CVS will phase out tobacco sales by 1 Oct 2014

[PHLBOS]

CVS' in PA don't sell alcohol and I don't believe I've ever seen a CVS in MA sell alcohol either.  Similar holds true for the various Rite-Aids & Walgreens I've seen.

Wow, we have the governments making it difficult to smoke anywhere because of health reasons hence less people smoke.  There goes a lot of tax money.  Then the same governments are looking at or already have made blowing a joint legal.   Is a joint healthier than tobacco? Could it be the governments have realized that they are losing $ on tobacco and now see mucho tax $ available on pot?  CVS might miss the $ boat as they could have been a retailer for MJ.

This wouldn't be the first time that government (at large) has contradicted itself in terms of so-called sin-taxes or equivalent.

If everybody theoretically stopped smoking; there'd be no cigarette-tax induced revenue to collect.  Despite the news regarding CVS phasing out tobacco sales (cigars & pipe products are included in this ban along w/cigarettes), the City of Philadelphia is still planning to move forward on a proposal to impose a $2 per pack tax on top of what PA already taxes.

[leroys73]

This thread has sure taken off.  I like it. Gives me something to read. Let's see where it will go.

[jeffandnicole]

CVS' in PA don't sell alcohol and I don't believe I've ever seen a CVS in MA sell alcohol either.  Similar holds true for the various Rite-Aids & Walgreens I've seen.

No private store in PA sells alcohol due to the State Store system.  But yet, you can get beer at convenience stories, some Pizza Huts, some convenience stores, and a whole slew of random places.  But only a 6 pack.  And it'll be overpriced.  If you want a case of beer, you have to go to a distributer.  But you can't buy a 6 pack there.  Can you even buy a 12 pack or 18 pack in PA anywhere?

[hbelkins]

A tangential thought I had today...
How much land is used to grow tobacco? What could that land be used for instead that might be more productive?

Google answers the first question: 3.8 million hectares worldwide. As for the second, one answer that may or may not be smartassed depending on how you look at it would be "growing hemp". (note that I say "hemp", not "marijuana" - it has uses other than for smoking, such as making paper and fabric)

How about food crops? You know, since the world has so many malnourished people?

Interesting point, that. Kentucky has always been a large producer of burley tobacco. Tobacco warehouses were big businesses in many Kentucky towns and television stations in Lexington (and probably Louisville too) had weekly shows televising the tobacco auctions in the warehouses. Seeing those shows was my first exposure to an auctioneer's chant.

One of the counties bordering my home county is consistently ranked among the poorest in the nation. That situation has only gotten worse with the decline of tobacco. That county had a Chrysler dealership; my county had a Chevy dealership and a Ford dealership. Their auto sales were usually the strongest in the fall after tobacco growers had sold their crops. You used to see a lot of tobacco fields along the roads; in a lot of cases, even small patches of ground had a small plot of tobacco. That's certainly not the case anymore.

The big tobacco settlement about 15 years ago was supposed to, in part, help diversify Kentucky's agriculture economy. It really hasn't happened. The state government set up a bureaucracy apart from the Department of Agriculture. Kentucky elects its agriculture commissioner (the only elected commissioner in the state) and through the tobacco settlement, a separate office was set up called the Governor's Office for Agriculture Policy. When the settlements were being distributed, that agency raided a bunch of other state agencies (including Revenue, where I worked at the time) for temporary employees. Even now, GOAP has its own director, its own PR person and staff, and they periodically dole out small diversification grants that really don't amount to much. I don't think Kentucky has done much at all to move beyond a tobacco-centric farm economy and the state certainly hasn't done much to help farmers find an alternative crop.

Speaking of hemp, Kentucky was a major hemp producer before hemp was outlawed, and our current ag commissioner is really pushing to allow industrial hemp to be grown. The climate here is great for hemp and it also is good for growing marijuana, hence the old joke that tobacco was Kentucky's number one legal cash crop.

I'm not sure what food crop Kentucky could produce that would replace the tobacco farm economy. Soybeans started taking off here about 25 years ago.

For the record, I will say that I am very much anti-smoking. I have never so much as taken one single puff off a cigarette in my life, and I hate the smell of smoke. My mother and my maternal grandfather died of smoking-related illnesses.



I don't know if anyone has ever offered a logical explanation for Pennsylvania's alcohol sales laws. I was shocked when I walked into a Walmart in suburban Pittsburgh a few years ago and found they didn't have beer. I know that Sheetz has really been pushing for reforms in PA's beer sales laws.

[leroys73]

CVS' in PA don't sell alcohol and I don't believe I've ever seen a CVS in MA sell alcohol either.  Similar holds true for the various Rite-Aids & Walgreens I've seen.

No private store in PA sells alcohol due to the State Store system.  But yet, you can get beer at convenience stories, some Pizza Huts, some convenience stores, and a whole slew of random places.  But only a 6 pack.  And it'll be overpriced.  If you want a case of beer, you have to go to a distributer.  But you can't buy a 6 pack there.  Can you even buy a 12 pack or 18 pack in PA anywhere?

