“E-cigarettes and vaping are being banned in indoor public areas in New York, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law that will place the same restrictions on new and old nicotine delivery systems,” writes Bill Chappell in their latest NPR article entitled “New York Bans Vaping Indoors In Public: State Law Classes E-Cigs With Cigarettes.”
According to Chappell’s article, "These products are marketed as a healthier alternative to cigarettes but the reality is they also carry long-term risks to the health of users and those around them,’ Cuomo said, in a news release about the signing. ‘This measure closes another dangerous loophole in the law, creating a stronger, healthier New York for all."
“Citing the lack of broad regulations on what chemicals e-cigarettes can contain and how much nicotine they deliver, the governor's office says, ‘These factors could lead to long-term adverse health effects for e-cigarette users and bystanders," the NPR piece continues.
Chappell comments in the article that “When it takes effect next month, New York's new law will cover vaping under the state's Clean Indoor Air Act. The blanket restriction will not apply to people who want to use e-cigarettes in private homes, in hotel rooms, or at retail tobacco outlets.”
Smoking cigarettes might already be prohibited on your property.
But, what happens if your state decides to pass a similar Clean Indoor Air Act? Do you struggle with cigarette smoking offenders as it is?
Now, you’ll have to add another prohibited item to the list. What a headache, right?
You definitely want to avert offenders as efficiently as possible.
Here’s the good news: we have a solution for you.
You can stop prohibited smoking offenders with a little help from your customers and staff.
Keep reading to find out how.
Get Customers Involved
We know there’s much stress with being charged to enforce initiatives for your operation.
You, your customers, and staff deal with others sneaking in prohibited items every event.
It’s a continuous battle. One you’re probably willing to take on but could use a little help.
Here’s the good news:
- Text communication can contribute to removing tobacco, e-cigs and vaping, and all your other prohibited items, out of your property.
You can put the power to report and stop offenders into the hands of everyone.
Text communication gives you the assistance of thousands of eyes to report issues and mitigate incidents as they occur.
It’s a powerful tool.
We’d even call it a superpower for proactive operations.
It’s a perfect solution.
Are you ready to learn everything you need to know about implementing and using text communication on your property?
Let’s dive in.
Promote Text Communication for Effective Enforcement
You must promote your system because it’s the only way your customers will know it exists.
If they know it exists, then they’ll know how to use it.
Believe it or not, they will use it to report offenders.
It gives them a power they never had before, and many of your customers don’t want prohibited items either and want to help you remove them.
You’ll need to make sure your signage provides the right information so everyone can take part in your efforts.
Using your system is the only way for it to provide value.
It is essential to understand this.
You must display visible signage throughout your property for customers to see or it’s useless.
You don’t want it getting lost amongst all the other signage.
Overlooking this is the last thing you want. Do you agree?
Here’s how promoting your system needs to work:
- Display your shortcode and keyword throughout your property.
- Information required by operations should also be included on your signage.
- Once a text message is sent to the platform, it will automatically respond with a message to your customer. A message that you’ve customized for your property.
- This message will let the customer know your team has received the message and are in the process of responding.
Your customers will have peace of mind knowing you’re handling the issue now, not 15 minutes from now when the offender is done and gone.
Once you have the signage in place, and your customers begin sending text messages, you’ll realize you made a smart, proactive decision to implement this system.
The majority of the success and value generated by using a platform comes from the active promotion and usage.
Put your signage in place – you will see the results.
Real-Time management
Once your system’s signage is in place, the text messages will start coming in.
But, you must manage the conversations.
You can’t have anything go undetected.
Your software’s conversation thread provides your staff with a visualization of what’s happening and being reported throughout your property.
The platform displays the thread of any two-way conversation in progress.
It’s in an organized format.
Quickly look at all messages for vital information.
- Offender’s location
- Offender’ physical description
- Offense type
Your ability to make real-time decisions and mitigate, or stop, offenses is possible with your software.
It’s your solution.
You have proactive operations in place, so nothing slips through the cracks.
How does it feel?
A Clever Way to Be Proactive
You probably have several offenders around your property, which means you’ll be receiving many texts.
Your team needs to articulate to customers what to do or what your team plans to do without wasting any time necessary for mitigating other priority issues.
Response templates let your team respond to a message in one click with the exact message you want to deliver to reporting customers.
Providing predetermined responses based on the specific issue informs customers of the situation.
You can let them know you have everything under control!
Do you need additional information from someone reporting an issue? Have more response templates available to ask questions that need to be answered quickly.
Not only are you eliminating prohibited item issues, such as cigarettes and e-cigs, from the equation, but you are also increasing the effectiveness of your operation.
How Successful Is Your Initiative?
Your system is active.
You are receiving text messages and proactively responding to customers reporting offenders.
You, your staff, and customers are making a difference in everyone’s experience.
Let’s take it one step further.
Now you have tons of data to look at.
Use it to your advantage.
Measure vital data like this:
- What offenses are being reported most often?
- How often are you receiving reports?
- From where are people reporting most offenses?
- During what times of the day are you receiving reports?
- How quickly are your staff mitigating these issues?
- Do you have the best resource allocation in place to stop offenders?
This information lets you better allocate your resources and reduce the time to get on scene.
You can even break this down further.
For example, the last question listed above “Do you have the best resource allocation in place to stop offenders?” can be scrutinized based on specific incident types, such as e-cig offenders.
How does that sound?
Using analytics helps you drastically improve your operation.
Now, you can stop all type of offenders, before they get started.
Over to You
Are you trying to get a handle on prohibited items at your property?
Then, whether you have a Clean Indoor Air Act enacted in your state or not, you need text communication.
Software like this empowers your customers and staff to participate in the enforcement of prohibited acts.
It helps you maintain the quality of your operation and property, and demonstrates how much you care about your customers’ experience.
