So Long, Cigs: Michelle Obama Praises CVS For Pulling Tobacco

Conservatives just looking for any reason to B and Moan about the Obama admin..

The same thing happened here and guess what?...the drug stores did not fold due to lack of business.

I smoke and have yet to wonder why the government has not banned this poison. If they weren't so widely available, maybe I wouldn't smoke and would have quit long time ago.

I think it should be pointed out that any money lost from cigarette sales will easily be made up by CVS this year. Starting January 1 of this year all BCBS CareFirst customers now have their prescription insurance run under CVS' own Caremark. This equals about 1.1 million people on top of the people who already have Caremark. On top of this Caremark has been making a push to have all their customers transfer their prescriptions to CVS or Caremark's mail order service by offering better prices since those outlets are preferred. In some cases I have even seen them require customers to use one of those two options. So right there CVS has the potential to gain a lot more customers that will be giving them more money than people buying cigarettes.

That's not the end of the story though. They want to stop being just a pharmacy. The plan is for them to start introducing clinics into their stores. That way they can have you pay them to have you see a doctor there. Then he can prescribe you a drug that you will then give CVS even more money to fill. Everything CVS does is to make money. I guarantee you that the reason behind this change isn't political. It's simply to make their upcoming, and more profitable, changes seem more than just a cash grab.

On a side note a find it completely laughable how up in arms are getting over this. If you're going to boycott CVS for anything it should be for how much they overwork their pharmacy staff. Their pharmacists can work upwards of 14 hours a day without any kind of break while filling over 1,000 scripts. On top of that their techs are getting paid nothing. Even a lead tech who has been there for years barely makes above minimum wage. These are not safe practices and I wouldn't be surprised if they have been the direct cause of a number of deaths.

reply to post by Xcalibur254


What's really ironic is the number of right wingers who want to restrict health care to those who cant afford it. Yet chime in on this thread.

CJ

ColoradoJens
reply to post by Xcalibur254

 

What's really ironic is the number of right wingers who want to restrict health care to those who cant afford it. Yet chime in on this thread.

CJ

First one actually has to have affordable healthcare available.

I do note the hypocrisy of those who'd compel private businesses to serve agenda's.

A restaurant or bar owner should decide what is allowed or not in their establishment - not nanny government and do-gooder citizens who decide they know best for their fellow citizens. Simply do not patronize them if you don't like the policy.

A company likewise should not be forced to provide benefits its either unwilling to provide or disagrees with, such as Hobby Lobby. Do not work for them and let market decide if right or wrong.

If CVS wants to use retail space for clinics instead of sell tobacco then the market will decide if that's good of bad decision.

Sorry about this bit of hypocrisy but in a general sense I have to say "there ought to be a law" against those who say, "there ought to be a law" what ought to happen is people mind their own affairs and get their nose out of others affairs.

I recently applauded a business owner in Alabama who still allows smoking inside not because I like smoking but because of the exercise of freedom of choice in an adverse climate. The particular food establishment is quite busy every time I've visited and is a local icon.

I similarly applaud CVS to have freedom to make its decision.

I will have problem the day the government decides to tell other pharmacies they must follow suit which flies in the face of freedom.

JackSparrow17
I think the quote about the 2 Billion dollar revenue loss says it all. In this country, money is king. When CVS realizes that they are losing massive market share to Walgreen's, they'll backtrack. They'll look like fools.

CVS is the one who acknowledged that they would lose this revenue, so you're point about when CVS realizes it, it will back track, makes no sense whatsoever. Obviously it sees other advantages in the long run for this new policy, whether it be good PR and hence increased sales of its other products or limiting itself to liability down the road. And then there's the possibility that it is purely a moral decision, in which case you apparently think that morality is foolishness.

And as a post above suggests, CVS may have plans to become more of a health provider, making it's prescription market bigger, and it saw that divorcing itself from toxo-sticks and toxo-chew was a necessary step.

HomerinNC

WeAre0ne
I can't believe it's 2014 and people still enjoy inhaling poison, and fight tooth and nail to keep the poison in stores.

edit on 6-2-2014 by WeAre0ne because: (no reason given)

So....still like inhaling ther poison from your car???

Only a smoker would equate the 2 together LOL, you are so poisoned from the cigs you all have no idea what you are saying.

I dare you to quit for a year , then make another comeback about cars affecting your breathing, your thinking, your overall decision making !

I smoked for 25 years, decided it was time to stop, and now I want basically nothing to do with people that DO smoke, I can see, feel, hear the effects that smoking makes on every facet of life.

You guys have no idea that you are being affected mentally, as bad as taking any drug, and you will:

A: Never feel truly healthy
B: Never get younger feeling, look better
C: Always have a toxic outlook on life, no matter how you slice it
D: Feel stressed as all get out everytime you cannot smoke , even if those moments are coming hours from now
E: Never get off your ass and do any of the things you complain about
F: Never enjoy physical work

This can go on forever, too bad most of you are too far gone, (from the smoking) to realize it is your greatest overall enemy.

Most of those who quit are already so badly damaged that nothing better ever happens much anyways, since they stupidly replace those toxins with something else.

I again, dare you people who smoke to try and not, to see it for what it is, and DEMAND a better feeling from life than needing such crap to get you on.

Cause if you do not, not a word comes out of your mouth that is not INFLUENCED by SMOKING, which leads to DRINKING, and every other dam thing like it.

Do the world a favor and fight for something real that we need, and do it from a powerful NEW YOU, one who does not need to DELUDE themselves that they enjoy smoking!! LOL!!

So far ahead are those who do NOT smoke, that you have no idea at all !

crazyewok
There shop there rules.

Simple.

Dont like it dont shop there.


