Under the Counter Cigarettes - Bad for consumers in its present form

Kay_Peel

An elderly man asked me to have a look at the prices of some cigarette brands from Tescos. He usually buys a big carton and it lasts him for 3 months. No problem!

I found myself in one of the stores that is trialling the 'Under the Counter' consumer laws that will come into force nationwide in April 2012. The display was hidden behind huge doors, so I couldn't see the prices and boy did I have a list from the old feller.., so I had to ask.

'Can you tell me how much a packet of Pall Mall Kingsize is, please'
'No, sorry.'
'Pardon?'
'I'm afraid that you have to ask me to buy a packet. I can then open the doors and see the price.'

Jeez - this was going to be a long drawn out affair with much opening and closing of doors and I wasnt even buying, just price-checking for the consumer.

I have a suggestion for Tescos and all the other stores that will eventually hide the product from the customer:

Put a price list up along with the makes and models of products behind the doors, please. That's all. Either that or give your employees the wherewithal to provide prices and details of what's 'under the counter'.

I'm sure that Parliament didn't intend to put the consumer at a disadvantage. I'm sure that only the cigarettes are meant to be hidden - not important consumer information like prices. I think Tescos has got it wrong and needs to look at the set-up again.

NiallB

Kay_Peel wrote: »

I'm sure that Parliament didn't intend to put the consumer at a disadvantage.

Ha!

(cynicism off)

libra10

I went into our local Tesco this morning and they have also adopted the scheme.

Like you say, prices can't be compared and you need to know exactly which brand you're buying.

Hopefully Tesco (and other stores) will display prices prominently and allow customers to compare prices.

Alcohol is also bad for the health, are large stores going to also have 'secret' cupboards where wines, beers, lagers, etc are sold?

And what about full fat foods/high salt/sugar content? Seriously bad for health if eaten in excess. Definitely need a separate locked away aisle for these items.

Also, will the government slap high tax rates on these items as they do with cigarettes?

I admit that smoking to excess is dangerous to health and shouldn't be encouraged, but doubt that these measures will stop anyone buying cigarettes.

jfdi

My ASDA has a pricelist on display.

grayme-m

libra10 wrote: »

I admit that smoking to excess is dangerous to health and shouldn't be encouraged, but doubt that these measures will stop anyone buying cigarettes.

What is 'to excess' in terms of smoking?

Azari

grayme-m wrote: »

What is 'to excess' in terms of smoking?

One drag?

...

madvixen

This legislation is one of the worst pieces of legislation written in a very long time. The aim of it is to stop anyone under the age of 18 seeing cigarettes. In theory this means that a customer service staff member could be prosecuted if they open the doors to the counter while there is someone under 18 within sight of the kiosk. Also, staff are only allowed to have one door open at a time. So you can have 3 members of staff serving but only 1 can serve cigarettes - the queues are going to be enormous.

As for price lists, these can only list the names of the products, not pictures. This is fine if you know what you're after but not so great if you don't know the name of the brand you want.

It's going to be very interesting when TS take the first test cases to court.

libra10

grayme-m wrote: »

What is 'to excess' in terms of smoking?

No-one is denying that smoking is dangerous to health, but drinking/unhealthy eating/mountaineering/speedcar racing are all dangerous to health.

Why stop at smoking - ban the lot!

anatomical

I think with the amount of information out there on the side effects of smoking anything that discourages it is a positive. I accept that people have free will and choose to smoke, but if the health warnings, tv adverts and general knowledge of the public aren't enough to discourage people then maybe a bit of inconvenience will.

Having seen and studied the effects of smoking throughout the course of my degree, anything that discourages smoking is a good thing. While parliament generally won't do anything to discourage the consumer, the amount of money spent in healthcare because of smoking far outweighs the amount of tax the government gets from the sale of cigarettes. One in five deaths in the UK are caused by smoking, I think it would irresponsible of the government not to introduce more measures like this.

For those saying alcohol/fatty foods etc. should also be locked away, maybe they will be in future. At the moment there is research to suggest that drinking a sensible amount of alcohol can actually decrease your chances of getting certain illnesses, as with most things it is drinking to excess that causes problems. Cigarettes have no positive effects so it is more important to discourage smoking than drinking alcohol at the present.

Crisp_£_note

Simplest answer make the things that are bad for us ridiculously expensive and the stuff that is healthy for us really cheap.

Same goes for alcohol and soft drinks in pubs etc make it more apealing to be responsible and NOT drink and drive!

Then again ban cigarets etc now and stop faffing around doing it slowly and make fitness and leisure centres free or affordable for all.

It's not rocket science is it?!

Owain_Moneysaver

madvixen wrote: »

As for price lists, these can only list the names of the products, not pictures. This is fine if you know what you're after but not so great if you don't know the name of the brand you want.

Isn't that in breach of the Equality Act for people who can't read text but can recognise what packet they want?