April 11, 2006
CVS Complicates Safe Sex
No one likes buying condoms. The act, though innocent and perfectly legal, instantly offers an insight into the sexual activity of the purchaser, and, depending on the types of condoms bought, their sexual preferences. And while it's one thing to march into a store and resolutely buy condoms, as embarrassing as that can be, it's a whole other thing to have to sheepishly ask an employee for them. At many local CVS stores, that's exactly what consumers are forced to do.
The Post is reporting today that area CVS stores -- among others -- have over the last few years started locking away their condoms, forcing customers to ask employees to retrieve their prophylactic of choice from a well-secured glass case. CVS and other chains have claimed that they were forced to implement the lock-away policy in response to high numbers of thefts of certain products, condoms included. CVS has currently taken on the practice in 22 of its 50 stores in the District.
Some sexual health experts have expressed concern with the policy, noting that in a city with such a high incidence of HIV/AIDS (1 in 20 residents in the District is HIV-positive), such practices could dissuade sexually active residents from using the protective measure. In a recent report card on the District's efforts on HIV/AIDS, the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice noted that the city was lagging behind in the distribution of free condoms, giving out only 125,000 of a planned 600,000. With CVS and other area stores locking away condoms, especially in poorer areas of the city, should we be more concerned that more and more obstacles are being thrown between residents and the means to secure their sexual health? Not so much, according to the cultural conservatives that always know best:
"I'd rather see them locked up," said Phil Burress, president of the [Citizens for Community Values]. "It's a lie that condoms prevent all sexually transmitted diseases anyway. People should be educated about that and practice abstinence."As much as that sounds like well-planned public policy, Mr. Burress, we'd rather see people have access to the means to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies without having to resort to celibacy. But that's just us -- those wild-eyed radicals.
Unlock those condoms, CVS!
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I've never understood the stigma associated with buying condoms... I mean, by publicly purchasing prophylactics, you're announcing 'I'm about to get lucky.' (You're presumably precoital, to continue the alliteration.)
How did that become an embarrassing fact?
Either way, locking up condoms is silly.
See. I know I harp on the San Francisco thing. But really, these things were FREE out there. I don't think I bought a condom the entire time I lived there. They had 'em in buckets at bars and stores and stuff. I don't begrudge CVS for trying to protect against theft. But where is the District government in all of this?
Well, I can vouch for them locking up multiple types of products.
The CVS on Wisconsin Avenue locks up its handsoap. I had to wait about 20 minutes for some dude to retrieve a SoftSoap refill for me.
I mean, maybe just put those little tags on it so they beep when they go out of the store -- that's what it's for, no?
If someone is too embarassed to ask an employee for condoms, that person probably shouldn't be having sex. And if someone would rather have unprotected sex rather than ask an employee for some condoms, then that person REALLY shouldn't be having sex.
One time, I walked into a CVS and purchased some condoms and a disposable camera. They were for two totally unrelated events, but the salesclerk still gave me a funny look.
of course, CVS' security alarms seem to just go off at random, and are therefore ignored by staff. I guess that's whey they've reverted to low-tech measures.
I can understand the locking them up because of thefts, but they should be out in the aisles and more readily available. I read in a study that revealed people who are educated that condoms do not work well are more likely to have unprotected sex therefore, increasing the risk of contracting STDs and unwanted pregnancy.
I remember buying them for the first time at 16 and the old lady behind the CVS counter gave me a dirty look to which I just return with a smile.
As of my last supply run, which was quite a while ago, the Adams Morgan Safeway (that the Soviet one?) also kept contraceptives under lock and key.
At the Brookland CVS, they lock up the body sprays (Axe, Tag, etc.).
I worked a grocery store that stopped seeling condoms altogether because they were always being stolen. At least CVS hasn't gone that far.
CVS isn't running a public service. They are not a health clinic. Their purpose is profit, not community responsibility. If their product is being stolen, it is their obligation to protect their bottom line.
Do they have to lock them up because a lot of school kids were stealing them? It does seem likely. There are any number of reasons why school kids would rather steal than purchase them.
Does DC hand out free condoms in schools, and do they hand out enough of them out easily enough? (Or does the nurse/gym teacher cluck at them when they ask and give them a lecture?)
I am sure it is cool in some cirles to shoplift condoms.
I am also sure some kids cannot afford them.
I think the theft issue may be predominantly a youth issue. Any good thoughts on how to solve for that? Because I do think that locking them up will mean that less people will purchase them. I also think we will convince CVS to do otherwise unless theft goes down. Maybe, we should encourage CVS to put of bathroom like vending machines, just with a larger varity, in the store. Then larger boxes can be purchased behind the counter. And placing a little sign on the vending machine about where in the city hands out free condoms might not hurt either.
