FDA has increased its fines to reflect rising inflation so as of 11-15-21, all levels of fines on the illegal underage sale of age-restricted products have gone up.  FDA hasn't changed the first violation as a warning but keep in mind 1) not checking an under 27 year old customer's ID and 2) selling to someone underage counts as two violations which means a single compliance inspection can get you to 2 violations.  The previous fine was $297, and the new fine is $301.  This doesn't seem like much until you get to higher violation amounts.  Check out our updated chart on these fines in our Resource Center's Federal Law Summary or within your state law summary which also shows the federal fines and penalties. 

Meanwhile, with FDA's actions and the year ending, now is a good time to update your We Card materials by ordering the We Card Renewal Kit. 

The We Card 2022 page-a-day calendar provides a quick look “Born After This Date?” for every day of the year.  As each page of the calendar is removed, the date for the Born After This Date changes.  While it's a paper-based tool and the world is moving to everything electronic, the calendar remains one of the most valuable items.  It serves three vital purposes: 

1. As an age calculation tool, reminding employees of the correct date that should show on a customer’s ID.
2. Alerting customers that they will be carded; and,
3. Removing a page each day reminds employees to card every customer under age 30 -- and it is a great reminder of the current date.

The We Card Employee Guide (2 in a Renewal Kit) has lots of important information:  it covers current Federal law and FDA requirements on vaping products, e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah and pipe tobacco and many more; it has a summary of your state law (on purchase, you specify your state); and it is full of training tips like We Card’s AERO method of handling underage purchase attempts; the Hold, Sweep, Flip technique on verifying IDs and a sample employee quiz.  The Guide is vitally important to ensure employees are trained and ready.

There are training Tipsheets like “How to Spot a Fake ID” and “Age-Restricted Products - Adults Purchasing for Minors” (also known as social source, see We Card’s Pledge Program), Age of Purchase decals and Window/Door Decals.

And beyond the renewal kit, We Card has a full suite of products and services to help you comply with laws and regulations.  Here's a quick rundown:

• Online training courses for both front-line and managers and refresher training.
• We Card ID Check-Up service to make sure your employees are asking for ID
• The We Card Age Checker app is available in both Google and Apple App stores.  The App works on mobile devices and reads the bar code to return an age result: sale or no sale
• We Card's Resource Center has a full range of resources from best practices to sample company policies.
• A full rundown on state laws and federal regulations retailers need to know from required signs to underage ID characteristics
• Details and links to age verification tools from We Card's calendar to where to buy scanners.

About We Card: The We Card Program, Inc. is a national non-profit organization that represents a unified effort among trade associations, retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. It was created 26 years ago to support retailers of tobacco and other age-restricted products. Individual retail establishments as well as large retail chains use We Card's educational and training services to comply with federal and state laws while working to prevent underage tobacco, vapor and other age-restricted product sales. National and state retail trade associations, government officials, community groups and others also support We Card's ongoing efforts to educate and train retailers.