Supermarket shoppers could face 'walk of shame' to alcohol checkout counter in bid to curb growing

Oooooooooh! I'm so worried. Someone might notice me buying a big bottle of Jim Beam. Maybe we should have walks of shame for people buying beef, or twinkies, or mars bars. I know! SUV gas guzzlers only lanes at the gas station. And we can have little children reporting this and crying while people fill up their tanks. Oh, I could go on and on, but this is pure silliness. I am not ashamed of anything I do or buy. And no system to try to shame me will work. Good bless the British. They seem to be the experimental area to see if things will work on the rest of the world.

Man, I started to sweat, until I saw where this was.
Take away all my rights, take away my guns, but, by God, I will break my 1.5 L bottle on the shopping cart and leave a jagged scar on anyone who would make me walk through a "walk of shame".
What's next...a walk of shame for junk food? No way am I walking through two lines when I shop for groceries. In Calif I proudly place my wine and MrD's vodka right next to the overpriced organic products.

This is so silly. Shame on those who think that a walk of shame is a good idea. It's a slippery slope to being placed in stocks for public shame. Been there, done that, didn't work.

I'll swallow my dignity for a dedicated checkout any day of the week. That's assuming I had any to start with.

You can buy hard hooch in grocery stores in the UK? Boy am I jealous! I'm in a semi-dry county and I face a long drive just to get anything over 40%

I don't really get it though. How's it any different than the "shame" of going to a liquor store to buy liquor?

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin
I feel sorry for our brothers across the pond that England's best wisdom had emigrated to another land a long time ago...

But you still gotta be amazed at how much of a glut of foolishness passes off from the media these days...
"If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. " -- Benjamin Franklin

reply to post by machinegun_go_go


Thanks for sharing the article, I needed a laugh. Let's just outlaw alcohol, cigs, chocolate and anything else that makes people feel good for any reason. Let's ban buying candy by fat people next.

I suppose that next the government will mandate a separate lane for all of the vices? A separate lane for condoms and lubricant or adult magazines, to discourage "promiscuity"? Perhaps a lane for junk food, so the fatties can't horde the Pringles?

Government and/or businesses have no business inserting themselves into people's personal lives.

I don't disagree that binge drinking is a problem, or that something "must be done."

*rolls eyes just a little*

But government intrusion into our personal lives doesn't seem like the answer. And this "solution" seems to have no teeth and just generally be dumb.

If someone picks up a 6-pack of beer with the rest of their groceries will they be turned away from the regular line and told to purchase their entire cart of groceries "over there"? Will the new line only be for people with ONLY alcohol purchases, or for all customers who have alcohol in addition to all other items in their carts? If the latter, then it probably won't be the "express lane" so many people keep talking about. IE, it wouldn't be any faster or more "convenient" if you still have to wait in a significant line...

The whole things sounds a bit like bureaucratic government nonsense. But it's what they're good at: "Take something simple and complicate it!"

I just did a morning red wine run...

Oh the shame....

(Sarcsam off)

Now i'm drinking red wine and you're not

Cheers

Sweet, I hope they actually do this in the U.S. because I hate waiting in line for 10 minutes while so douche in front of me has $400 worth of groceries, and I'm just grabbing a 6 pack or something. lol

reply to post by machinegun_go_go


It is just another one of those stupid ideas that has been born out of someone wanting to do good, but getting it all wrong,
or justifying a law or control for reason “a” but the real motive is reason “b” –

we are flooded with laws and rules and ideas like this that makes simply getting on with life very difficult, and almost impossible to “not do something ‘wrong’” - like if
one has been fishing and has a knife or something sharp in ones pocket – one can now be arrested even though it is obvious why you have a knife.

If one sits down by the river side to have a picnic with the family, and you have a bottle of wine or can of beer, in lots of places now one can be arrested for drinking in a public place;

there is at least one city here, where you can be arrested for spending time in a public park (e.g. feeding the ducks during lunch time) if you do not have children with you ... (if you do not have children with you – you might be a paedophile is the logic! ) – what happened to just spending time outside & taking a break ?

Heaven forbid you take your bottle of wine to the wrong counter..... it does get very “over the top” and silly here......

on this buying alcohol issue...
a) There is no shame in buying alcohol, or disposing of lots of bottles in the recycling here in the uk – that is no issue at all, from that viewpoint will make no difference at all
b) It will just create extra hassle when shopping and annoy people, hence people will buy from shops where it is the easiest and quickest
c) It may be a “politically acceptable” excuse to force all alcohol through more tightly controlled checkouts – some shops already have controls like below.
a. Reduce theft of alcohol because it should only appear in certain parts of the shop and at the more tightly controlled checkout - as money gets tight – theft goes up
b. Ensure that only over 18’s are operating the checkout dealing with alcohol
c. Tighter controls to make sure none is sold to underage people (big penalties exist for shops that do)
d. Probably also focus cctv on that checkout – hence holding proof that the shop is not selling to underage people
e. Prelude and putting the infrastructure in place to putting limits on alcohol purchase

It is undoubtedly about control and how the government want us all to feel that doing something that actually allows us to escape from the pressures of everyday life is wrong. Imagine if people actually stopped drinking altogether? The treasury would take such a hit that taxes would have to be raised elsewhere to cover the loss in revenue.
I get the feeling that the government want to gradually take away anything that may allow people to break out the repressed work-slave state that so many people exist in now in order to make us more docile and easier to control.
Additionally, alcohol does encourage people to think slightly out of the box, which to TPTB is “A Bad Thing.”

If this comes in I’m gonna be proudly standing in the ‘Booze Queue.’

Who’s with me?

You may be gradually taking my right to smoke away – you ain’t taking my drink.

Peace,

MGGG

reply to post by leo123


At the Indian Casinos in Washington State they've got everyone using the membership cards in order to get comped meals ect. The catch is they check the wanted databases and then call the police to arrest people who have bench warrants for things as simple as not paying traffic fines. The Indians sold out in order to get tax relief and they get paid for each arrest.

I've believed for a long time that our ID's have too much readable information on them and I've never liked how some bouncers seem to be interested in more than your date of birth.

I think drivers licenses or ID's should be encrypted except for the picture, so that they can only retrieve data that they are qualified to read. Not your address and not even your name - just the birth date for a bar. Grocery stores, bars, casinos and clubs should not be extensions of police checkpoints.

[edit on 28-10-2008 by verylowfrequency]

This would hopefully deter shoppers from making excessive purchases by putting them under the scrutiny of fellow customers.

What a joke! It is a laugh.

I must have been asleep when, suddenly, binge drinkers and alcoholics started caring about what people they don't even know think of them...

Originally posted by machinegun_go_go
Then again, at least we'll have an express lane for when we're trying to get the beers in quickly on the way home from work!

I think that's how most people will view it too.



[edit on 28/10/08 by NuclearPaul]

lol at Mr Lizard

Seriously though, someone mentioned Pringles - now those things will kill you quick, we really ought to do something about them - and what are they made from, anyway?!

Pringles aisle it is.

isn't that the same thing as a liquor store? Hey personally I would be excited about a alcohol only lane. They should do that here in the US. It would beat buying groceries than driving around to the nearest liqour store.

Who gives a dang. I wouldnt mind having a dedicated counter to checkout at. Faster service!

.I am more than happy to see this article. I hope it will curb alcohol drinking among the young and produce less car accidents. I would like to see the United States do the same thing. Thank you. Dee]