And I thought Ohio and Oklahoma had strange laws.  At least in Oklahoma and most of Texas you can buy beer in any quantity where ever they sell gasoline.  Gasoline and beer    

In the old days (pre 70s) in Oklahoma a female could buy 3.2 beer where ever they sold it which was many places but a male had to be 21 unless in the military.  Anything stronger (illegal until 1959) had to be bought at the state licensed store closed on Sundays and open 11:00 to 11:00 other days. You had to take your own bottle into a club and pay for "set ups".  Also you could drink 3.2 and drive if legal to buy.  Anything stronger and it was an "open container" and illegal.  This changed in the late 60s and more in 70s maybe even into the 80s.  They do have liquor by the drink legally in licensed clubs. I believe wine and hard liquor still only in state licensed store, hours have changed some. I think Oklahoma did not consider 3.2 beer alcohol in the old days as Oklahoma was dry until 1959.  Also Oklahoma liquor stores could not sell cold beer so Coors would not ship to them, only 3.2 to grocery stores and "gas stations" where they could sell cold beer. I think it may still be that way in Oklahoma liquor stores.  I haven't lived there since 1997.

I believe Ohio still has state ran stores for liquor.  But what I found odd is in the old days while visiting family in Ohio an 18 year old could buy 3.2 at a bar, 21 for the stronger beer.  Some grocery stores sold beer but not very common at convince stores/gas stations.  However, drive throughs were popular and many sold to under age.  On Sundays only 3.2 beer could be bought in a bar.  I think all beer sales were illegal there on Sundays except bars. I think more places sell beer now than they did in my younger days up there.

I remember several years back stopping at a drive through in WY to buy some Jack Daniels. Do they still have drive through liquor stores up there?

I remember in Texas buying beer was a county by county guess.  Some people had maps showing the wet and dry counties.  A trip from Oklahoma to south Texas took some planning of your stops or you brought your own.  Now almost all stores sell beer and many sell wine.       

[ATLRedSoxFan]

CVS' in PA don't sell alcohol and I don't believe I've ever seen a CVS in MA sell alcohol either.  Similar holds true for the various Rite-Aids & Walgreens I've seen.

There is a Rite Aid in Quincy (Thomas Burgin Parkway) that sells alcohol. (I've made many a "pit-stop" in there on my way home from work :-) )

[KEK Inc.]

Tobacco is just a bad idea in general.   Harmful to yourself, but I don't care if people kill themselves.  Second hand smoke is terrible and should be considered manslaughter.  As an asthmatic, I want to drop kick people who smoke carelessly in crowded public spaces and smash their face into a flame.  I support drug stores shifting focuses on nicotine rehab rather than selling tobacco.

Now marijuana and vaporizers...  Investors should jump on that shit, particularly since more states will likely legalize its recreational use within the decade.

[leroys73]

I think big tobacco is already in position to jump on the marijuana $$ train.  Seems like I saw something about the research and development they are doing.  Could be wrong.

I don't like smoking at all.  However, until and if it is made illegal people can smoke all they want as long as I don't have to smell it or pick up the butts.

I am very surprised marijuana has not already been made legal.  As said above the jails and prisons are over loaded and just think of the tax $ being missed out on. I don't use it and I used to be against legalizing it.  I have been rethinking the whole deal. It will not upset me when it is made legal. I doubt it will change anything except maybe the price and less arrests.   

[SP Cook]

IMHO,

- In my state, we have a "hybrid" liquor distribution business.  The state owns the wholesale and limits the retail to a certain number per county, which go to the highest bidder.  CVS and Rite Aid use their size to get most of the outlets, maybe 1/3rd of the total.  How can they justify that, along with all the candy, pop, white processed flour products, and meth making drugs.   

- HB:  You will probably like this article.  It is among the best I have read on the issue.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/367903/white-ghetto-kevin-d-williamson#!

- Most ag people you talk to will tell you that tobacco is usually grown on land that is unsuited for other crops.  Probably the best you could do is replace it with corn, which we have an overage of already.

[vdeane]

How about food crops? You know, since the world has so many malnourished people?

Marijuana salad?

And I thought Ohio and Oklahoma had strange laws.

In New York a person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his/her pocket.

[US71]

I think big tobacco is already in position to jump on the marijuana $$ train.  Seems like I saw something about the research and development they are doing.  Could be wrong.
   

As soon as they can figure out how to get people addicted </snark>

[hotdogPi]

Marijuana is not nearly as addictive as nicotine. People won't get as addicted to it unless the companies cheat and put something else in it.

[hbelkins]

- HB:  You will probably like this article.  It is among the best I have read on the issue.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/367903/white-ghetto-kevin-d-williamson#!

I read that a couple of weeks ago. The focus of the story is on a neighboring county, the county seat of which is a scant 11 miles away from my county seat. I have been to the theater and the drive-in mentioned in the story many times in my life.

