Interviews with Tobacco Retailers to Inform Retailer Education

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide

Retailer EducationClerk Interview Protocol
Interview Introduction and Verbal Consent Script
Hello, this is with Decision Partners. Thank you for agreeing to participate in our research.
As mentioned when we set up the interview, we are doing research to learn about the beliefs,
decision making and communication needs of managers and clerks in stores where tobacco
products are sold. This will be used to help design effective education campaigns and
communication strategies for retailers about federal tobacco regulations. Participating in this
interview may not help you individually, but it will provide valuable information that will help us
develop better educational materials for clerks such as yourself.
Our conversation should take about 45 minutes and you will receive $30 for your participation in the
interview. I have a list of questions, but please feel free to raise anything that comes to mind as we
go along. There are no right or wrong answers and all of your comments will add value. This
interview is voluntary, meaning you can stop the interview at any time or choose not to answer
questions.
The interview involves no risk of injury. The main risk is a small one, that your interview data could
be revealed. We are taking several steps, however, to protect your privacy and prevent that from
ever happening. I want to assure you that your identity and the identity of the store you work for will
be kept private. Your name will never be linked with your interview responses. Our report will
combine the responses of everyone we speak with, with no particular person or store name used.
Additionally, your employer will not be notified of your participation in this interview, nor will they
have access to the information you provide during the interview. My notes from this interview will be
kept on a protected computer and will not be linked with your name or the name of your store.
In order to ensure that my notes of our conversation are accurate and complete, I’d like to ask your
permission to record our conversation. Again, I would like to stress that your responses will be kept
private. You will not be able to be identified through the recording. The recording will be used to help
me write my report and will be destroyed after the report is written.
You may ask questions or express concerns about this consent, the study, your rights as a research
subject, or report problems or research-related injuries at any time before, during or after the study.
You may contact the research team through the Principal Investigator of the study, Greta Tessman
at 301-796-6722. If you prefer to contact someone outside of the research team, you may contact
the Call Center at the Center for Tobacco Products at 1-877-287-1373. If you call after hours, select
option #5 (general public), then option #4 (general public) to leave a message. [For in-person
interviews only, provide written copy of this information to participants]
Do you have any questions?
Do you agree to participate in the interview? (Interviewer to note response and proceed accordingly)
___Yes

___No

Do you agree to be audiotaped? (Interviewer to note response and proceed accordingly)
___Yes

___No

____________________________________________

____________

Witness Name (Printed)

Date

____________________________________________

____________

Witness Signature

Date

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide
Interview Opening
Our discussion will take place in five parts. First we’ll talk generally about your store and your work
responsibilities. Second, we’ll focus on your experiences with customers who come to your store to
purchase cigarettes and other tobacco products. Then we’ll talk about your store’s rules related to
such sales. Following that, we’ll talk about federal laws related to selling tobacco products. Finally,
we’ll finish up with your thoughts about tobacco use in general.
Interviewer Note: If the interviewee seems hesitant or uncomfortable with an open-ended question,
remind him or her, as appropriate, that you are interested in understanding what first comes to his or
her mind about this topic. If he or she has nothing to say or does not want to answer the question,
move on to the next question.
Section 1. Outlet and Clerk Characteristics
First, let’s begin by talking generally about the store you work in and your job.
1. Please tell me about the store where you work. What kind of store is it?
If not mentioned or obtained during screening:
 If needed: Is it a gas station, a convenience store, a grocery store, or more of a general store
(like Wal-Mart, or a Dollar Store)?
 How big is the store/gas station? How many people are working the registers when the
store/gas station is busy?
 Is it part of a chain?
 If a single owner: does the owner own more than one store/gas station?
2. Please tell me about your job. What are your primary responsibilities at the store/gas
station?
If not mentioned:
 How long have you worked there?
 How many hours do you work per week?
 How often do you work the cash register?
 Do you supervise other clerks?
3. Tell me about the neighborhood where the store/gas station is located?
If not mentioned:
 Do a lot of people live within walking distance?
 Would you say it is:
o An urban area, in or very close to a larger city;
o A suburban area outside of but within several miles of a larger city; or
o A rural area, a small town or rural area, farther away from a large city?
 How close is it to the nearest school? What grades go there?
3a. How would you describe the customers who shop at the store?
If needed:
 Are most of your customers people who live close by or, are they people just driving by or
through your neighborhood or town?
 What percentage of your customers would you say are under 18?
 Tell me about the ethnic diversity in the customers who come in.
 Tell me about the primary languages that your customers speak. Do you experience any
difficulties because of the languages spoken? If so, how to you handle these challenges?
 Do you have a lot of regular or repeat customers?