O wait sorry the above is only ok if you agree with there decsions otherwise they are evil dirty commie progressives.

.

This... This right here. It's their business so it's their rules so the Obamas gave them praise and now all of a sudden it's Obamas fault right?
Gosh how I miss the old "roll eyes" emoticon.

I have no problem with smokers. You want to actively slowly kill yourself, please do. It's your right.

Just, for the rest of us who want to mitigate the sources of death, please do it in your own space. In your own car. In your own home. Use some common sense. For the sake of the collective intelligence of humanity.

I wonder if the First Lady Michelle Obama told people not to jump off a cliff.
I wonder what the Fox News lemmings would do?

I'm sure the State would love to push tobacco into the black market because it would just mean all the more prisoners for the profitable private prison/slave labor industry. Interesting when you think about it, no? The slaves once picked the cotton and the tobacco. Now they're working for pennies weaving cotton into blue jeans.

ColoradoJens
reply to post by Xcalibur254

 

What's really ironic is the number of right wingers who want to restrict health care to those who cant afford it. Yet chime in on this thread.

CJ

No what is 'ironic' this thread has proven only 'left wingers' get to tell business what they can't or can't do.

Healthcare is not restricted anyone who needs medical services can get it in numerous ways.

What the healthcare so called 'argument' has always been about is who pays for it, and should people have to pay for it at all.

And telling business they have to give healthcare to people is the epitome of that 'irony'.

reply to post by neo96



What a load of Crap!

So CVS should ban all liquor, beer and wine sales too? Alcoholism kills plenty of people as well.

Slippery Slope folks.

crazyewok
There shop there rules.

Simple.

Dont like it dont shop there.

I'm sorry, but I swear that sometimes people just say things to get a rise out of others. As the OP clearly stated, he (and I'm pretty sure 99% of everyone else interacting with this post) is aware that the store has the right to decide what they can and can't sell.

neo96
While it is their perogative to sell what ever they want...

.

Clearly, if someone doesn't like something, they're not going to shop there. This is no revelation, it's common sense.

So why allude as if you know what words/opinions the OP may/may not have at all? Such as:

crazyewok
O wait sorry the above is only ok if you agree with there decsions otherwise they are evil dirty commie progressives.

Just seems pointless and deconstructive, but that's just my opinon.

rupertg
I wonder if the First Lady Michelle Obama told people not to jump off a cliff.
I wonder what the Fox News lemmings would do?

Hopefully throw her off the cliff.

Onslaught2996
Conservatives just looking for any reason to B and Moan about the Obama admin..

The same thing happened here and guess what?...the drug stores did not fold due to lack of business.

I smoke and have yet to wonder why the government has not banned this poison. If they weren't so widely available, maybe I wouldn't smoke and would have quit long time ago.

I didn't realize the smoking issue was a political thing for right/left?

Wow... A day without partisan focus would be like a day without sunshine. The world would pause and wonder what broke, I'm thinking. (sigh)

I'm still mildly amused at the mentality of right-wingers, finding any excuse to whine about "progressives", even dragging the Obamas into something they had nothing to do with.

Too bad the OP couldn't be bothered to read CVS's own PR release over this move, he/she would have noticed the company said it was doing this to position themselves as a better HEALTH CARE company. Hard to be seen as a health care company when you sell cancer sticks right next to the oxygen bottles. The company also said the move to eliminate tobacco from their stores was to avoid the stigma of being seen as a corner convenience store.

God forbid a company tries to improve it's image, the wingers flip out.

Straight from the horse's mouth:

Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is simply the right thing to do for the good of our customers and our company. The sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose – helping people on their path to better health.

As the delivery of health care evolves with an emphasis on better health outcomes, reducing chronic disease and controlling costs, CVS Caremark is playing an expanded role through our 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners. By removing tobacco products from our retail shelves, we will better serve our patients, clients and health care providers while positioning CVS Caremark for future growth as a health care company. Cigarettes and tobacco products have no place in a setting where health care is delivered. This is the right thing to do.

How is this a bad thing? Oh right, that "libtard communist progressive evil Michelle Obama agenda"...

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

I'm still mildly amused at the mentality of right-wingers, finding any excuse to whine about "progressives", even dragging the Obamas into something they had nothing to do with.

I am midly amused at people who didn't even bother reading the title of the thread or the article.

Miss it ?

So Long, Cigs: Michelle Obama Praises CVS For Pulling Tobacco

CVS Caremark pharmacies will phase out tobacco in U.S. retail stores by Oct. 1, a move swiftly embraced by President Barack Obama and the first lady on Wednesday as a step that would save lives and promote good health.

Guess some people never bother to read that.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Look at it this way:


Obama has mandated that all American's must buy health insurance (or face penalties). Therefore, he is feeding an industry (and entire industry) a ready supply of $300mil customers. I can imagine with our population concerns that health insurers won't have much trouble adding to that, for each new birth is another customer. But that little piece of paranoia aside....

...on the other side he is denigrating another entire industry (tobacco growers/producers). Obviously this protects his insurance companies (which he has shown himself so fond of). But this is our president choosing to chime in on a situation where CVS was doing their own thing.

No right winger on here brought Obama into this. Obama brought himself into this.

reply to post by neo96


They're just clearing the shelves to replace cigs with marijuana cigs ..

It's all about money, and that will be the next big product ..

Wrabbit2000

I didn't realize the smoking issue was a political thing for right/left?

Wow... A day without partisan focus would be like a day without sunshine. The world would pause and wonder what broke, I'm thinking. (sigh)

Seriously...I'm just a pissed off smoker. I can care less whether people view me as a right/left/middle winger. Personally I don't even believe in choosing between two evils, so until I see a political party that I agree with, I'd rather remain neutral all together..