Moral/personal decision to make- input would be invaluable and much appreciated!

[TomM]

Tough call. As some people have said, everyone doesn't live on the internet and just want to quit smoking so you would be helping them.
I work in a book shop. I had someone yesterday ask me about Cormack McCartyh's "The Road" and I told him that I find his books dreary and depressing though many people love his books expecting him to buy something else instead. He didn't.

 

[Automaton]

Well, let's look at it this way.

1. Is Smoke 51 a bad product? No, not really. For a super-mini, it's decent. It's not the best, but certainly not the worst. And for a lot of new vapers, super-minis are a necessary stepping stone in getting off cigs.

2. Is it unethically priced? Well... that's hard to answer. Keep in mind, they pay pretty hefty rent fees for that kiosk. That's why kiosk wares in general cost a lot more than they do buying the same stuff from anywhere else. Also, the products are branded. The production cost of that is slightly higher. Do those factors cover the entire mark-up? No, probably not.

But let's talk about time. What is your time worth?

I couldn't afford a $150 kit. So I spend hours and hours and hours of my TIME researching before I bought anything. I got a kit for $35 that I was very happy with. But what is the worth of the time I spend researching?

Not everyone is willing to spend their time. Some people are more willing to spend their money.

3. How are you being paid? If it's mostly, or completely commission? Personally, I'd say run. Because if it's mostly/completely commission, you can work for 8 hours and go home with nothing. A bit of commission opportunity can be great, but if it's most or all of your income... it's a really tough grind. And I know that some of these kiosks work completely on commission.

People who earn good livings on mostly/completely commission jobs are few and far between - they have a gift for sales. So unless you're one of those people, don't even bother. I've done these kinds of jobs. I'm decent at sales. Not gifted, but decent. And I barely made a living working 6 days a week, 8 hours a day.

But, if they're paying you mostly/completely on a wage... I'd say go for it. The products they're selling DO work. There's stuff that works better, but it's not a scam. Hell, some people really like their super-minis.

Not everyone would rather spend time over money. And those people want to quit smoking, too. That's who Smoke 51 is catering to.

 

[Rykk]

I got my first vaporette at the same type of kiosk in a mall here in Florida. It was just after Smoke51 changed its name to Smoking...Everywhere/Anywhere. Get confused between the two. Spent like $150. Got tired of having to go to the mall every time I needed more cartos and the guy being out of the high nicotine content ones that I really needed in the beginning. Bought my first m4xx series at a flea market a month and a half later for half what the mall one costed. And saved $$ because you could refill the carts. Googling led me to even less costly supplies for my m4xx series. In the end, I went from spending $80 a week on cigs to an average of around $10-$12 a week for e-juice and the occasional battery and extra atty.

Upshot is this: If it weren't for the high-priced mall seller, I would never have gotten started noking and, essentially, totally quit smoking in the process. Why do people always have a problem about making a living/money?? Nobody out there is giving these things away, ya know? The Chinese sites make a killing due to the exchange rate between the dollar and renminbi and I'm sure the American sites that sell the Chinese stuff get decent bulk rates or else they'd quickly go out of business.

I am an engineer technicain and have disassembled and repaired a bunch of different brands/types of e-smoking gear and can tell you for a fact that, bar none, I've never seen a better built, more robust battery than the Kanger brand the mall guy was selling as part of the Smoking Any/Every kit. Two of the 3 I got over a year ago still work and the 3rd one is only gone because I had to cannibalize its connector to make an adapter to use them with my m4xx atomizers. (almost impossible to find KR808 dash TWO - not dash "one" - cartos anymore!) The cartomizers in that kit were top-notch, as well. Metal construction, soft rubber caps, and heavy fabric-like packing instead of the el-cheapo and not very good fuzzy stuff that comes in other carts. It definitely, from a quality standpoint and imho, was worth a lot more than the stuff I'm using now.

Anyhow, I'd go for it if you can swing it and don't even think about feeling bad. It's a business and not ripping anyone off. It's about making a living and paying the bills, ya know? Heck, I'm at work getting paid while I'm typing this! lol If they weren't financially able to afford the thing, they certainly wouldn't fork over that much money for it in the first place. And, assuming they are still selling the same quality stuff I got a year ago, it really is more valuable than most other brands I've seen. It will get them started on the journey. Later, if they find it too expensive or a p.i.t.a. to keep supplied, they'll end up doing what I did and either find better deals online or fire up a soldering iron and be noking some really ragged looking but freight train/paper mill vapor producing gear like I have.
C-ya,
Rick

 

[KILLERkpd]

Let me say that internet store owners and staff have been very helpful in answering al of my questions and recommeding the right stuff. Especially the guy at Litecigusa once i got the hillbilly-to-city slicker module for Babelfish to work; without him I don't think I would have made the jump to hand refilling.

Agreed, maybe I should have made it more clear, by human interaction, mean physical person in front of them....all the Internet vendors have been nothing less than extremely helpful with fantastic service.