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide
Section 2. Clerk Perceptions, Beliefs and Decisions at Point of Sale
Now, I’m going talk to you about selling tobacco products in your store/gas station.
4. When I say ‘tobacco products’ what comes to mind? Anything else?
Just so we are on the same page, when I say tobacco products I’m talking about cigarettes,
smokeless or chewing tobacco, and for roll-your-own tobacco.
4a. What kinds of tobacco products are sold in your store/gas station?
5. Now I’d like you to think about when someone comes to your register and asks to buy
tobacco products. Walk me through what happens and what you do.
 General prompts: What happens next? And then what? Anything else?
Interviewer: We want to give them an opportunity to spontaneously mention age, asking for ID
and verifying age, and denying a sale if there is no ID or improper ID. If they do mention any of
these, don’t ask for more detail on these now, continue with the generic follow-ups to finish
walking through the sale and then ask the appropriate follow-ups in the questions below.
5a. How does a tobacco sale differ from any other sale, say someone buying milk or bread?
5b. Does the customer’s age affect what you do when they want to buy tobacco products?
How?
If needed:
 What do you do if you think they may be under 18?
6. If not mentioned: Do you ever ask for ID?
If not: Why not? Can you imagine a situation when you would check someone’s ID?
If they say they never ask for ID: go to question 12
If they check ID or can imagine a situation where they would:
 When do you ask for ID? What are you looking for or what are you seeing that makes you
think that you need to ask a customer for their ID?
If not clear: Why does that make you think that they need to be carded?
If needed:
 Is there something about their appearance, the clothes they wear, their height or size?
 How does their apparent age affect if you ask for ID? How do you judge their age?
 Do you ask people for ID if you think they are over 18 but younger than 27? How would you
tell if someone is older than 27?
6a. Does the customer’s behavior affect whether you ask for ID? How?
6b. Do you ask customers that you know for ID ?
 What do you do if it is someone you know well?
 What do you do if it’s someone you’ve carded before?
7. How do you ask a person for ID? What do you say?
8. Based on your experience, how do people react when you ask for ID?
 Do you ever find it difficult or awkward to ask for ID? If yes: when?
 What makes it harder, or easier, to ask someone for ID?
 Do people who you think are under 18 react any differently when asked for ID?
 What do you do if the customer doesn’t have an ID?

