CVS banned tobacco. Now its sales are hurting

money.cnn.com ^ | 8/4/2015 | Matt Egan

[rktman]

Last September, CVS became the first major pharmacy chain in America to stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products in its stores. The drug store chain said it was the right thing to do -- even though it would hurt sales.

Now CVS (CVS) is detailing just how much the tobacco ban is impacting the company. While prescription sales continue to rise, general merchandise sales tumbled nearly 8% last quarter on a same-store basis.

CVS blamed the slump on the tobacco ban. The company said front-store sales would have been flat compared with the year before if they didn't make the change.

[Mears]

“How do you know how healthy you would be if you had NOT been smoking?”

—

I would be running Marathons as 2 of my kids and a granddaughter do.

My brain has NEVER worked at optimal level-——but I’ll strive to improve. Thanks for reminding me.

.

[riverdawg]

Interesting, especially in light of the Feds requiring pharmacies to carry certain OTC drugs, like so-called Plan B contraceptives.

[catnipman]

Next, CVS needs to eliminate sales of soda pop and other sugary beverages full of fructose and all other empty-calorie junk-food, you know, to fight obesity, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and type II diabetes. That is, of course, if CVS is TRULY socially conscious and is REALLY willing to put profits ahead of the nations health.

[MaxMax]

People who went there to buy cigs also bought other things in one stop.
Now they have to shop around for Cigs so what's the point. I can see how
it's a money losing proposition, to bad they didn't.

[pfflier]

Viagra is prescription only. Probably should be OTC but it does affect blood pressure. That was it's original design and test premise. The primary side effect became the marketable asset.

As far as plan B contraceptives that was purely a political decision by the FDA at the direction of obummer and the feminazis.

[Einherjar]

Every time you smoke a cigarette , God takes an hour off your life and gives it to Keith Richards.

[Democratic-Republican]

"CVS isn't the government..."

On the other hand, let's not make believe CVS operates like a private small business in the free market. Or General Electric. Or AARP. Or ...

These outfits lobby, get subsidies, tax breaks, make donations, they politic and in the case of CVS have a huge vested interest in socialized medicine. They are in a symbiotic relationship with the (D)emocrat-Socialist party.

Things have descended so quickly that all it takes are midnight attachments to bills to benefit companies. Like light bulb legislation or foreign generic drug bans, or whatever. These are not private companies by any normal use of the english language.

And in each and every case there is always someone who comes along and says: "good, I'm glad they banned it" or whatever. But eventually your own goose will get cooked. Count on it.

And in the case of tobacco, you couldn't find something more removed from free market forces if you tried. It is simultaneously extra-constitutional with enormous sin taxes that are essentially inter-state Tariffs, and it is rapidly approaching a repeat of Prohibition complete with all the black market organized crime waiting in the wings. When they mention Illegal Aliens doing the jobs we won't do, they need to include distribution and sale of "sinful" products tailor-made for MS-13 and every other criminal gang.

It's as if the national memory is an etch-a-sketch.

[NativeSon]

I think that I’ll go smoke a nice cigar on my deck, drink in hand... prolly shoot at some stuff too.

[Grams A]

I’m closer to $5 a carton.”

Oh my. I remember when they were $.25 a pack. A friend buys theirs on-line. They come from China and he sends a Western Union transfer for $15 each carton. At the current prices I can understand why that guy was selling single cigarettes on the street in New York. That’s probably all a lot of people can afford.