I'm Really Happy I Don't Smoke.

[ralerin]

But I am upset about this latest escapade handed down to us from the company that delivers our cigarettes.

Background: I'm not sure if this is practiced in all the states or even around the world, but in some, mine included, there's a small stamp on the bottom of each pack of cigarettes. Like this. It's basically got the state's name and some numbers on the bottom. Ours is green currently (I guess it changes color? It used to be blue) and a little fancier, but you get the general idea. It's supposed to prove that it's not a counterfeit taken from the black market and it's been properly taxed or something.

We've been told that we have to pick through every single pack in the 15 foot long display of cigarettes behind the counter for that stamp. If it's missing or damaged so the numbers are unreadable, we have to put that pack into a box, sorted by size/strength (100, 80, 99, 72, etc), brand, type of cigarette (menthol, non menthol, lights, filter, non filtered, etc) and with the tags facing up so the representative can see them. We will be credited for the "damaged" cigarettes.

10 feet of cigarettes x 5 feet of storage for random cigarettes not in a planogram and for cartons x 10 feet of shelves under the 10 foot display with room to fit more cartons = 3,000-5,000 packets to sort through. Maybe more. I didn't keep a good count of how many cartons we went through today of damaged cigarettes, but it had to be at least a good 50-80. There were/are at least 10 shopping baskets packed to the brim with damaged cigarettes clogging up the aisle behind the counters. Cashier A had started at 7 this morning and did the 10 foot display of loose cigarettes in racks. We went through the 5 foot section of cartons and started on the shelves beneath the 10 foot. The rest still needs to be done and I'm personally skipping with glee that I don't work tomorrow.

SM thinks that the representative will at the huge boxes of cigarettes we have and refuse to take them, so we will have to put ALL of them back onto the shelves. I think SM is right but we still have to do it anyways. I don't see the point of the whole game, the cigarettes themselves are not old or stale (except for the few ones that have the blue stamp on the bottom, those are a few years old for sure), it's just a point of nitpicking that bothers me.

[Broomjockey]

SM thinks that the representative will at the huge boxes of cigarettes we have and refuse to take them,

That would be illegal.

You see, the point of that stamp is to prove that the taxes have been properly paid on the cigs, and if the stamp is damaged or illegible, it doesn't work as proof. If you're caught selling untaxed cigs, you AND your supplier are, to put it indelicately, fucked. There's usually major fines based on the number of incidences. So, with 50 or so, someone'd likely go bankrupt.

Frankly, I'm surprised your SM is fighting this so hard. I'd have thought they'd have explained the very painful legal realities to make this task easier to swallow.

[ralerin]

She's not fighting it. She thinks it's a waste of time but we still have to do it because we've been told, by the representative and, indirectly, by the state through said representative to do it. It's a pain in the butt, though.

[fireheart]

We don't do that here, but given that I work for a Big Box retailer, I highly doubt they'd be coming in like THAT.

The only slight pain in the butt issue we have is that EVERY SINGLE FREAKING NIGHT....we have to take ALL of the cartons OUT of the smokeshop area and put them in the security cage. We then remove them in the morning and put them back. Apparaently there have been a few robberies in the past....(the packs stay locked)

[Primer]

I smoked off and on for about 30 years. While I never paid CLOSE attention to the tax stamps (which is what those are) I can guarantee you that it is not uncommon for them to get scratched up and become illegible. I even worked for a year and a half at a place where we were the ones to affix those darn things! They don't always go on perfectly, either. And no, there were no refunds for the stamps that screwed up before getting onto the packages.

[SG15Z]

Yeah those stamps come off way to easily. You scratch it a couple of times and you can't read it any more. Half the time though it's covering up the Julian Date and so you can't tell how old the cigarettes are. And I recently went through our cigarettes and found A LOT that were way past the recommended shelf life. One had been there since 2006! :shock: I even found a ton that had no FSC. And I mean a ton. Like 50 or so.