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide
9. Can you tell me what you do when you check an ID? What are you looking for?
 Can you tell if an ID is real? How?
 Have you ever been trained on how to check an ID? How was that training?
 What makes it easier or harder to determine someone’s age on their ID?
 Does your store have anything to help you check someone’s ID? (Examples would be
calendars or technologies that help verify age)
o If yes: When do you use that, and when don’t you use it?
10. Overall, how comfortable are you asking someone you think is probably 18 or older for
ID? Would you say you are: Completely comfortable; Somewhat comfortable; Neither
comfortable nor uncomfortable; Not very comfortable; Not at all comfortable. Why do you say
that?
11. Overall, how comfortable are you asking someone you think is under 18 for ID? Would
you say you are: Completely comfortable; Somewhat comfortable; Neither comfortable nor
uncomfortable; Not very comfortable; Not at all comfortable. Why do you say that?
12. Have you ever had to tell someone you can’t sell tobacco products to them?
If no: Have you ever seen another clerk tell someone that they can’t buy tobacco products?
If no: skip to question 15.
If yes to either:
 How often does this happen?
 Please tell me what happened. [If they indicate this happens frequently, ask them to think
about the last time or the most memorable.]
 How did the person act?
 How did you feel?
12a. Have you ever had to deny a sale to someone because they didn't have an ID?
 Have you ever had to deny a sale because someone had a fake ID?
 Have you ever denied a sale without even checking ID? Why?
13. Overall, how comfortable are you telling someone that you can’t sell them a tobacco
product? Would you say you are: Completely comfortable; Somewhat comfortable; Neither
comfortable nor uncomfortable; Not very comfortable; Not at all comfortable. Why do you say
that?
13a. Are there situations where it is more difficult to tell someone you can’t sell them a
tobacco product? If so: Tell me about that.
14. Is there anything that would make it easier to deny a sale?
 Have you had any training in how to do this?
 (If yes): Can you tell me about that?
Section 3. Store Policies and Practices
In this next section I’m going to ask about your store’s policies and practices.
15. So, to start off, how does your manager or supervisor communicate, or let you and other
staff know about your store’s rules or policies?
 Who is responsible for communicating this information to you?
 How effective is that? How might it be improved?
 Where would you go if you wanted more information about a store policy?
 How do they let you know if there are changes to store policies?
 How often do you receive updates about store policies?
 How informed do you feel about the policies?

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide

16. Have you received any training on your store’s rules or policies? If so: Can you describe
the training?
If needed:
 Did you go to a training class or was it just on-the-job training?
 What happened in that training? What did it cover?
 Were you given any written materials, a video, or was it just talking?
 If any materials are used: Can you describe those materials of videos to me? Do you know
where they came from?
 What did you like about the training or think was most effective?
 What didn’t you like about the training or think was less effective?
17. Tell me about your store’s rules or policies about checking ID and about when to sell or
not sell tobacco products?
 What are you supposed to do?
 Is there anything you not supposed to do? If yes can you describe this to me?
 Why do you think these policies are in place?
 Have these policies changed since you’ve been working at your job? If so: How have they
changed? Why did they change? How did you learn about the changes?
18. When and how did you learn about these rules or policies around selling tobacco
products?
 Who explained them to you?
 Did you go to a training class or was it just on-the-job training?
If tobacco sales policy training not discussed in earlier training question:
 What happened in that training?
 Were you given any written materials related to selling tobacco products, a video, or was it
just talking?
 If any materials used: Can you describe those materials or videos to me? Do you know
where they came from?
 What did you like about the training or think was most effective?
 What didn’t you like about the training or think was less effective?
18a. Is there anything else your store does to help clerks know and follow the policies?
 Does the store have signs or other ways to remind you of store policies?
19. How confident are you that you know and understand your store’s rules or policies about
checking ID and around selling tobacco products? Would you say that you are: very
confident, somewhat confident, neither confident nor unconfident, not very confident, or not at all
confident? Why do you say that?
19a. Does your manager or supervisor do anything to make sure clerks are following these
policies?
19b. What happens if a clerk in your store doesn’t follow these policies?
19c. How, if at all, are clerks encouraged to follow the rules and policies?
Section 4. Perceptions of external influences, regulations and communications
Now I’d like to ask you some questions about the laws that might apply to the sale of tobacco
products.
20. What can you tell me about any laws about what you should do when a customer wants to
buy cigarettes or other tobacco products?

