WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Plain tobacco packaging isn’t
making it slower to check out at retail shops, according to a new study from
Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the New Zealand Telegraph reports. However,
those findings are disputed by the New Zealand Association of Convenience
Stores (NZACS).
Published in the Tobacco Control Journal, the study examined
how plain packaging affected small retailers in Australia. How long it took
clerks to find and get the correct tobacco product was measured both before and
after Australia’s
new law went into effect December 2012.
“The tobacco industry and their front groups were parroting
the idea that plain packaging would significantly impact on transaction times
in shops,” said Michael Colhoun, ASH communications manager. “This shows that
this is not the case.”
The study discounted data such as how long retailers spent
sorting, checking stock and placing the right brands in the right location,
said Roger Bull, NZACS chairman. “When all the brands essentially look the
same, it now takes longer for retailers or their staff to manage their stock,”
he said.
“The findings reinforced the association's view transaction
times increased when plain packaging was first used. While a second here or
there doesn't seem like much, when you compound this hundreds of times a day,
across over 6500 stores across the country, the impact on retail businesses is
actually very real,” said Bull.
British American Tobacco New Zealand (BATNZ) also pointed
out that plain packaging would increase the ease of contraband tobacco. In addition,
BATNZ expressed concern for the amount of time retailers would now have to
spend on handling tobacco products.
“In New Zealand a large proportion of tobacco is sold
through small, independent retailers. It would be particularly difficult for these
businesses to sustain the increased cost burdens that are not covered in this
research,” said Susan Jones, who heads the company’s corporate and regulatory
affairs.
Ireland is the most recent country to pass legislation that would enforce plain packaging of cigarettes.