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Problems with New System to Stop Under Age Cigarette Sales
Since 1st Jan, 2001, all Cigarette sales through vending machines in Tasmania Australia, need a gold token to enable the machine to accept money with tokens being issued by the premises once they check that the buyer is over 18 years of age.
With thanks to Erin Booth, from Automatic Music, Hobart Australia reports;
Any person wanting to get a packet of cigarettes must firstly go to the counter and prove they are over 18yrs old. Having proven the fact, the person gets given (for free) a gold coloured token which is then inserted into the cigarette machine and that prepares the machine to receive notes/coins. The machine will not operated unless the token is inserted first.
This new legislation is being trialled in Tasmania and in the course of the next year is to be introduced to all Australian states - Victoria is to start on 1st July, 2001.
The gigantic problem created, even though Phillip Morris are adamant that the gold token was approved by the Commonwealth Government, is that the token is almost exactly the same size as a $1 coin and will operate most mechanical coin mechanisms (eg, pool tables) and many electronic coin mechanisms (depending on how tight the acceptance window is set). As indicated, the token is almost the exact diameter of a $1 coin but appears slightly thinner (mainly because it doesn't have the raised milled edge that a $1 has). It is lighter but there is no way that a mechanical coin mech can be adjusted to not operate on this token - electronic coin mech's can be adjusted but usually you will only find out about the problem after the tokens have been accepted! (Of course, in a darkened room such as a nightclub, these tokens, because of their size and colour, could also be given as payment or accepted as change!).
We have banded with the Hobart and Launceston City Counciles who have been finding these tokens in their older mechanical parking meters and we have made Phillip Morris aware of the problem. They are certainly looking at this, and have indicated they will reimburse us for the loss of income due to token acceptance ($63 in one week inside a Daytona machine located in a shopping centre). They are also looking at the security surrounding the storage of these tokens in the hotel - at present they are just stored in an open container behind the bar because they do not have any "intrinsic" value. We think that the bulk of the latest batch of tokens found in our machines have come from a robbery of a hotel where the whole container was pinched along with the till. Even if they didn't all come from the robbery, there is nothing preventing any person (even a non smoker) going up to the bar and being given a token that can be later used in parking meters or for a game of pool.
Long term, I believe that the only solution is for these tokens to be withdrawn and for Phillip Morris (and any other cigarette machine operator) to come up with a totally different token which does not resemble any coin used in Australia.
At this stage I am hoping that with the co-operation of Phillip Morris (and so far they they been most co-operative) and with the weight of the councils behind me, that we can sort this matter out quickly so that the disease doesn't spread to the mainland states.
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