It is an exciting time in the public health world!  State and local policymakers are taking action to reduce the availability of the tobacco industry’s deadly products in the retail environment. To help its funded projects further this work, the California Tobacco Prevention Program (CTPP) recently released new resources for education and implementation of flavored tobacco sales restriction policies, including SB 793 in particular.

Here are a few things to know about the many resources for conducting retail observation surveys:

These retail observation tools CANNOT be used for enforcement

Due to the nature of our CTPP funding, these retail observations are NOT to be used for enforcement.  Instead, these activities can help identify opportunities for education, advocacy, and collaboration. Check out Partners for information about partnering with local law enforcement, including scenarios, case studies, and sample resources.  

There are multiple retail surveys, and each has a separate focus and function

1. Local Adult Flavored Tobacco Purchase Survey (LAFTPS) = the new survey CTPP recently released. It will help local projects assess the need for more education in their communities about the state or local flavored tobacco sales restrictions. Since this is a new activity, most projects will need to make plan revisions with their program consultant at CTPP. 
2. Young Adult Tobacco Purchase Survey (YATPS) = the main outcome evaluation measure for tobacco retail licensing (TRL) objectives. The YATPS can do many things, including help document the scope of the problem, justify the need for policy change, engage youth in tobacco prevention work, and highlight the need for education. The YATPS page also includes information about partnering with local law enforcement, accessing a tobacco retailer list, and other helpful resources for conducting YATPS. 
3. End Commercial Tobacco Campaign (ECTC) = the observation surveys required of each Local Lead Agency as part of their endgame objectives. The retail observation survey for ECTC and all accompanying resources are provided by TCEC only. The next wave of ECTC observation surveys is coming in the Winter/Spring of 2024, so stay tuned! Note: of the four retail observation surveys linked here, the ECTC retail observation is the only one that CANNOT be edited. This is because the ECTC retail observation is a CTPP-prescribed activity that all LLAs must complete in a specified way and during a specified time period.
4. Other Retail Observation Surveys = the category to describe any other activity not listed as LAFTPS, YATPS, or ECTC. The focus of these activities includes tobacco product availability, placement, signage, advertisements, price promotions, and other characteristics of the tobacco retail environment. For examples of data collection instruments that other projects have used in the past, check out our data collection instrument database.  

Support for retail observation surveys

As you can see, there are several options for projects working on tobacco retail objectives. In addition to all of these resources already listed, TCEC also serves as a resource to you. We're here to help you if you're interested in conducting activities on mobile devices, revising your surveys, thinking through the logistics of your data collection, or any other evaluation-related activities. And it's not just limited to retail!