New tobacco laws cause grief

[Chromatix]

It's actually quite simple:

Canada has state healthcare. (So do most European countries.)

Tobacco causes severe health problems.

Smokers then need lots of very expensive healthcare, at state expense.

Therefore, the state doesn't want people to smoke.

[poofy_puff]

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"

I think New York has a law like that. Maybe other states do, too.

[Spiffy McMoron]

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.

I don't smoke (anymore) so the law doesn't affect me, but I've been curious to see how many people complain about this law--even though signs have been posted since the summertime.

"What do you mean you don't sell Export A's? ... What law? How do I get smokes?" etc, etc.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

All they ever do here in Cheeselandialand is keep raising the cigarette tax.

Nobody seems to raise any real objections about it.

[Cat]

You can get beer in grocery store or convenient stores in CT...I remember going to Trader Joes in MA and loving the fact we could buy wine!


Anywho, I've always loved (ha!) customers who thought employees could change the law at whim! Man....can you imagine the chaos one could cause

[MadMike]

You can get beer in grocery store or convenient stores in CT...I remember going to Trader Joes in MA and loving the fact we could buy wine!

It's very restrictive here in PA. If you want beer, you have to go to a "beverage distributor." If you want liquor, you have to go to one of the state-run liquor stores.

I thought it was like that everywhere until I was 17, and we stopped at a 7-11 in New York en route to Canada. Imagine my shock when I saw beer and wine coolers in the cooler!

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I thought it was like that everywhere until I was 17, and we stopped at a 7-11 in New York en route to Canada. Imagine my shock when I saw beer and wine coolers in the cooler!

I felt the same way when I would come over from Ontario where we have to buy our booze at the LCBO (basically state run liquor stores).

[Stormraven]

San Francisco recently passed an ordinance telling stores with pharmacies that they couldn't sell cigarettes, AIR.

[PepperElf]

It's actually quite simple:

Canada has state healthcare. (So do most European countries.)

Tobacco causes severe health problems.

Smokers then need lots of very expensive healthcare, at state expense.

Therefore, the state doesn't want people to smoke.

ny is going through something similar now...

they're pushing new taxes on luxury/sin items such as non-diet soda and i forget what else.

kinda like "you'll be healthy or the government will force you to be!"
(i'm just kinda wondering, how far they'll take it)


and dang 25 bucks for beer? bleh!

[alacazar]

ugh

*Sigh* If I had a doller for every time someone complained about us following US laws....

A year or so the FCC issued some new regulations on who is able to access your Mobile Phone account. it was kinda a big thing, made the news and was seen as a victory against ID theft and for consumer rights in general....

That said we cant go a day without someone complaining about us not allowing them access untill they verify their own blighted password....

we also get complaints from parents, husbands, wives, close friends, or other "concerned individuals" who whine at us because we wont let them into the account cause the guy paying for the account has not told us that they are allowed to enter it. Never mind the fact it would take them maybe 5 minutes in most cases to call their friend or family member and get access the the account legaly......

The kicker.... If I find that one of these guys gets access to an account without autherization. Well I've got about an hours worth of paperwork which is sent direclty to the FBI for processing and investigation for possilbe ID theft. Fun.

[PepperElf]

A year or so the FCC issued some new regulations on who is able to access your Mobile Phone account

i know a gal who thinks her hubby broke into her cell account. started calling up all the numbers she'd been calling just to make sure she didn't talk to any men. which explains why i got a call from someone asking who i was.

so hopefully that wont happen to her again.

[Chromatix]

It's perfectly normal in Europe to have restrictions on what times alcohol can be sold at. It's basically aimed at chain-drinkers, such as alcoholics, and other people who just don't know when to stop by themselves. And yes, they do block the relevant aisles of the supermarkets, and have signs up saying why.

In Finland in particular, drinks with a high alcohol content - including wine - can only be sold in bars (for consumption on the premises) and the state-run Alko chain. To be fair, Alko carries a very good range, or so I'm told. Supermarkets and even convenience stores are permitted to sell beer, lager, and other "ordinary strength" drinks, subject to the age and time limits.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Yeah, here in VA, they can sell beer and wine in grocery stores (as well as wholesale clubs like the one where I work), but liquor can only be purchased at the ABC Stores.

I've had people get angry that we don't sell the liquor sometimes. Like the guy who came by the store at 6:30pm on New Year's Eve one year (half an hour after we closed that day), and was frustrated because he couldn't buy his booze. All the other stores in the area that sold it had closed already for the night, or they were closed to begin with, it being a Sunday!

Then there were the diplomats, who bought things tax-exempt for their embassies, and got upset when I told them we had to charge them tax for their beer and wine. (State law. You want to avoid paying taxes on your beer and wine, you go to the distributor, not to us.)

And then there were the idiots who'd buy ten cases of beer for their parties or whatever, and were shocked, SHOCKED, to discover they couldn't return the cases they didn't open. (That's the law, again. All sales on tobacco and alcohol are final.)

:sigh: