CVS stops selling tobacco products

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/03/business/cvs-stores-stop-selling-all-tobacco-products.html?_r=0

Yes, they are selling it as some sort of moral stand and now the stores will be called CVS Health. Do I buy that? Is it a calculated business move, thinking the goodwill they earn will be more valuable than the sales revenue from tobacco products? Honestly, I don't care. Anything that makes it even a little bit more difficult to buy and cell cigarettes is fine by me.

 

Will this really make a difference? It won't draw one new customer into the store and will only drive some away.

If other communities are like mine, everywhere there is a CVS, there is a Walgreens or Rite Aid or other similar store within a block or so. My only loyalty is to which is easier to get in and out of when I need something.

 

Every CVS I've ever seen is also within 300 feet of a scuzzy gas station that sells all of the tobacco, hookah, flavored wood-tip cigarillos that meets the demand of the male 18-27 year old demographic.

I don't like CVS because of their voo-doo pricing, where an item that has $2.79 in big, BOLD print is really $4.39 unless you break out some points card. Hate that shit.

If "drug stores" were really serious about the health of their customers, get rid of the aisles and aisles of candy. Obesity is a bigger threat to shorten a person's life than tobacco -- when was the last fat 84-year-old you saw?

 

CVS has a good deal on Pringles this week 4 cans for $6

 

Guess I'll help some folks in need of a life get Bingo. Thank you for contributing nothing.

 

It's a fair point. That's why I don't think much of the new name and question if this is more of a calculated business move. Maybe they just don't make much from tobacco products, so they can do this to sell their new brand without giving up products that bring in more revenue such as junk food.

That said, there is no such thing as second-hand fat. I don't make other people breathe in carcinogens when I eat something unhealthy. Also, tobacco product sales rely heavily on having the product fall into the hands of people who are legally too young to have them. I also freely admit that I am often unfair when debating this topic.

 

Such thinking nearly sunk Sterling Cooper when Lee Garner, Jr. took his business elsewhere.

 

I do wonder how much business of CVS comes from tobacco. I cannot imagine it's that much of their business. You want smokes? Go to the corner gas station that probably has lower prices anyway.

Also, if you've ever been in a line at CVS, you know there is no such thing as a "quick transaction". It's the DMV of drug stores. At least at Walgreens, the smart play is to make eye contact with the kid in the photo department for your items so you can get out of there faster.

However, if a gas station had the balls to say "we're not selling smokes or lottery tickets", I would go there all the time. Why? Because the people buying smokes and lottery tickets clog the line as their transactions take much longer -- especially once someone takes their $6 scratch off winner... and buys six more scratch offs.

 

I annoyed you. Service to the board.

 

Is CVS a publicly traded company? If I were a stockholder I would not be happy.

As MTM noted, this will not draw in one single customer, but it will force others to do business somewhere else.

Then, take into account those who were going to get a prescription filled, pick up a gallon of milk and a pack of smokes. They'll also get that gallon of milk and prescription at Walgreen's or whatever other nearby drug store is there. This is not going to cost them just tobacco sales. It's going to cost them in all other areas when smokers do all their other commerce where they can buy their smokes.

 

Not really. Just pointing out the lazy, useless post.