If you go into a Rite Aid to buy a lighter...

[GReedDiamond]

...in this case, it was a BIC lighter...be sure to bring your ID with you.

I just got carded trying to purchase that lighter, but my ID was out in my car.

I pointed out to the automoton at the checkout that "I am 60 years old, why are you asking me for ID? Do I look like I'm 12 years old?"

Clerk sez, "it is corporate policy to require ID for the purchase of smoking products," then he says "in order for you to not get any more stressed out, I will cancel this transaction" (which, btw, included several other non "smoking products&quot , to which I said "you've already caused me undue stress, and wasted my time, with your ridiculous zero tolerance bullshit policy. And fuck Rite Aid" as I walked out of the store.

I went to a Walgreens, bought a lighter, asked them if they had ever heard of carding people who buy lighters, clerk said "never."

So now, according to Rite Aid, a lighter is a "smoking product." Has this happened to anybody else?

I know that ultimately, this is a trivial event, but I was caught off-guard by it, and aggravated by this fucking corporate rule which treats its customers like children.

Suffice to say, after over 35 years of being a loyal, regular customer at this very same Rite Aid location, I will never set foot in or spend another penny at any Rite Aid, ever again.

Later, after cooling down a bit, I called the store and spoke - in a civil tone - to the manager, but she kept talking over me as I explained why, after 35+ years of being a loyal customer I would never spend another penny there, but she just hung up on me.

Fuck the Corporate Nanny State and fuck Rite Aid. I hope they finally do go bankrupt.

[Skittles]

1. I would not treat a clerk that way

[GReedDiamond]

3. I can honestly say, I have never talked that way to...

...a store clerk ever before.

But, being treated as if I was 12 years old, and then the condescending remark he made about not stressing me further was enough to push me to that point.

I'm not happy about it, or proud of myself, but I know that a reasonable thing to do would have been to sell me the damn lighter and not push this nonsensical corporate nanny policy on me, to the point of needless aggravation.

There is no actual law - local, county or state - mandating carding for lighters, it's an invented corporate nanny rule which is patently absurd.

[Eliot Rosewater]

59. Not only do I never react to the clerk, if I do one of those surveys I give 10's

and make shit up about how great they all are even if I didnt even talk to anybody.

ANYONE working for a living will not receive my wrath if I can help it, now the execs of these corporations can kiss my ass, but you will never see one of them working in the first place.

Yeah yeah yeah I know some of the execs work real hard, and they do, heart attack city for many of them, but the corporate model we tolerate in this country and world is ridiculous and counterproductive.

[Thor_MN]

2. Funny, I stopped going to Walgreens because they wouldn't sell me 20 days of an allergy med.

Buying the 20 pack at the start of the month caused me not to be able to buy another 20 pack on the 19th. They did ask if I wanted them to check if I could get the much more expensive 5 pack. I told them not to bother. Between that and them always having the cards on the shelf for the cheaper generics, when they didn't have any product, I have not set foot in that store for 4 years, although it is the most convenient drugstore location.

It annoys me greatly when they have cards on the shelf for allergy meds, but do not have any in stock... Why they want to waste people's time is beyond me. Decide on a product, have to stand in line and wait, and they don't have the product. If you are out, don't put the cards back on the shelf!!!

[GReedDiamond]

13. The only history I have with Walgreens, as a pharmacy...

...was when I suddenly could not get my (now dearly departed) diabetic cat's particular insulin prescription from another pharmacy (not Rite Aid), but Walgreens came through.

But, I understand, this kinda crap is ridiculous, regardless of who is dispensing it, or not.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. I got carded at Rite Aid for trying to buy a 16 oz. can of beer

and I'm nearly 66 and look it, what with my gray hair and wrinkles. They said their policy was to card every living soul. I told them my policy is to lay this can of beer down in the middle of your floor and walk out. One more reason why I prefer so many things bout the old days, including the time when they had single-owner neighborhood drug stores that weren't chain stores full of authoritarian policies dictated by executives.. I couldn't believe it several years ago when all the smoking products in most of these chain stores went behind the register as if they were heroin products so that you can't even see them anymore. I remember wanting to buy a smoking pipe and they wouldn't let me behind the counter to look at what selection they had. And every one of these drug stores, from Walgreen to CVS to Rite Aid have cards now. If you have your card, things cost less. You can't take a piss anymore without carrying some store's card.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. and yet I can go to my locally owned corner grocery store and not get carded for anything.

