New tobacco laws cause grief

[christopherius]

So in the province of Alberta Canada they recently changed the tobacco laws in regards to the sales. Basically if your store has a pharmacy you cannot sell tobacco products there. Now we have a pharmacy where I work so the company added on a store which can only be accessed from outside the store to conform with the new law.

1: Now this new law has been advertised for months before it was put in effect on the 1st of January. I know for a fact that it has been on the news and in the local papers here.

2: We put up numerous signs indicating the new regulations and stating that we have a new store set up to sell said products

3: The customer service desk used to be the place we sold tobacco. The cabinets were taken down and we now have those recycled fabric shopping bags put in its place for sale. We also have 2 signs stating tobacco is not sold here anymore.

Now I don't work at the Service desk, I actually work in the toy/hardware section but on numerous occasions I have witnessed customers try and buy cigarettes.

Somehow I knew this would happen. And you can guess the customers weren't too happy with us for following Government Regulations.

Anybody else have troubles like this?

For those of you interested here is a link to the new laws:
http://www.cctc.ca/cctc/EN/lawandtob...uction_act#7.3

[Darkwish]

Oh yeah, I get people arguing with me all the time for enforcing stuff like Copyright and Trademark laws.

[Wade]

Absolutely, and then customers get pissed like I'm the one who passed the law. I used to work in grocery/retail, and people would get pissed when I'd ask for ID. Well, duh - you're buying an age-restricted product. No, I don't care if you were here, yesterday. No, I do not remember you. No, I could care less if you take your business elsewhere. Somehow, I think the convenience store chain I work for (at the time) will survive without your daily six-pack purchase.

[NightWatch]

Forgive me, but I'm American. Why can't you sell tobacco in the same store as a pharmacy?

[Kali]

Forgive me, but I'm American.

oh.... god.... temptation....... OVERWHELMING!!!


MUST..... RESIST................

[MaverickGypsy]

The Canadian government has always had fairly strict regulations on alcohol and tobacco, which is why we pay $12 for a pack of smokes and $25 for a case of beer.
We used to be able to buy cigarettes in drug stores years ago but now we're pretty restricted, gas stations, convenience stores and now only grocery stores without a pharmacy. We have never been able to buy alcohol in anything other than a liquor store.
My husband loves going to the states. He has an out of body experience when he sees a booze aisle in the grocery store.

[Iris Kojiro]

I WISH we had that same law here in the States. I always found it ridiculous that one would be able to get tobacco products at the same place they can get medicines. They kind of conflict with each other.

(Please don't think I'm bashing those who choose to smoke. I just feel that those two particular types of products should be sold in separate places simply because of the sheer amount of conflict between those two types of products.)

[MadMike]

Before this turns into a smoking debate, I'd like to point out that Fratching is the place for that sort of discussion.

[Crosshair]

I WISH we had that same law here in the States. I always found it ridiculous that one would be able to get tobacco products at the same place they can get medicines. They kind of conflict with each other.

How so? Nicotine is a drug, just like the ones sold at the pharmacy or in the OTC section. Should we not sell soda at the pharmacy either since many have caffeine in them?

There are plenty of people who abuse the pills they get at the pharmacy counter. I don't see how not allowing tobacco sales helps anyone.

[MadMike]

How so? Nicotine is a drug, just like the ones sold at the pharmacy or in the OTC section. Should we not sell soda at the pharmacy either since many have caffeine in them?

There are plenty of people who abuse the pills they get at the pharmacy counter. I don't see how not allowing tobacco sales helps anyone.

*sigh*

Did I not just say to take this argument to Fratching? If this happens again, I'm handing out infractions.

[Skeksin]

Yeah. Currently I'm dealing with FCC rules for not including broadcast channels in areas that are not in the channels normal Direct Market Area. This is to avoid rebroadcasting channels with the same or similar line up. (IE ABC channel from one town and ABC channel from another town. Can't do it anymore states the FCC).

Then the customer wants to blame us for this.

So I feel your pain.

[blas]

I'm a smoker, but if that law were put into effect in America, I doubt I'd have a problem. I only get my smokes from convenience stores/gas stations.

Places like Wal-Mart, Walgreens, etc tend to charge way more for cigarettes.

[Javarod]

The Canadian government has always had fairly strict regulations on alcohol and tobacco, which is why we pay $12 for a pack of smokes and $25 for a case of beer.
We used to be able to buy cigarettes in drug stores years ago but now we're pretty restricted, gas stations, convenience stores and now only grocery stores without a pharmacy. We have never been able to buy alcohol in anything other than a liquor store.
My husband loves going to the states. He has an out of body experience when he sees a booze aisle in the grocery store.

Actually that depends on where in America he goes. I lived in NJ, and the liquor store rule is in effect here. CT i think it is requires liquor to be purchased at state stores, VA liquor stores have to be marked with a blue dot, and so on, there's a lot of odd laws in the states on liquor.

[poofy_puff]

Massachusetts is really complex. Grocery stores can sell alcohol with a liquor license, but not on Sundays, unless it is within 20 miles of another state that DOES allow alcohol to be sold on Sundays. But not before noon on Sunday, or after 11 pm any other day. I live three miles from the New Hampshire State line, so I never really have to concern myself with any of this crap.

[Nyoibo]

When I was in the US somehwere I remember the beer being blocked off at one time, when I was asked I was told that they were not allowed to sell alcohol 24 hours a day (this was a 24 hour store) so they blocked off the beer and wine section for 1 hour each day.

All I could think at the time was "Oooookay then"