CVS No Longer Selling Smokes

[easysurfer]

CVS Caremark Corp said on Wednesday that it would stop selling tobacco products at its 7,600 stores by October, becoming the first national drugstore chain in the United States to take cigarettes off the shelves.

Public health experts called the decision by the No. 2 U.S. drugstore chain a precedent-setting step that could pressure other retailers to follow suit. It comes at a time when pharmacies are taking on a much bigger role in healthcare.

CVS becomes first big U.S. drugstore chain to drop tobacco | Reuters

It will be interesting to see if other retailers decided to do the same or not.

 

[W2R]

It will be interesting to see if other retailers decided to do the same or not.

I wouldn't be surprised, for reasons of profit and lack of turnover if nothing else. People just don't smoke like they used to fifty years ago.

I would speculate that cigarettes were just sitting on the shelves at CVS getting stale.

 

[audreyh1]

My guess is it has to do with demand, nothing else.

 

[Midpack]

A nice PR move. But without being too cynical (we like CVS) - it's still the tail wagging the dog IMO. Smokers will just go somewhere else to buy, reducing demand works far more effectively than reducing supply. Same with illegal drugs, alcohol, etc.

 

[HFWR]

A nice PR move. But without being too cynical (we like CVS) - it's still the tail wagging the dog IMO. Smokers will just go somewhere else to buy, reducing demand works far more effectively than reducing supply. Same with illegal drugs, alcohol, etc.

Equally if not more cynical, but I think the margins for "healthcare" lead them to steer the business away from retail in general.

 

[ziggy29]

My guess is it has to do with demand, nothing else.

Demand is declining and this gives them a good PR reason to make the move. It's not like this will make people stop smoking if they can't buy 'em there, but....

 

[timo2]

This is not a big deal. There will just be tobacco shops like there are liquor stores and (here in Colorado) pot shops.

 

[panacea]

This is really disappointing... I was just thinking about starting a new bad habit.

 

[samclem]

I agree, not a big deal. But getting them out of the retail spaces reduces the chances for little kids to see them repeatedly, makes them a less "normal" thing to see/see people buy. And that's probably good.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I won't shop at stores who don't support individual rights.

 

[REWahoo]

I won't shop at stores who don't support individual rights.

Is that your principal principle?

 

[ERD50]

I agree, not a big deal. But getting them out of the retail spaces reduces the chances for little kids to see them repeatedly, makes them a less "normal" thing to see/see people buy. And that's probably good.

I've been struggling to decide just what I think about this, or if I should even bother to think about it. On one hand, I'm very anti-smoking, hate the smell, hate what I've seen it do to people I know, hate being involuntarily subjected to it for so many years - so from that view I like it.

OTOH, the libertarian side of me says this business can do as they please, people can do as they please (within the law), so it means nothing.

But I think the samclem quote I bolded makes a connection with me. Just make it less 'normal' and maybe it will fade away. That should be a good thing.

-ERD50

 

[meierlde]

My guess is it has to do with demand, nothing else.

It appears to relate to CVS idea to install clinics in the their stores and move to an image more of a health care provider than a place that just sells stuff and has a pharmacy on the side. Health care providers don't generally appear to support tobacco for obvious reasons. Since CVS wants to take over part of the urgent care market at a minimum and possibly move up into the chronic routine care space, they want to change their image.
Here is a link to the washington post on the subject:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...nks-it-can-win-big-by-ending-cigarette-sales/

 

[razztazz]

I didn't know they had all those big plans vis a vis health care. I figured they would make some PR points today and likely recoup on the good will some of that 2 bil they are losing on tobacco sales, then in a few yrs start selling marijuana.

 

[comicbookgujy]

Maybe they will start selling weed in WA and CO CVS stores

 

[Arifriekinel]

I won't shop at stores who don't support individual rights.

It'd depend on why they're doing it I guess. Every store can't stock everything. I wouldn't boycott Publix for not supporting my individual right to eat delicious seaweed snacks, or Walgreens for not selling me pornography They just don't happen to sell those things, but they're not stopping me from consuming.

 

[Buckeye]

My mom quit smoking in November after 60 years but she used to buy her cigarettes at CVS. It was very convenient to grab a carton or two of cigs while picking up her prescriptions.

I wish CVS would replace the cigs with e-cigs but out of view. IMHO, converting smokers of tobacco to users of nicotine would be transformational to our healthcare system.

 

[audreyh1]

It appears to relate to CVS idea to install clinics in the their stores and move to an image more of a health care provider than a place that just sells stuff and has a pharmacy on the side. Health care providers don't generally appear to support tobacco for obvious reasons. Since CVS wants to take over part of the urgent care market at a minimum and possibly move up into the chronic routine care space, they want to change their image.
Here is a link to the washington post on the subject:
CVS to stop selling cigarettes by Oct. 1

Thanks for that addition.

 

[easysurfer]

I won't shop at stores who don't support individual rights.

I do believe though that a merchant has a right to not sell something they don't want to sell. Whether in the long run that is a bad business move or not.

It's kind of like TV. I don't care much for the reality TV shows. But the stations have a right to show them and me have the same right to not watch.

 

[GrayHare]

but CVS will continue to sell chips, candy, and soda...

 

[REWahoo]

I do believe though that a merchant has a right to not sell something they don't want to sell. Whether in the long run that is a bad business move or not.

It's kind of like TV. I don't care much for the reality TV shows. But the stations have a right to show them and me have the same right to not watch.

+1

The owner of a business also has rights, including the right to choose what products they wish to stock and sell.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Don't tobacco products require special handling (clerks have to retrieve them from the shekves, can't really be warehoused with other stock but need to be locked up, tax accounting and record keeping more complicated, etc.) and is the profit margin worth it? It will be interesting to see what CVS does with the tobacco space.

 

[samclem]

but CVS will continue to sell chips, candy, and soda...

Their CEO addressed this in an interview. Basically, he said that nutritionists etc don't generally have any problem with people eating the occasional candy bar or bag of chips. Even alcohol is generally recognized as safe (and potentially even beneficial) in moderate amounts. That's not the case for cigarettes, virtually no one thinks it's fine for people to smoke a pack every now and then. That seemed, to me, like a fairly rational basis for the decision.

I don't normally shop at CVS, but I might send a few dollars their way to show support for this move. Maybe buy me a Slim Jim and some chips . . .

 

[Redbugdave]

Ahhh...I wonder if I can get a few lottery tickets from CVS? Good clean American fun...

Seriously, I don't think the decision has anything to do with health. With any business it's all about profits.

 

[marvholly]

To me this seems like when Walgreens stopped selling alcoholic beverages a number of years ago. It has come back into the stores in the last couple years.

I think this may last a few years BUT you have the loss of sales = lower profits=lower dividends resulting in shareholder dissatisfaction.

Also, the loss of cigarette sales WILL be compounded by the loss of ancilliary purchases: soda, water, snack food......PLUS if a smoker goes to another chain/store that one would gain those sales so MORE shareholder dissatisfaction.

I have long compared CVS ads to Walgreens ads. If one chain has XYZ on sale this week the other will offer XYZ in a week or 2. I like to bunch my shopping/errands ad do as much as possible, as cheaply as possible in as few stops as possible.