This is about government control; nothing less. If the government truly was interested in the public health, suppressors would be mandatory for all shooters.
Once there are no smokers to eradicate, look for the government (followed by business) to go after caffeine.
And on. And on.
This will free up a lot of shelf space for marijuana products too!
Government control? I do not think this is an example of government control, unless this private company was offered tax breaks for halting the sale of tobacco products, or was threatened by the government with punitive action if they did not stop selling tobacco. I have seen no evidence of either.
CVS is perfectly within their rights to sell, or not sell, whatever [legal] products they wish to sell; and I am within my rights to choose somewhere else to shop when their “social correctness” irritates me.
Some ideologue has blown smoke up their corporate keester telling them it won’t hurt their bottom line. BS. It makes no difference about ‘intereacting with’, ‘working with’, or ‘colluding with’ doctors, hospitals or other organizations seems to be a hunky-dory-super-good-time-GI Joe thing.
The bottom line is patients will look at cost first, ease of getting prescriptions filled, and whether or not it takes a long time to get them filled. Getting rid of the tobacco products doesn’t seem to have any impact on these.
I wonder if they are going to stop selling alcohol too? Here in my town, there are 3 CVS stores that sell the majority of alcohol in this town. Will they also go toward being healthy and stop alcohol sales? Probably not, they have to make a lot of money doing it.
I've read the the gross retail profit margin on tobacco products is about 15% and net about 6% -- the gov't take on the transaction is much, much higher.
They probably found a more productive use for their shelf space.
If it is in the interest of health concerns that they do this, then I assume they will also take measures to eliminate sale of abortifacient substances.
The government didn’t force them to do this. It’s their choice. Should they be forced to sell them?
Ex smoker. Go ahead and smoke. I won’t share un filtered indoor airspace with you. Not because it’s dangerous but because it is no longer a nice smell to me. Before they banned smoking in Vegas casinos I was pleasantly surprised that there was almost no smoke smell. Why they named it I don’t understand.
If smoking is that dangerous tobacco products should be banned. But they won’t do that as it is a huge government cash cow. Hypocrites.
Btw. What does surpressors have to do with anything. Unless I’m hunting I wear plugs or head phones. It is every range around here’s cardinal rule. When I was a kid it wasn’t. But it is a good idea for all shooters.
Funny, I am old enough to remember when, if some Christian type, made such an announcement he was sneered at as some kind of out of it bluenose.
I will never spend another dime there!
Not sure I agree with you.
This appears to be CVS making a strategic call, and deciding that not selling a carcinogen will bring in more sales, than selling one will.
If I am wrong then I stand down, but this is what appears to me, to be a simple marketing decision.
As a (former) smoker I am in favor of CVS’ call on this.
Would you prefer that the government force CVS to sell cigarettes?
This was a decision made by the CEO. I have no problem with it. No government involvement whatsoever. I am for smokers rights 100 percent, but I am also a person who believe that stores can sell what they want.
There are plenty of places still left to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products. And around my parts and yours, CVS and Walgreens, Rite Aid and grocery stores like Weis and Giant are way overpriced anyway; better to buy them at Sheetz and Rutters stores. And a lot of other big chain retailers don’t sell cigarettes anymore if they ever did; Wal-Mart, Target, Wegmans for instance and they still seem to do a booming business.
Around here in PA, as you must already know, you can’t buy wine or “spirits”, i.e. liquor except from “State Stores” (which are horrible BTW) and they don’t sell any tobacco products and except for a very few places, you can only buy beer by the case from “distributors” and most of them don’t sell cigarettes - beer and only beer. (And yes, this is sometimes why I do miss living in Maryland.)
But in recent years a lot of tobacco stores have opened and they not only sell cigarettes at discounted prices but also have a large selection of HQ cigars and pipe tobacco.
Why would a smoker even want to buy cigarettes from CVS? The last time I went there I stood in line what seemed like forever to get waited on. The first and only time I got an RX filled there, they screwed it up.
I agree it's ridiculous. I think CVS here is trying to get PC publicity.
Hey, they sell narcotics at CVS. What's the problem with tobacco?
It’s not an erosion of freedom.
CVS is a private enterprise. If they want to make the short-sighted business decision to drop tobacco sales, it’s entirely their call.
If I were a stockholder of CVS, I would not be happy, either from a profit standpoint or from their attempting to restrict freedom of choice. Are they still selling food with high fructose corn syrup? Snacks with artificial ingredients and transfats? Morning after pills? What's next?
10 years from now, CVS will no longer exist. The brand just committed suicide.