Razor blades, wine, whatever.....they ring it up, I hand them cold hard cash and that is it.
That little store has been around for as long as old folks can remember.

[GReedDiamond]

8. I hear ya...

...but I can only conclude that this "card em all" policy is relatively new.

I don't usually buy alcohol at Rite Aid, maybe the last time was five years ago?

All I know, I've never been carded at this Rite Aid for anything that I can recall, especially for a friggin lighter.

Obviously, I agree with what you say about these authoritarian policies.

[ohheckyeah]

46. LOL

I hope you really did lay the beer in the floor and walk out.

[demmiblue]

5. Rite Aid also checks everyone's ID for alcohol purchases, no matter what age.

Stop being a douche to hard working people who make shit wages. The managers also make shit wages and work shit hours, from what I hear. Take it up with corporate.

[GReedDiamond]

7. On the few occasions that I have bought beer at Rite Aid...

...I have never been asked for ID, so I dispute your claim about Rite Aid alcohol purchases.

The clerk was, yes, just doing his job, but he did it like an asshole.

In this case, I take it as an insult to me as an obviously mature adult, bordering on being a "senior citizen," that Rite Aid and their employees should start treating me like a fucking child. They could have just sold me the lighter without the layer of corporate fuckwit stupidity.

I may be a "douche" to you, but I don't care for being treated by anybody like I am a child, and it ain't my fault if people decide to take jobs that they don't like and/or don't get paid enough to do - especially people in "management" who get treated like shit. I went out of my way not to have to do those kinds of jobs.

Demanding ID for alcohol and cigarette purchases is an actual Law. It wasn't at a Rite Aid, but the last time I was carded while purchasing alcohol was probably 2 or 3 years ago, when I was 57 or 58 y.o. I took that as something of a compliment. I showed the clerk my ID, because I had it on me, and we laughed about it.

This idea that a lighter is a "smoking product" requiring ID is completely and utterly absurd, and is not a law, as I've previously pointed out. It is a Corporate Nanny decision, and, as you suggest, I should take it up with the Corporate Office.

But rather than bother wasting any more of my time complaining to the Corporate fucks at Rite Aid, I choose instead to stop being a customer.

[murielm99]

10. Those decisions usually come down from corporate.

Sometimes the clerks are embarrassed by them, especially if they have known their customers for a lifetime.

I haven't bought a lighter in a long time. I don't know what they do here.

[Skittles]

11. THANK YOU

[Thor_MN]

14. Stop being a corporate douche.

A person can not "take it up with corporate". A corporation is not a person, it is designed to not have any responsibility to people. The only thing a corporation responds to is money.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. Next time tell them "I'm not a smoker, im an arsonist"

Then go all Donald Sutherland Backdraft

https://m.

[GReedDiamond]

12. While it is true, I'm not a "tobacco products" smoker...

...I do have a Weber Kettle grill to light up.

I prefer not to have to use two sticks being rapidly rubbed together to try to light it.

Or anything else I wanna light up, non-pyro speaking (reference to your video link).

Tobacco or not, whatever I wanna light up is not any of fuckin Rite Aid's fuckin business.

[DawgHouse]

54. I wonder what they do about those big "grill" lighters

or matches. Are they on the shelf behind the clerk or down the aisle with the bbq stuff?

I think carding for lighters is asinine.

[Rhiannon12866]

62. ...

[wilsonbooks]

15. I have been in Retail for many years.

At the big box store I currently work at the thing that scares managers most is a customer complaining to corporate. If an employee generates a couple of corporate complaints, then they are gone.

[GReedDiamond]

31. I'm not after anybody losing their jobs...

...simply treat your customers in a common sense, respectful manner, without this facade of being holier-than-thou.

[femmocrat]

16. I would have left everything on the counter and walked out.

And followed up with a call to the manager, just like you did. Since the manager was also condescending, I would follow up with a letter to some higher up. And I would be sure to tell them that I have posted my complaints "all over" the internet.

