We Card’s priority for retailers this September is to re-invigorate training of frontline store employees to boost compliance with federal, state and local laws.
The We Card Program — in its 29th year — is shining a light on the “responsible retailing” of age-restricted products and encourages retailers to make employee training a top priority.
“September’s We Card Awareness Month kicks off with a focus on employee training where we know that trained-and-confident retail employees are the ones best equipped to identify and deny underage purchase attempts of tobacco, vaping and nicotine pouches products,” said Doug Anderson, president of We Card.
We Card and PFMA strongly encourage retailers to take these five important steps:
- Train all newly-hired employees and re-train veteran employees using comprehensive eLearning training – either store developed or offered through We Card. Make sure to train on FDA requirements of retailers and state law requirements along with role playing practice at “carding” (or ID scanning if that’s the store’s practice). When employees know “What to Say” as they “card” and deny underage purchase attempts, they can maintain both compliance and serve customers in a customer-service friendly manner.
- Update in-store signage and training materials to ensure the store communicates to customers (and reminds employees too) of the “We Card” message. It’s important for employees to have the latest tools and information to prevent the underage sale of tobacco and vapor products. On September 1st, retailers can order We Card’s 2025 Kits and Age of Purchase Calendars.
- Gauge employee performance through mystery shopping checks to confirm employees are properly “carding” or scanning IDs. We Card’s service, ID Check-Up, uses 21+ year old checkers with an online management reporting portal tool.
- Compare your store practices against We Card’s Guide to Best Practices – complete a brief survey to download the free Guide.
- Join in on We Card’s campaign to raise awareness of the underage access problem of “social sourcing” by ordering a free in-store campaign kit of materials. Research continues to show that underage youth report getting access to tobacco and vaping products 80%+ of the time through social sourcing, such as bumming, borrowing or getting an adult to purchase (or give) on their behalf. We Card’s campaign focuses on raising awareness of one element of the problem of social sourcing where those underage ask 21+ year old adults to buy or provide to them tobacco or vaping products.
For We Card’s resources for retailers, visit www.wecard.org.
In Focus
Legal compliance with FDA regulations, federal, state and local laws is an important part of “responsible retailing” of age-restricted products. The FDA regularly conducts store inspections to the tune of 9,000 store visits per month. Pennsylvania state government compliance checks also measure retailers’ compliance with state youth access laws.