Of interest to Jeremy will be the references of buying pop with food stamps and then reselling the soft drinks for cash.

[US71]

- HB:  You will probably like this article.  It is among the best I have read on the issue.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/367903/white-ghetto-kevin-d-williamson#!

I read that a couple of weeks ago. The focus of the story is on a neighboring county, the county seat of which is a scant 11 miles away from my county seat. I have been to the theater and the drive-in mentioned in the story many times in my life.

Of interest to Jeremy will be the references of buying pop with food stamps and then reselling the soft drinks for cash.

And you have proof?

[Duke87]

How about food crops? You know, since the world has so many malnourished people?

That would be the boring logical answer. My answer is more fun.

Speaking seriously, though, it depends on where. The US is suffering from too much food more than a lack of it. Some other countries could certainly use the food, though. 

[Scott5114]

You might think that a business that voluntarily gives up $2 billion in revenue fails at capitalism.

Keep in mind that revenue is gross sales. I've heard the margin on cigarettes is really low–much of that $2 billion probably goes to tobacco taxes–so CVS probably isn't losing all that much profit. They probably calculated the good PR from stopping tobacco sales (less than one third of the US population smokes) is worth sacrificing the paltry profit they got from them. Not to mention the lower overhead from not having to store and order them, not having to train clerks on tobacco law compliance in each state, etc.

[empirestate]

In New York a person may not walk around on Sundays with an ice cream cone in his/her pocket.

Yeah...still waiting to see the citation on that law, whether for New York or for any number of other places in which it's said to be the law. For example, whatever state that link talks of that's also called New York but has an Ocean City in it.

[NE2]

Dumb laws lists are 99% goatshit.

[SP Cook]

Penna, BTW, has the most convoluded and fundamentally dumb liquor and alcohol laws of any place I have ever been. 

Recently, the 6th Circuit upheld Kentucky's restriction of wine and hard liquor to dedicated stores.  I like that.  My state went about 25 years ago from the "state store" model to the private retail model.  I don't really care if you have "state stores" as in Virginia, North Carolina, or Penna, or private stores as in South Carolina or Kentucky, but I really do like those states limiting liquor to a liquor store.  If you don't want to be around it, you don't have to be.  It works better than selling it in general stores.

[Brandon]

^^ Illinois has a vastly different model.  Package liquor laws (after 10 am on Sundays; between 6 am and 2 am otherwise) are basically up to the municipality (or county in unincorporated areas).  Some municipalities stop selling after 9 pm (Naperville).  Some limit it to grocery stores only (Wheaton).  Some mandate that sales be in a separate area of the store (Plainfield).  Yet others have a different attitude and allow sales up to the state hours and anywhere in the store (Joliet, Bolingbrook).  Sometimes the store will have their own liquor hours that end before the municipal ones do.

[hbelkins]

Recently, the 6th Circuit upheld Kentucky's restriction of wine and hard liquor to dedicated stores.  I like that.  My state went about 25 years ago from the "state store" model to the private retail model.  I don't really care if you have "state stores" as in Virginia, North Carolina, or Penna, or private stores as in South Carolina or Kentucky, but I really do like those states limiting liquor to a liquor store.  If you don't want to be around it, you don't have to be.  It works better than selling it in general stores.

Except there are a lot of chain drugstores, like Rite-Aid (and I suspect CVS and Walgreen's) in Kentucky who sell hard liquor. Since these types of drugstores are combinations of traditional pharmacies, food stores, general merchandise stores and convenience stores, it makes no sense to allow Rite-Aid to have a liquor department and not allow Kroger to do the same.

And beer can be sold just about anywhere in a wet county if you want to get a license. There's no difference in walking into a Kroger and seeing a beer display vs. seeing a bourbon display.

I remember a teenage trip to Myrtle Beach and seeing "Red Dot" stores in South Carolina. I always thought they were state stores. Has SC changed its model since 1979?

[Henry]

For once, the corporate world has done something right!

[ATLRedSoxFan]

CVS' in PA don't sell alcohol and I don't believe I've ever seen a CVS in MA sell alcohol either.  Similar holds true for the various Rite-Aids & Walgreens I've seen.

They do at the Rite Aid in Quincy on Burgin Parkway.. I've made a few runs over there after work, when I knew the packy was closed

[SteveG1988]

One question though, what would you like to see replace the displays behind the counter.

Now keep in mind the retail mantra, put the most frequently bought items towards the back, that way you have to walk through the store, that's why in most pharmacies, the tylenol and stuff is across the store from the entry point (for chain ones, not sure about independent ones)

[Brandon]

One question though, what would you like to see replace the displays behind the counter.

Now keep in mind the retail mantra, put the most frequently bought items towards the back, that way you have to walk through the store, that's why in most pharmacies, the tylenol and stuff is across the store from the entry point (for chain ones, not sure about independent ones)

Psuedonepherine.  I'd like to shit-can the federal law so we (allergy and sinus sufferers) can get it much more easily than only at the fricking pharmacy counter.