At the Columbia Heights CVS, the liquid soaps and moisturizing lotion is under lock and key. It's ridiculous. Free the lotion, soap AND the condoms!!
adults maybe shouldn't be embarrassed by buying condoms, but young teens might. the article also mentions that some teens went out and attempted to get the condoms, but ended up getting lectures, dirty looks, etc, from staff.
I'm usually proud to be buying condoms. It's buying the "small" size that's embarrassing.
when i was about 13, my friends and i were getting a ride home from his mom. she needed to stop at the drug store and the grocery store. long story short, friend got busted stealing condoms from the drug store - in front of his mother - AT THE AGE OF 13! she irately yelled at him, "and what are these for!" hilarious.
At the adams-morgan CVS, I not only had to ask for the condoms to be unlocked, but (after a long wait during which I had to loiter around the display and wait for his return) had to fend off the smirks and advances of the employee who unlocked the cabinet while I paid for them. God forbid I wanted to shop them a little and sit there reading the boxes while he stood over me waiting to lock them back up. That's why women, at least, may not want to ask for condoms, Dan S. The double standard is alive and well.
I get them at the toy shops on Connecticut now, where the concept of a woman having sex is not leer-worthy.
How can they expect people to go in and buy anything but the largest size? "I'll have a box of the Magnums, please... and some rubber bands."
The bigger annoyance is that CVS carries only bargain-basement brands, mostly Trojans, which stink like cheap latex and aren't nearly as nice to use as Beyond 7, Kimono, and a host of other superior brands.
CVS FREE WILLIE!
That's a good point. Are condoms made available to DCPS high schoolers? If not, somebody call Andrea Zuckerman. She almost got them at West Beverly.
Months ago our local CVS in Cleveland Park put the condoms behind lock and key. There was a flurry of messages about this on the Cleveland Park Listserv, and somebody took the initiative and called CVS -- they freed the condoms.
It's bad for public health to have condoms locked up. I hope that CVS will be responsive to all the criticism they're getting and make it their policy to have condoms easily available.
"At the Brookland CVS, they lock up the body sprays (Axe, Tag, etc.)."
And rightly so. That is certainly a public service to all teenagers. If only CVS had done the same with Drakkar Noir when I was a kid.
Just go to Rite Aid. They have a nice selection and you don't have to ask a soul to help you out.
You'll get over your fear of buying condoms if you, at 18, are made to go into every sex shop near your small, conservative town (all 3) to see if they carry Kimono condoms - not available at the grocery store - for your 17-year-old friends.
At the Adams Morgan CVS, they now lock up the regular toothbrushes even! The locking things behind cabinets is just getting out of hand...I do understand the need to prevent theft, but locking up items that you should be able to just pick-up and quickly pay for is ridiculous.
"CVS isn't running a public service. They are not a health clinic. Their purpose is profit, not community responsibility."
Ah, yes, corporations are about profit, not community responsibility. Because these are mutually exclusive. That whole "good corporate citizen" thing is a bunch of rubbish.
If all corporations thought this way...we'd be in a whole lot of trouble. Oh, wait, we ARE in a whole lot of trouble.
Just go to a store that doesn't lock them up and tell CVS that while you were there, you also spent another $40 on all the other essentials you need which is lost money for them. I think CVS has the right to lock whatever up they want, but they are already on warning from me. I'd rather they lock them up than make me wait in line half an hour to buy a freaking six pack of diet pepsi. They have bigger issues than stolen condoms if you ask me. In any case, if people go elsewhere to buy their condoms, CVS will wise up. So a few boxes get stolen, big deal. At least whoever stole them won't be procreating. I call that a public service.
I will not ask the clerk to unlock the condoms (or the soap) at my local CVS -- I get hassled, and in any event I haven't got that kind of spare time. I shop for them at the grocery, and assume everyone else does too because I've never seen that lockbox open.
I've noticed that some displays are time-sensitive, i.e. only locked at night. So you have to remember to get them during the daylight hours... OR ELSE.
Also, while the argument that kids who are too embarrassed to buy condoms aren't mature enough for sex is certainly really great, if you can find a teenager whose thought process is "Well, obviously I'm just not mature enough to tag it like it's going out of style, so I'm going to have to wait till I'm older" you should lay off the hallucinogenics. This is why we don't let the wild-eyed Utopian fantasists who put all their eggs in the "teaching abstinence" basket make public policy. Oh, wait.
What I don't get is locking up hand soap and bodywash in the beauty section aisle, while $40 face creams and such are right on the shelf. Is there a black market for stolen SoftSoap?