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide
If needed:
 Where do these laws come from?
 How did you learn about them?
 Are these laws related to the store policies you mentioned before?
21. What happens if a clerk is caught not following the laws?
If needed:
 What could happen to the clerk?
 What could happen to their manager?
 What could happen to their store (or its parent company)?
 Who do you think would be responsible for enforcing the laws?
 How likely is a clerk to be caught if they don’t follow these laws?
22. [If have not mentioned FDA:] Have you ever heard about the Food and Drug Administration
or the FDA? [For all:] Briefly, what do you know about the FDA?
Did you know that the FDA regulates tobacco products?
If yes
Just to make sure that we’re on the same page: The FDA was given the authority to regulate certain
tobacco products in 2009 and they have developed new federal laws around such things as
checking ID and the sale of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products to youth.
23. What do you think it means to regulate tobacco products? Do you know how FDA does
this?
If needed:
a. Makes laws
b. Conducting compliance inspections
c. Enforces laws
24. How helpful would it be for you to know more about the FDA’s laws on selling tobacco
products? Would you say it would be: Very helpful, somewhat helpful, not very helpful, or not
at all helpful?
 If you wanted more information, what kind of information would you want? What is the best
way for you to get it?
If needed:
 For example, would it be best to get it in-store meetings, from government officials, by video,
in posters, in paper handouts, on the web, by email, twitter, etc.
 Would you want to get this information yourself or should it come through the store?
If rating is “not very helpful or not at all helpful”:
 Is there anyone in the store you think should have this information? If so: Who?
The FDA has a retailer education campaign called Break the Chain of Tobacco Addiction to
help retailers who sell tobacco products understand the laws.
25. Have you ever heard or seen anything about the Break the Chain of Tobacco Addiction
campaign?
If yes:
 What can you tell me about it?
 Who is the information designed for?
 Where did you hear about it?
 What works well with this program?
 What could be better?
Interviewer: The following question is optional if the interview is not running long.

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide

26. There are other programs that provide information to stores about tobacco regulations
and how to comply with tobacco sale regulations. Have you ever heard of these programs
or similar programs?
If yes, as needed:
 What programs have you heard of?
For each program:
 Where and how did you hear about it?
 Briefly, what are your thoughts about this program?
 What works well?
 What could work better/be improved?
Section 5: Closing
27. Why do you think there are laws to keep youth from buying tobacco products?
27a. How effective do you think these laws are in keeping youth from buying tobacco
products? Would you say they are: Very effective, somewhat effective, not very effective, or not
at all effective?
27b. How effective do you think these laws are in keeping youth from using tobacco
products? Would you say they are: Very effective, somewhat effective, not very effective, or not
at all effective?
28. As a clerk, do you think you have a role in helping to prevent youth from buying tobacco
products? Why?
28a. How important do you think your role is in helping to prevent youth from using tobacco
products? Would you say that it is: very important, somewhat important, not very important or
not at all important? Why do you say that?
29. Those were all of the main questions that I had. Was there anything that you think is
important with respect to laws about tobacco sales and asking for ID that we didn’t cover?
30. What advice would you give to the FDA or other organizations about how to communicate
to clerks about the kinds of laws we have been talking about today?
To finish up, I have a few questions to ask about you:
31. What is your approximate age? Are you: Under 20; 20-24; 25-34; 35-49; 50 or over
32. How would you describe your race:
[DO NOT READ OPTIONS. OK if person gives more than one response. If multiple
responses include “White” or “Caucasian,” count as “Other.” If “multiple races are
mentioned” record as other.]


(1) Hispanic



Non-Hispanic
(2) White
(3) Black or African American
(4) American Indian or Alaska Native
(5) Asian
(6) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Appendix E: Clerk Interview Guide
(7) Multiple races mentioned
(8) Other: __________________
33. Approximately how much schooling have you had:
 Less than High School or attending high school now
 High School Graduate
 Some college
 College graduate
34. Do you currently use any tobacco products?
 Have you ever used tobacco products on a regular basis?
 How long ago was that?
Note: Gender, State, Location
We are working with FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products on this project. This information will be
used to help FDA develop and deliver effective communication strategies and education materials
for retailers. We thank you for your time. Your input has been very helpful.
[If interview takes place in person] Thank you again for your participation. Interviewer to hand
participant $30 cash incentive.
[If interview takes place by phone] Thank you again for talking with me today. We will mail you a $30
check for your participation. I will also include a copy of the information we went over at the
beginning of the interview that discusses your rights as a research participant and who to contact if
you have any questions about this study. Your mailing address will only be used to mail you these
materials. Your personal information will be destroyed after that and will never be connected with
your interview responses.