DocM Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/02/05/cvs-to-stop-selling-tobacco-sacrificing-2-billion-in-sales-for-public-health-and-future-growth/ Kicking The Habit: CVS To Stop Selling Tobacco, Sacrificing $2 Billion In Sales For Public Health And Future Growth CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the United States, will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in all of its 7,600 stores by October 1, its parent company CVS Caremark announced this morning. It is the first time any drugstore has ever dropped this deadly cash cow, and it is part of a major shift in direction for the drugstore giant. ?We?ve got 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners who are helping millions of patients each and every day,? said Larry Merlo, the chief executive of CVS Caremark. ?They manage conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes ? all conditions that are worsened by smoking. We?ve come to the decision that cigarettes have no place in an environment where healthcare is being delivered.? The decision gained immediate praise from the American Medical Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and theAmerican Cancer Society. ?Over time, we think lives will be saved by this,? says Cancer Society President John Seffrin. But the public-health-mindedness will cost CVS billions ? literally. The company says $2 billion in sales will be shaved off its $125 billion top line. That will pressure earnings, too, though Merlo swears incremental cost cuts will keep those pressures from showing up in its profit statements. > Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astropheed Veteran Posted February 6, 2014 Veteran Share Posted February 6, 2014 I am currently the color of impressed. Phouchg, Bryan R. and Sszecret 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buttus Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 kinda makes me want to drive the extra few minutes to go to a CVS vs walgreens astropheed and Bryan R. 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timster Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 HellboundIRL 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SierraSonic Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I am currently the color of impressed. I feel the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madd-hatter Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I had no idea CVS sold tobacco to begin with, and find it to be a little off after giving it some thought. I don't smoke but I'd imagine that most get their supply from gas stations and grocery stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwjw1 Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 I use the pharmacy for medical supplys....and the Indian Smoke Shop for Tobacco Products Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Never saw the logic of sticking dead leaves in your mouth and setting fire to them. astropheed 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skyfrog Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Never saw the logic of sticking dead leaves in your mouth and setting fire to them. What baffles me is why people even start these days. Everyone knows they are very expensive, very addictive and eventually kill you. Yet they start smoking anyway. I just don't get it. Do they think they look cool or are they just curious about it and then get hooked? I don't know but it's a really stupid habit. hagjohn 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leesmithg Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 What baffles me is why people even start these days. Everyone knows they are very expensive, very addictive and eventually kill you. Yet they start smoking anyway. I just don't get it. Do they think they look cool or are they just curious about it and then get hooked? I don't know but it's a really stupid habit. In Britain it's just getting worse. Where I have the misfortune to live, Kent, instead of it being .33 of adults being smokers, it's near .66. As for children, on buses they smoke; they smoke electronic and non-electronic cigarettes. Arriva bus company does nothing about it. I see children as young as 11 smoking. 11-16, .15 are smokers. The amount of research and adverts showing how dangerous and bad for you and passive smokers tobacco products are seems to encourage smoking. The price too, ?8.69 for 20 cancer sticks, how can one afford this anyway? I know there is a huge and increasing black-market trade for the products, but still, the money you don't spend is better suited on improving your own life-style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsYcHoKiLLa Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Why the hell was a pharmacy selling tobacco in the first place?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 Same reason any other store does, they are a product that reliably sells. There was a time when most all general merchandise stores sold tobacco, and pharmacies here don't just sell health products. They are general stores carrying toys, snack and basic foods, toiletries and even office goods. Tobacco was just one more standard item until recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_K Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 They say it's for 'country health' and they'll lose a lot of money but this doesn't take into consideration any extra profit they'll make from 'stopping smoking' products... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 6, 2014 Author Share Posted February 6, 2014 They already sell a lot of stop smoking products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leesmithg Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Why the hell was a pharmacy selling tobacco in the first place?! Because, once in the 1950's cigarettes were advertised as a cure for a chesty cough. Also if the flintstones smoker then you should too. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cigarette%20advert%20for%20a%20chesty%20cough%201950&sm=3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsYcHoKiLLa Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Because, once in the 1950's cigarettes were advertised as a cure for a chesty cough. Also if the flintstones smoker then you should too. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cigarette%20advert%20for%20a%20chesty%20cough%201950&sm=3 Yabba Dabba Eww Bryan R. 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan R. Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Never saw the logic of sticking dead leaves in your mouth and setting fire to them. Well there's smoking one of a variety of dead leaves for the desired effects then there's smoking cigarettes which is just plain suicide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGHammer Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/02/05/cvs-to-stop-selling-tobacco-sacrificing-2-billion-in-sales-for-public-health-and-future-growth/ Sensible - at the very LEAST from a PR standpoint - as more and more CVS locations have (or are getting) Minute Clinics (with nurse-practitioners) - you would not want to sell tobacco products under those circumstances. (Further, it's not as if CVS is price-competitive in terms of tobacco products - supermarkets alone, let alone fueling stations, easily whack CVS of prices.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ichigo+ Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Here in Ontario you have not been able to buy any Tabaco related products in any pharmacy or even Wal-Mart. I think the law is any place that has a pharmacy counter is not allowed. Makes sense though, getting something that will kill you at the same place that has items to make you better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DClark Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Millions of dollars to create and enforce legislation to ban tobacco sales at pharmacies... or the voluntary activity of the free market. I think I prefer the latter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Well there's smoking one of a variety of dead leaves for the desired effects then there's smoking cigarettes which is just plain suicide. Both have long term negative effects, one primarly cardiopulmonary and the other neurological. Neither is good for you. Trying to label one as "less harmful" than the other is obfuscation. Veiva 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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