Pima County. Before shopping, customers provided market staff their Electronic Benefits Transfer card, which was swiped through the farmers' market Point of Sale machine with a predetermined dollar amount. The SNAP dollars and an equal value of DFBA were given back to the customer as scrip, the market's currency, to be spent on produce. The DFBA transactions, sales, and redemptions were recorded by market staff before (March 19, 2019 - March 7, 2020) and during (March 22, 2020 - December 20, 2020) COVID. The DFBA transactions were the number of instances DFBA were given to SNAP farmers' market customers. The DFBA sales indicated the total number of DFBA dollars that were distributed at the farmers' market. The DFBA redemptions were the DFBA dollars that were spent on produce at vendor booths. Independent sample t tests were performed on normally distributed data from before (2019) and during (2020) COVID to test for an association between DFBA transactions (before: x̅ = 16.38, SD = 5.98;during: x̅ = 31.46, SD = 13.04), sales (before: x̅ = $316.57, SD = $159.08;during: x̅ = $1196.45, SD = $549.36), and redemptions (before: x̅ = $281.33, SD = $92.77;during: x̅ = $962.95, SD = $334.07). Results demonstrate that DFBA transactions, sales, and redemptions, significantly (P < 0.001) increased when the DFBA limit was removed. Unlimited DFBA increased DFBA transactions, sales, and redemptions during COVID. These findings indicate that by removing the DFBA limit, produce purchases, by SNAP customers, increased. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Education