Cigarettes delivered for ‘love’
An Auckland company is delivering cigarettes to disabled customers’ homes in under one hour as a show of ‘‘love towards them’’.
On The Rocks Now is an alcohol home delivery company that launched in early February.
The company also delivers fast food, including Mcdonalds, and cigarettes to homes in central Auckland suburbs between 7am and 11pm.
But there is a catch to ordering food and cigarettes, as they can be ordered only as an addition to alcohol.
On The Rocks Now managing director Joseph Chacko said its website did not promote the sale of cigarettes.
‘‘It is not our intention to promote cigarette selling and we just deliver it to some of our physically disabled clients as a show of customer service and love towards them,’’ Chacko said.
‘‘We deliver to people over the age of 18 and check their photo IDS before delivery,’’ he said.
Cigarettes are listed under a tab on the On The Rocks Now website. No product images are shown and there is a health warning on the page.
The website says orders will be delivered within one hour for a delivery fee of $5.
Chacko said On The Rocks Now was a third party service and it did not deal directly with a cigarette supplier.
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) programme manager Boyd Broughton said he had concerns about delivery websites making smoking more accessible.
‘‘It seems there is probably a bit of a loophole that needs to be looked at when it comes to the sale of online Broughton said.
Broughton said ASH did not want home delivery companies to make it easier for people to purchase tobacco.
‘‘We want to make it inconvenient so it is not the first thing to do when people are in a time of difficulty. We also want to increase convenience of other therapies to help people stop tobacco,’’ smoking tobacco,’’ he said.
Major supermarket chain Countdown also sells cigarettes through its online shopping service.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said cigarette home delivery was legal.
The spokesperson said the seller must ensure that they were not selling cigarettes to a person under 18 years old.