RRForum 5th National Conference

May 8-9, 2007. Eldorado Hotel & Spa, Santa Fe, New Mexico

The 5th RRForum was held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on May 8-9, 2007 at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa. The meeting was attended by individuals from 30 states representing retailers and their associations, producers and distributors, regulatory and enforcement agencies, state and federal public health and safety agencies, advocates, RR training organizations, and researchers. As in prior national meetings, the 2007 RR Forum addressed responsible retailing at each of these distinct levels of store, community, state and national policy. What really happens at the point-of-sales?-perspectives on the current retailer environment as it relates to underage sales prevention—began at the national meeting, focused upon current trends in the production and distribution of fake IDs; emerging technologies for detecting them; and a presentation by David Myers—one of the leading international authorities on ID theft—on the connections between age-verification, ID theft and fraud in the realms of retailing and national security.

As a way of furthering cooperative problem-solving by diverse stakeholders, RRF aunched specific work groups. The Policy Work Group—co-chaired by Lynn Walding of the Iowa ABD and Pam Frantz of Beam Global—has been examining questions related to the new STOP Act (especially the provisions for a state “Annual Report” on combating underage drinking and state coalitions) and to issues relating to social sources of alcohol and over-service. The Retailer Work Group—chaired by Mike Roman of ExxonMobil—has been examining how Mystery Shopper programs can be conducted and reported to allow improved measurements within and across chains, how Best Practices adopted by national retail chains (in their Assurances of Voluntary Compliance with state attorneys general) can be extended to smaller chains and communities, and emerging research questions. Both the Policy Work Group and the Retailer Work Group presented their examinations and engaged the RRF in discussions of these issues. A Community RR Work Group—in which the retail associations, regulators and enforcement agents, distributors and other stakeholders who partner in community coalitions to prevent underage access and use will examine and develop “Best Practices for Communities”—was launched during the 2007 meeting.