How Much Do Smoke Shops Pay Per Hour?

“But the guys at the pizza store down the street make $3 more per hour than I do.”

This is a conversation you don’t want to have with your employees. Setting pay rates for your smoke shop isn’t easy. You want to compensate staff fairly and competitively while ensuring the financial health of your store.

So, how do you go about it? How can you decrease employee turnover and attract top talent? By doing your research, using the tools at your disposal, and setting competitive compensation rates.

In this quick guide, we’ll highlight the average wage for the various roles you may hire, dig into the factors affecting pay rates, and show how your point of sale (POS) system helps manage and reward employees.

How Much Do Smoke Shops Pay Per Hour? It Depends

Setting pay rates for your smoke shop staff isn’t as simple as you’d think. First, you’ll need to consider what other retail establishments in your area pay their employees for similar positions. Knowing this will help attract and retain talent.

Uncompetitive pay rates may have significant impacts on your hiring process. Employees who feel they’re unfairly compensated will go elsewhere. This can lead to higher turnover, recruiting costs, and interrupted operations from constant staff changeovers — which will eat into your profits.

Related Read: How Profitable Is a Smoke Shop?

With insight into competitive wage rates, you can set pay scales and minimize turnover. It’s best practice to research typical hourly wages for frontline staff and average salaries for managerial roles. Use various sources for this data, from job sites like Monster and Indeed to employee surveys.

Let’s dig deeper into the factors influencing pay rates.

Factors Influencing Pay Rates

As a smoke shop owner, you should understand the variables that directly impact the wages you set. Key influences on smoke shop pay rates include:

• Location: Where your shop is located is a key factor. It makes sense that shops in major metro areas generally pay higher rates. Because your store is close to built-up areas, employees need to consider their commute and a higher cost of living. In rural areas, where the cost of living is lower, you’ll pay lower rates.
• Experience: Smoke shops selling vapes, CBD, and other high-risk products need experienced and knowledgeable salespeople. The industry is new and emerging, so you’ll want to hire quick learners and people with a passion for vapes and other products. More experienced staff can merit 10-15 percent higher wages.
• Job responsibilities: The role's specific duties, skills, and responsibilities impact pay scales. Customer-facing positions like cashiers may warrant lower hourly pay, while inventory specialists and assistant managers require greater compensation due to higher skills and responsibilities.

According to ZipRecruiter, the average salary for a smoke shop employee is around $15 per hour. Yet in New York, it’s $17. In California, it’s almost $19. In fact, the average pay range across the US varies by as much as $4.57. There are opportunities for good employees to advance and earn more.

Related Read: The 5 Best Smoke Shop POS Software for New Business Owners

Breakdown of Smoke Shop Positions and Their Roles

Now that you have a high-level view, let’s look at three main roles in a typical smoke shop.

• Cashiers and customer service agents: These customer-facing roles include point of sale transactions, customer service, merchandising, and light cleaning duties. Average pay rates range from $10 to $17 per hour.

• Inventory specialist: Management of inventory stock levels, placing orders with vendors, receiving and unpacking shipments, and making sure products are stocked properly. Attention to detail and organizational skills are a must. Inventory specialists' pay rates range from $12 to $23 per hour.
• Managerial positions: Managers have important supervisory and operational responsibilities. They establish policies and procedures, manage financials, and spearhead strategy. Average salaries for general managers range from $59,000 to $97,000 based on experience, location, and store size.

Related Read: 4 Helpful Tips for Better Tobacco Shop Inventory Management

As a small business owner, you might be the manager. Ensure you’re paying yourself a fair wage! Now that you know what each role entails and the average pay rates, you can develop a compensation structure for your unique store.

Balancing Compensation and Business Profitability

Although paying staff more might seem like a good idea, you need to balance fair compensation with maintaining profitability. There are various ways to go about it:

• Set pay scales based on researched wages (like those above) rather than arbitrary amounts.
• Consider performance-based incentives that reward your top employees. With a robust point of sale system, you can track sales data and highlight top employees — this helps motivate your best people and shows you those employees who might need more sales training.
• Automate processes where possible. For example, using your POS system and inventory management software can streamline stock control.
• Another way your POS system helps is through reporting and analytics. For example, Cigars POS provides reports on traffic, sales, and more to help inform optimal pay rates and staffing choices.
• Last, find a POS provider that integrates with payroll management software so you can keep compensation aligned with revenue.

Related Read: Smoke Shop Monthly Income: 5 Ways To Maximize Store Profits

ANSWERED: How Much Do Smoke Shops Pay Per Hour?

There isn’t a straightforward answer to every question. But now you know the average pay rates per hour across the U.S., you can set fair and competitive wages in your smoke shop. 

To attract talent and minimize turnover, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of the current market wages and understand what other local stores pay for similar roles. But employee wages are just one side of the equation — it’s equally important to balance compensation with your shop's financial sustainability and profit margins.

Using the right technology, like an industry-specific POS system, can help strike a balance. With powerful reporting and data-driven insights to optimize labor costs, Cigars POS is a partner in your efforts to drive profits and motivate employees.

To see how else Cigars POS can level up your smoke shop, schedule a demo today!