That's not so super, supermarket
Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 13:30 Email received last week:
I have been a smoker for many years and feel that I am part of a persecuted minority. I use xxxx online for groceries about once a month and have had problems with them regarding cigarettes before.
I have acquired the habit of ordering various packs and brands at the same time because of non-supply of specific brands, but today I received none at all as all three requested brands were unavailable. They state that they will provide appropriate substitutes in such cases but it never happens [even though] it is fairly obvious that there is a very large range of superking cigarettes that would be acceptable.
I queried this with the delivery driver who told me that staff are not allowed to substitute cigarettes as someone ‘high up’ has decided that it would be promoting smoking.
I feel that it is not within their remit to judge people using their products, and certainly not acceptable for them to use these underhand methods to enforce someone’s personal beliefs regarding smoking. The other major supermarkets which I use more regularly don’t have any such scruples and obviously I will be avoiding xxxx from now on.
I believe smokers should be made aware of this misuse of what appears to be personal prejudice on someone’s part. We are controlled and vilified enough already without the intervention of a supermarket whose job is to supply whatever goods, or substitutes, that are requested and have been paid for by the use of a valid credit card.
I hope you will be able to make this public and go some way to stemming the increasing tide of control of what is still a legal activity.
I am withholding the name of the supermarket while we investigate this further but if anyone has had a similar experience with home deliveries do let me know.
Reader Comments (4)
I order from an online tobacco shop. The person who has been subjected to smokerphobic supermarket discrimination, because I'll bet the same person doesn't mind delivering kidney or liver disease in a bottle or more to alcohics, should immediately shop elsewhere and buy tobacco from an online tobacco shop where customers are treated with respect.
I do have an issue with Tesco. I always did my weekly shop there in the 80s and 90s. There was a time you could smoke in their cafe. They banned it but put up the most insulting, otherising sign that said "for the benefit of ALL our customers, smoking is banned". I phoned their customer service to say No Smoking would suffice and as one of their customers, spending then about £80 a week shopping, I found the sign offensive because it certainly wasn't for my benefit or that of other smoker customers that dmoking was banned.
The customer service person just kept repeating that they had done a survey and most customers wanted a ban. I pointed out "most" is not "all" and I was only asking them to change the sign to stilli indicate they had banned smoking but without adding offence
The sign did not change. I have not done my shopping at Tesco since. Over 20 years that is an awful lot of money the store was happy to throw away.
We smokers must learn to stop rewarding bullies and those who treat us as second class citizens and boycott their shops, and if there is anything eft after lockdown, the most spiteful restaurants, cafes and pubs too.
Dear Simon,
I too have experienced a lack of substitutes when ordering rolling tobacco. It has happened on a several occasions. None of my delivery drivers were aware of a policy as such, but one did say, when I commented that surely the supermarket (ASDA) hadn't run out of all rolling tobacco, that they certainly had not.
Some time ago, I had previously ordered all the different brands they had in the 50g size, to check if I would be happy with substitutions, and most ranged from pleasant to acceptable, so I knew I would be happy with substitutions, and could easily choose not to accept the one or two I didn't like. Hence, I have ticked the substitution box every time since, but I have never had a substitution.
My tobacco of choice is Golden Virginia - The Original, and I usually order two 50g pouches, so that I always have a "float" and don't risk running out. I usually receive both, but sometimes just one, and one time I received a single 30g pouch, but never a brand substitution. I did wonder if there was some kind of weird policy by ASDA, and the post above suggests there is. I find this unacceptable.
If I order a wine or a spirit, and it runs out, they always send a substitute, so why not tobacco? There are similar potential health risks, as with all enjoyable consumables, from meat to chocolate, to whisky, so there is no justification for a difference in policy.
In regard of Pat Nurse's comment above, on the "for the benefit of all our customers" anti-smoker signs, I'm afraid this conceit is everywhere, especially in hotels, which don't legally require all bedrooms to be non-smoking. It is a rare pleasure to find hotels with smoking rooms these days. The budget chain, Britannia, seem to be the most prevalent, but you have to like faded grandeur (luckily I do, and The Adelphi is my favourite hotel, when I visit Liverpool - I always eat out though).
It would be good if you can get an answer from ASDA, Simon, and challenge their (lack of) substitution policy on tobacco, if it turns out there is a policy in that way. Keep us posted.
By the way, I also have online delivery set up with Sainsbury's, but I use them less often, due to the difficulty in getting a slot, whereas with ASDA I have a guaranteed regular slot. On one occasion with Sainsbury's, I had zero tobacco delivery - just that one time - so I wonder if such a policy might be more widespread than just ASDA, unless Sainsbury's had genuinely just run out of rolling tobacco on that one occasion?
Kind regards,
Marcus J. Swift.
Thanks, Marcus. The supermarket referred to in my post is not one of those mentioned by you or Pat. However, prompted by your responses, we will contact all the major supermarkets and see if we can find out what their policies are on tobacco substitutions, or whether the problems you have encountered are more random and the result of local decision-makers.
I have an online account with Tesco and have been fortunate, to date, not to receive a 'no show' with my cigarette orders. However, they keep changing the pack quantities, which is a nuisance. For example I could always order my brand in quantities of 200 pks but since the beginning of last year I have had to order in quantities of 100 pks and from last week they were only offering to sell by the pack. Why? I am feeling very concerned by this scaling back and wonder if there is an agenda!