Dear Retailer:

You have a critical role in preventing the sale of age-restricted products to underage customers.

Whether it is cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes or vapor products, alcohol or other age-restricted products, responsible retailing involves many within your company – from your top management to your frontline sales associates.

The We Card Program, Inc. offers you a wide range of tools and training and education assets to assist your store and your employees in successfully spotting and denying underage attempts to purchase age-restricted products.

We all agree that kids shouldn’t have access to age-restricted products. In fact, it is illegal for retailers to sell them to minors. From the federal law – The Tobacco Control Act – and the requirements of retailers spelled out in FDA regulations, to the varying state and local laws, there are a host of requirements your store and its employees must follow. We Card supplies you with summarized information on those requirements and provides the resources necessary for you to take the lead to make sure your store isn’t the one selling to minors.

For 29 years, We Card has served the retail community – from the independent single storeowner to the largest of retail chains. We Card has become one of the most widely accepted retail training and education programs ever because retailers have voluntarily used its resources.

We hope you will make good use of our website and our many resources. We strongly encourage you to:

• Equip your store with in-store signage and point-of-sale age calculation tools, such as We Card’s Age-of-Purchase Calendar and window/door decals. A complete online catalog of tools and signage are available for easy ordering here online or by calling toll free 1-800-934-3968.
• Train your employees how to identify and deny underage attempts to purchase tobacco, e-cigarettes and vapor products, alcohol and all age-restricted products. We Card’s award-winning online training (elearning) provides state-specific law summaries, FDA Requirements of Retailers, interactive exercises, role-playing, gaming and practice, practice, practice in the steps needed to prevent illegal sales to minors.
• Mystery shop your store using We Card’s ID Check-Up service to gauge the performance of your employees in their “carding” of young looking customers of tobacco, e-cigarettes and vaping products or alcohol products.

Thank you for your active participation in the We Card Program. We hope to continue to be responsive to retailers’ needs by designing the appropriate tools and delivering the finest training program in the country. Please feel free to email us at comments@wecard.org with any comments you may have that would help We Card achieve this purpose.

Sincerely,

Doug Anderson
President
The We Card Program, Inc.