State and Federal Sales Laws on Vaping and Tobacco retail sales change fairly often.  The Federal minimum age law to buy vaping or tobacco products changed to age 21 in December 2019, and since that time many states have changed their laws to follow this new federal law. 

Some laws change immediately with little or no time to prepare (which was the case for the new 21-year-old minimum-age law) and other law changes come along with plenty of lead time.  Clearly, the last thing you want is your customers knowing about a new law before your sales associates.

This brings us to We Card Best Practice #14:

         Keep Your Managers and Employees Up to Date on Issues Affecting Your Store and Tobacco

         and Vapor Sales.

There are many great ways to keep up with changing laws and regulations.

Consider subscribing to newsletters – such as the We Card eNews – periodically check We Card’s Resource Center (both at wecard.org) and otherwise be vigilant about making sure your retail store is completely up-to-speed. 

And make sure that your front-line employees know what the existing laws and regulations are as well.  Keep compliance information front and center by using regular newsletters, refresher training and posting signs in the employee break areas.

Along with your regular efforts, joining a state or national trade association is another great way to make sure you’re up-to-speed.  After all, trade organizations focus their offerings on providing you important updates, best practices and regular industry information. 

There’s lots more to learn and we encourage visits to We Card’s website where we’ve created resources from state law summaries, information about state-required signs, the latest of FDA requirements, and mystery shopping services like We Card’s ID Check Up.