Don't mess with us seniors! We have "buying power"--- LOL.

[Gigabear]

17. All they need is a birthdate to punch into their system

most cashiers will just put in their own birth date rather than ask if you are obviously of age. The cashier was probably new or on some sort of probation and didn't want to risk breaking any rules.

[ProfessorGAC]

49. Most Places I've Been To. . .

. . .actually have a Yes/No question for the cashier that's something like "Is customer over 40?" Then they just hit "Y" and issue resolved.

It's that way at the big box stores, and at the major grocers around here.

Even at self-checkout (i only buy beer through that) the system suspends the purchase and then the person walks over, types in their code and off i go.

[RebelOne]

18. I am 76 years old

and am always asked for ID when buying any smoking products. In fact, I was just recently asked for my birth date when I bought cough syrup.

[GReedDiamond]

29. I do not include a lighter in the "smoking products" category...

...lighters are used for a multitude of reasons, not just evil tobacco smoking.

Since I am not a tobacco products smoker of any kind, ever, I have a different perspective from you, I suppose.

My main point of the OP was - and still is - that I have never, in a grand total of 60+ years - on this planet - in this dimension - have I ever - at any age whatsoever, since the first time I ever bought a lighter - been asked for ID to buy a lighter.

So that registered at the Moment of Impact as a Giant WTF!

[LynneSin]

19. As someone who use to work in a bar, we use to know who was underage...

when they would argue about not having to show ID. Just saying.....

Ok I'm trying here.

On a side note. One thing about these industries with carding everyone is a way to protect themselves should someone claim the bought their sinful product at a local RiteAid/Wawa's/CVS/Whatever. It also prevents their clerks from trying to guess who may or may not be of age AND prevents these kids from possibly selling these products to their friends. I think many of these registers are set that you cannot sell ciggies/boozes without entering something for a date. And someone said it would be easy just to enter your own birthdate again and again - they'd notice that. Plus I'm sure there are cameras on the registers in which it can be checked to ensure these employees are taking IDs.

These stores can go to the tape and show that they do indeed card everyone including some great-granny who comes in on her scooter, wrinkled within an inch of her life, all grey hair showing photos of her posing with Teddy Roosevelt and wanting to buy a pack of Lucky Strikes. It's stupid but it's a consistent policy where the clerk behind the counter doesn't have to guess 'Is she of age, is he' There isn't any question, just card everyone and be done with it. There are no fuck-ups if you card 100% of your customers buying the sin products.

HOWEVER really? A pack of lighters? I keep lighters in my house because I light candles. That's just a joke to card people for lighters. I'd complain about that.

[mrmpa]

20. I stopped shopping there months ago when they,...

wanted ID from this 58 year old woman to buy a pack of cigarettes, along with a bottle of cough medicine that was on their shelf. I explained that they were either getting my money without ID or they were getting nothing. I explained that neither product was illegal for me to obtain.

I think their problem was that clerks were not carding under age people buying cigarettes. So instead of educating their employees, they attempt to penalize their customers.

BTW, they took my money.

They wanted the ID to enter my birth date, however if you're paying by card, now a hacker has a DOB to help out with the hacking.

[azurnoir]

21. I know what you mean I got carded for the same thing at a Cub grocery store I'm 59 but

when I walked into Cub's liquor sales area (same store location BTW) guess what I did NOT get carded now make sense of that one

[ailsagirl]

22. CVS doesn't even sell matches...

at least, not in my area!

[Throd]

23. I'm 48 and got carded buying beer at BevMo from a clerk in his 20's.

I asked him "Are you old enough to buy beer?"

He said "Yes"

I then asked "Do you think I'm older than you?"

He said again said yes, but that he still couldn't sell me the beer.

I left the beer and my BevMo card on the counter and left. Haven't been back.

[ProfessorGAC]

50. Funny Related Story

So, i'm in Knoxville TN, at a statisticians' convention. I go to a gas station to buy a 6 pack to throw in the fridge at the hotel, knowing i'm not going out to dinner with anyone, so likely eating in my room.

