Tobacco Competitive Pricing

I just saw a batch of "tobacco competitive pricing" shops post today. $150 reimbursement for 12 packs of cigarettes (6 different varieties) and $10 shop pay. My question is: who smokes real cigarettes anymore? I have never smoked or vaped, but know people tend to have their favorite kind? What is the incentive here for the shopper? Seems like a 10 foot pole shop to me. Im all about a good "regift," but not with this! (edited twice due to strange autocorrects)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2025 05:29PM by gigishopper.

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Gigi, with a nod to Maurice Chevalier, here is my reply.

Any shopper, who also retails certain products, could sell the items slightly below the market and they would fly off the counter. In the somewhat distant past, I completed several of these jobs for Maritz. Unless there were unstated and unacceptable conditions, I would not hesitate to apply for such work. Although I consider smoking to be a foolish habit, that is a personal opinion and this IS business.

Can I get the name of the MSC since only generic cigarettes were used not the client?

Reselling tobacco products may be illegal in your state. I do these shops sometimes, and mine go straight to the trash. These seem to come back on the board pretty frequently. I'm not sure whether people flake or the shops get rejected, but if you mess up, you might end up with piles of cigarettes and no reimbursement.

If you know smokers, it's a great shop. Last year there were tobacco (tins of chew) as well as cigarette shops. You had to buy specific items, though, not just any at all. I can't find anyone who smokes Marlboro red so I still have like 3 cartons' worth of them.It's difficult to walk up to strangers and try to sell tobacco products. Not getting in to the legality of reselling, as each state is different, but unless you know a smoker or tobacco user personally (who will purchase the specific items from you at a steep discount), there is not enough fee for the shop IMO.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2025 11:28PM by Tiffany0921.

Are these the ones that require you to sign up for the store's discount card? Do they realize that most programs no longer offer physical "cards"? But the instructions were specific and, since I couldn't get an actual card, I figured shops would be rejected (as the MSC is famous for setting shoppers up to fail). I wanted to try the shop but you can't return tobacco if the shop is rejected.

Yes and I wondered that too about the loyalty card.

@sestrahelena wrote:

Are these the ones that require you to sign up for the store's discount card? Do they realize that most programs no longer offer physical "cards"? But the instructions were specific and, since I couldn't get an actual card, I figured shops would be rejected (as the MSC is famous for setting shoppers up to fail). I wanted to try the shop but you can't return tobacco if the shop is rejected.

Re: the loyalty card: some shops requested you use, some did not. For the ones that needed a loyalty card, I signed up for the specific c-store's app and scanned the loyalty reward that way. All my shops were approved, no problem.

Thanks, Tif. Good that it worked out. I have so little trust in MSC that I believe they could start dishing out rejections anytime they want, using the, "guidelines specified CARD" clause. Followed by the classic, "It is the shopper's responsibility to understand and follow the guidelines" admonishment.

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