Packaging plan not plain sailing
‘‘We are a lot slower at serving at the moment. It’s costing us time and time is money.’’ The Butt Bucket owner Richard Green
Palmerston North shop owners say the move away from branded cigarettes to packaging that only shows graphic images of smokers’ lungs and body parts won’t change customer habits.
Instead, they say, the only effect is on shop workers who must now fumble around trying to grab the correct pack.
Anti-smoking advocates, however, argue the move to plain packaging is just the start and the Government needs to be more aggressive to kill off the vice before it kills more smokers.
On Wednesday, new regulations kicked in making it illegal for tobacco companies in New Zealand to sell cigarettes in branded packaging.
The packs aren’t completely plain. Graphic anti-smoking warnings take up 75 per cent of each carton or pouch and small brand names and product variants remain.
Distributors had until this week to move old, labelled stock and retailers had until Wednesday to sell it.
The Butt Bucket owner Richard Green said he felt the biggest effect the change was having was on shop owners, not consumers.
‘‘We haven’t seen any major decline [in people purchasing] with the packaging going the way it is.
‘‘It’s made it harder for us to receive the product and for the manufacture to send the product. They all look the same.’’
He said on one occasion the customer asked for a 30 gram tobacco pouch and he had almost sold them a 50g pouch by mistake, because the packaging all looked the same.
‘‘We are a lot slower at serving at the moment. It’s costing us time and time is money. The Government didn’t take that into account when they made the law.’’
Green said he didn’t understand how the latest move would change smokers’ habits.
‘‘It’s just the colouring. I don’t think it’s going to change the quantities people purchase.’’
Top Cook Dairy and Takeaways owner Bipin Patel said he had only recently swapped to the non-branded packaging and he echoed Green’s concerns about taking time to find the right packet of smokes. ‘‘Customers don’t want to wait because everything is the same, so we can’t quickly get it to them.’’
Tobacco Control Advocacy general manager Mihi Blair said now was the time for the Government to step up and do more to target the tobacco industry.