There are many laws of nature that control our lives, with various effects. One of these laws is the Law of Unintended Consequences.

It hits the ground with annoying regularity. It does not play favorites. It’s the law of nature, after all.

Thus, the state legislation that attempted to control “what” and “how” of the tobacco retail in Massachusetts is reported to encounter the unintended consequences of its rulings.

As New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association (NECSEMA) said that "Massachusetts' extreme tobacco taxes and sweeping flavor ban are fueling a booming illegal tobacco market, costing the state hundreds of millions in lost tax revenue while devastating law-abiding local retailers and flooding the state with uninspected and potentially harmful nicotine products."

It added that additional restrictions on legal tobacco product sales — namely nicotine-free generation proposals and adult-only store sales — will exacerbate the problem.

For example, seizures of vape products by the Massachusetts State Police increased nearly 21,000% in just one year, jumping from 1,326 units to 279,432 illegal products in fiscal year 2024.

Despite increased enforcement, the illicit market is costing Massachusetts tons of money: the state coffers have lost nearly $240 million in excise tax revenue since 2018.

This is clear evidence of just how misguided additional prohibitions would be.

You’d think that the story of the Prohibition, with its notorious gangsters and massive numbers of poisoning by poorly distilled surrogate liquor, should be familiar to all – if not from the history books (who these days reads them), but at least from dozens of excellent movies about this era in American history.

But apparently when lawmakers choose to instill their will on the populus, they don’t have to consult history. And thus, they reap the unexpected consequences.

What we see here is an obvious contradiction between customers’ desire to purchase a product (demand) and industry’s inability, due to legislative pressure, to sell the product (supply), and it needs to be resolved to the mutual satisfaction of all parties involved. In a market economy, the central figure of this equation is the customer.

Essentially, the consumers want to consume and the retailers want to supply the consumers’ wants and needs.

In order to keep the business running smoothly in these stormy waters, the age-old science of KYC becomes increasingly important. A demographic analysis report, along with demographic reports by city, zip code, or radius, as well as data on the demographics of retail customers (retail store demographics) and potential customers passing by your location, are available and easily accessible with Ticon.

For those who still don’t know, KYC stands for “Know Your Customer”. And here at Ticon, we work hard, day and night, helping our retail partners in achieving the most complete knowledge of their customers: those  who live within their trade area, as well as those who drive by their stores – we call the last category “Traffic Flow Demographic”.

Do not delay. Call us and ask us about Ticon’s renown location intelligence reports for your business, now augmented with highly granular demographics courtesy of our new business partner, Map AI.