Up until a couple years ago, we hardly ever stepped foot in a CVS pharmacy. They just seemed really overpriced on stuff.... more overpriced than Walgreens.... and that's really sayin' something.
Lately, we're actually in there quite a bit. 4 or 5 times per month, maybe. More often than not, it's either for a prescription or for milk (which is $1.99 a gallon some weeks). Vitamins too. And, we got my nephew's Christmas gift there this year, I do believe.
The CVS "ExtraCard" program really does save some big bucks, if you play your cards right and wait for sales.
Just a couple weeks back, I received an e-mail from CVS informing me:
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The e-mail went on to say:
 | You’re in the top 13% of savers at CVS/pharmacy®! |
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Yeah me!!!
So, this week CVS made one heckuva whopper announcement:
WOONSOCKET, R.I., Feb. 5, 2014/PRNewswire/ --CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) announced today that it will stop selling cigarettes and other tobacco products at its more than 7,600 CVS/pharmacy stores across the U.S. by October 1, 2014, making CVS/pharmacy the first national pharmacy chain to take this step in support of the health and well-being of its patients and customers.
"Ending the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products at CVS/pharmacy is the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health," said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO, CVS Caremark. "Put simply, the sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose."
What a stance! A major retailer stepping up to acknowledge that tobacco is a killer.
They are gonna loose billions in sales as a consequence of this decision. And honestly, the vast, vast majority of smokers who buy their smokes at CVS (or chewers who buy their chew at CVS) will just go somewhere else.
I guess the big question is "will those 'somewhere elses' make a similar decision?"
Walgreens?
Target and the 'Marts?
Who knows?
But this is a good first step.
Cigarettes are death pipes.
Do I want the government to ban cigarettes and/or make smoking illegal? Of course not. No more than I want the government to make French Fries or Diet Dew illegal.
But, if the snowball picks up speed among private industry and more and more places give up their sales of cancer sticks, more and more folks will (hopefully) come to the realization that every cig takes hours off their life. And life is precious.
Living for today isn't worth the pain and loss tomorrow.
Out for now....
Matt