4 Common (But Costly) “Carding” Mistakes Your Employees May Be Making at The Register
If your employees are making these common mistakes, it may end up costing you big.
We all make mistakes. It’s a natural and understandable part of human nature. But it doesn’t mean we should be OK with mistakes being made, or that we should just shrug them off when they occur. Mistakes in the retail space can be costly (both financially and legally), especially those associated with selling age-restricted products like cigarettes, vapor products and alternative nicotine products.
As a responsible manager, it’s your job to both properly train your employees so mistakes are minimized in the first place, but also to be on the lookout for potential mistakes, and correct behavior before it turns into a very expensive issue for your store.
The good news is you don’t have to wait to make a mistake before you fix it. You can learn from others’ mistakes too. Here are four common mistakes employees make at the register to keep an eye out for.
#1: Forgetting to Card
Let’s start off with an easy one – if your employees aren’t checking IDs of customers buying age-restricted products, they’re opening you up to a world of compliance violations, fines and potentially even more. Your employees must check the IDs of everyone under the age of 30, every single time. It’ the law.
Which leads to a second common mistake . . .
#2: Not Carding “Of Age” Customers
You can’t assume someone is of age just because they may be over 21. Remember, all customers under 30 years old must be carded properly each-and-every transaction even if the same 25-year-old was correctly carded yesterday. There are no exceptions to the law.
The number one reason we see stores fail to pass compliance checks is that an employee assumed a customer looked old enough and didn’t ask for an ID. It’s best to err on the side of caution, so if there is any doubt a customer might be under the age of 30, your employees must card them.
Important: Store managers and co-workers cannot vouch for a customer’s age. The each-and-every time requirement must be followed.
#3: Carding, But Not Properly Examining an ID
Asking for ID is only the first step in verifying a person is allowed to buy age-restricted products. Your staff must examine an ID AND verify the customer is 21 years of age or older.
How do you examine the ID?
Use the HOLD, SWEEP, FLIP technique:
- HOLD: Have the customer hand you their ID and hold it in your hand (Do not examine an ID that’s still in a wallet. Ask the customer to remove the ID from the wallet and give it to you.)
- SWEEP your finger across the ID to feel for bumps that could indicate it’s been altered
- FLIP the ID over and check the back for a barcode – if there’s no bar code or stripe, it’s most likely a fake ID.
Now, verify the customer and examine the date-of-birth and expiration date.
- Match the photo of the ID to the customer to make sure it’s their ID
- Check the expiration date. If the ID is expired, it is an invalid ID, and you cannot make the sale.
- Check the date-of-birth – use your store’s ID scanning technology to verify the customer’s age or use other age calculation tools, like We Card Age of Purchase Calendar to determine if the customer is of 21 or older.
This process should be done with every ID, regardless of how busy the store is or how long the line to the register is. Try having a We Card ID Scanner Tipsheet on hand if your store uses ID scanning technology so your employees always know what they need to do.
Important: Make sure to inform your employees that underage teens may show you their actual ID hoping that you won’t properly examine it because they appear “old enough” or see that the store is busy. Studies have shown that illegal underage sales frequently occur when an employee fails to verify the age of the customer show has provided their underage ID, especially when the underage customer appears confident and produces a photo ID without being asked and appears to be of legal age.
#4: Bypassing the ID Scanner or the Age Prompt of the POS System
Point-of-sale systems may have a way to bypass or override their normal ID scanning or the age prompt’s date-of-birth entry process. Some employees may overuse this feature to speed up a sale without a proper verification. It’s up to store managers to monitor the frequency of any overriding of the normal process. When employees know it’s being monitored, they’ll know proper performance is expected.
Have you seen your employees make any of these mistakes? If so, there are two great ways to correct their behavior. The first is to make sure they have access to all the proper materials and signage to reference. Browse We Card’s online catalog for useful age-of-purchase calendars and tip sheets. And it may be a good idea to enroll struggling employees in a refresher training course to keep their skills sharp.
You know what they say: When you don’t learn from your mistakes, you’re bound to repeat them!
Learn more tips and training advice at WeCard.org.