I buy my condoms at the supermarket, as the CVS in Penn Quarter is too annoying to shop at.
This post, regarding Dupont's CVS, made Best-of-Craigslist about a year ago. Relevant and hilarious...
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/about/best/wdc/69328861.html
How are the comments by the Citizens for Community Values--described on their own website as "serving the greater Cincinnati area"--relevant to a story about local CVS inventory control?
Are you suggesting that CVS is colluding with the CCV to lock up condoms?
They lock up the soap because it can be used in drug production.
At my CVS it's not uncommon to see the toothbrush displays empty while down the block street people are selling them for $4.00 a dozen on the sidewalk. Wonder where they got them from. I asked the CVS manager how bad the problem is and it runs into several thousand a month at her store alone. The easiest solution is to lock up the items that experience the greatest consistent shrinkage. Anyone who's ever been in retail management knows losing the entire cost of these stolen items is much worse than losing just the profit from some potential lost sales. Yeah, it's a pain to have to ask for the cases to be opened but the alternative is rampant theft which will translate to higher prices for those of us who don't utilize a five-finger discount. Their decision isn't a moral one, it's a business one.
The Columbia Heights CVS is completely gross. It's basically just a large bodega. If I knew anyone in DC besides people from work, I'd make them buy their condoms around the corner at Giant.
I live in Fairfax County, and my Giant supermarket locks up condoms AND pregnancy and ovulation tests. Unbelievable. The stuff next to the glass case, which incidentally includes *female* condoms and lubricant, is out in the open.
Who's shoplifting ovulation tests? What a crock.
well stating the obvious, if that is the case, then they should lock up air freshener, baking soda, candles, tweezers, razors, lighters, matches, gum, eye glass repair kits, hair pins, laundry detergent, dish soap, those plastic roses they sell on valentine's day, soda cans, soda bottles, make everyone pay using a fingerprint since both paper money and credit cards are suspect, lock up roach spray, and any kinds of glue they sell, since they are all used to get high or produce drugs.
seriously cvs, do not use my list. thanks. next thing i know i will go into cvs and the only thing out in the open will be a package of table napkins.
Ok, so as someone from Cincinnati, let me personally apologize for CCV and that icky Phil Buress. I came to the east coast to escape people like him. A former self-described porn addict, he's who we can thank for the most homophobic marriage ban in the nation. He essentially cares about anything that goes on between your sheets.
Well from the other side (those CVS employees), I'm a 10 year vet of the chain. Worked it since the People's Drugs Days (shout out to local chains!) during high school, all of college and a few years afterwards because my 9-5 job paid me jack. In any case, condoms are one of the most stolen items in the store, at least while I was there. I worked stores in Montco and DC. Someone asked about the tags. They are not that easy to hide. And unless the thief was planning on returning them via stolen/trashed receipts, they didn't care much for the packaging and simply took all of the condoms out of the box. Simply put, there was always a way a thief could steal no matter how much security, both low and high tech, a store put in place.
All I'll say is that DCist should've used pictures from another brand. Trojans suck. Stick with Lifestyles.
The problem isn't what they are locking up. It's their employees. They are the slowest freaking people on earth. I seriously spend half my life waiting in line or waiting for help at CVS. Either that or they are completely rude, don't know what the hell they are doing, or don't speak any english. That craigslist posting about the Dupont cvs was right on point. The employees there are horrible. Also, could it hurt to maybe use something to form an actual line rather than a bunch of people standing around not knowing where to line up?
I can't remember who said it, but someone bright once said "just because teens get tetnus shots doesn't mean they are going to run out and stab themselves with rusty nails."
The same goes for condoms - just because they are available, doesn't mean they are going to purchase them.
But as the mother of 4 teens, I'd much rather them know they were there if they found they needed them without adding to the embarassment.
I've been an STD Patient Advocate for years - I personally think they should be made available in gumball machines on every street corner, but that's not going to happen!
I have m y housekeeper buy them. Strange I know but I hate doing it myself.
housekeeper? my stars.
If you're not in the mood to ask a CVS attendant to unlock the locked-away condoms, embarrassed or like the simplicity of home-delivered prophylactics, apparently one can now purchase condoms on amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=br_ss_hs/104-2641544-1734333?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dblended&keywords=condoms
Perhaps what we should be doing is handing out little flyers with the amazon URL; no funny looks from the CVS employee, no preaching. Plus they are discounted.
That, and it's somewhat odd, and interesting, that "The Idiot's Guide to Enhancing Self-Esteem" when one does an amazon search for "condoms"
I live at 22615 Commonwealth in Seattle. Been up here before?
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