The French have settled some two million “daily bills” in a tobacconist, a year and a half after the generalization of this service of collection of public treasuries at tobacconists in the territory
This local payment service allows users to pay “fines, local public service bills, or taxes of less than 300 euros, in cash or by bank card”, with 12,400 approved tobacconists at the end of December 2021 – i.e. approximately one in two -, in 6,500 municipalities, specifies the National Confederation of tobacconists in a report published Monday.
The average amount of transactions recorded is 84 euros, she says, while “28% of payments relate to taxes, 36% to fines, and as many to local bills (nursery, hospital, canteen, etc.) “, while this service was extended to the whole territory, in July 2020. And of the 550,000 tax collections made since the launch of the service, “nearly 60% have made it possible to pay the audiovisual tax, the other transactions concerning property and housing taxes”, further specify the tobacconists.
The user scans the barcode of his bill on a La Française des jeux terminal, and pays the corresponding amount to the tobacconist – he receives proof of payment once the transaction has been validated.
Diversification
For Philippe Coy, president of the Confederation of tobacconists, the latter prove to be “traders of local utility, also employees of the State”, thanks to this new service. For his part, Stéphane Pallez, CEO of La Française des jeux, estimated the results of this “generalization of the local payment service is very positive” by contributing to “the simplification of the daily life of users of public services”.
Tobacconists have begun to diversify in recent years to compensate for the steady decline in tobacco sales, of which they have a monopoly and which still represents their main source of income.
But these merchants also make a living from a myriad of other services, games from La Française des jeux, bets from the PMU, bar and restaurant, sale of newspapers, snacking, management of Nickel bank accounts, sale of SNCF tickets, etc.