Lady there asks for ID. (I was 48 at the time.) I just said "Really?" She looks at the ID and says "well i'm still working and i'm 78. Everyone looks too young to drink to me!" We both chuckled at that and i paid and went back to the hotel.

[trof]

24. 'Company Policy'

I'll be 74 in a few days, and boy do I look it.

The other day I ordered a beer with lunch at Mellow Mushroom pizza.
The young woman asked for my ID.
"Company policy?"
"Yes sir, I'm sorry."

I showed her my driver's license.
I chalk it up to 'once burned, twice shy'.
Some place, some where, they probably got busted for selling a beer to an underaged. patron.

"OK! This will NEVER happen again! Card ANYONE who orders a beer!"

But I do agree about the Bic lighter.
Maybe you're just lighting birthday cake candles.
Or the thingy that acolytes use to light candles in some churches.
Or a camp fire.
Or a grill.

'Smoking related'?
Dumb.

[seveneyes]

25. If it's smoking it ain't burning fast enough

I use 70 percent KCLO4 and 30 percent "smoking" product and it is over in one hit ...

[Tom Kitten]

26. Wow I didn't know it's OK to call a person a "douche" on DU

Twice on this thread! Seems kinda sexist to me, but what do I know? Feel free to call me ignorant if you wish.

[GReedDiamond]

27. Thanks for your reply, Tom Kitten...

...but I'd like to make one thing perfectly clear...

...I did not call anyone a "douche."

[Tom Kitten]

28. No you didn't!

I'm sorry to imply you did! Other people did. No, I agree with you! It was ridiculous! And sometimes clerks can be jerks! I once got angry at a guy Safeway who carded me for a beer (I was 44) and he started laughing and making fun of my driver's license picture!

[GReedDiamond]

30. That's what I kinda thought, but...

...in order to make it perfectly clear, I appreciate the official clarification!

[cwydro]

32. I wouldn't call a clerk an "automoton."

That person is a human trying to make a living and get through the day.

You surely did not improve that particular day for him.

Who doesn't have their ID in their wallet?

[GReedDiamond]

35. My initial reaction was...

...this is a joke, right?

I was attempting to buy several other items, as well.

The clerk could have asked whether I wanted to proceed with purchasing the other items, but he responded with this sarcastic "I don't want to cause you any stress, so I will terminate the transaction and you can leave," bullshit, that's why I don't care for the clerk or his attitude.

I do have my ID in my wallet, but as I've already pointed out, it was in my car.

However, unlike you, perhaps, I don't commonly walk around with my ID on my person at all times. The only times I feel it would be necessary to present my ID on demand is to a cop, if pulled over while driving. Since that hasn't happened in over 25 years, it's a rare occurrence. Anybody else asking me for ID, like a clerk at Rite Aid trying to card me over attempting to purchase a lighter, can fuck off.

BTW, I'm a human too, trying to get through my day, and I don't need this kind of corporate authoritarian nonsense getting in the way of simply trying to purchase a goddam lighter.

[cwydro]

41. You do sound a bit stressed.

I just figured that you would keep your money, which you need for your purchase, in your wallet. My money and credit cards are in my wallet, which is where my ID is as well. Fairly common, but I guess you are different in that respect.

I've witnessed people being jerks to "automotons" before, and I can pretty much guess that's why he decided not to ring up your purchase. It's not his fault that he has to follow the rules his stupid corporation makes. Try putting yourself in his shoes for a change and quit looking down on those who have to do that kind of work for a living.

Probably best for both you and Rite Aid that you have given up shopping there.

[GReedDiamond]

42. Don't worry, I'm just fine...

...I have not had any incidents like this in the past, I suppose because nothing as stupid and pointless has ever come up before in such a seemingly mundane situation.

And you're right, I don't keep money in a wallet and carry it around with me everywhere, so I must be some kinda nutcase, right?.

You seem to want to depict me as some kind of "bad guy," because I did not care for the fact that I was inconvenienced by a completely ridiculous corporate nanny policy and spoken to in a condescending manner by their employee. If that makes me a jerk in your eyes, so be it, but I could care less of your opinion.

And I have already addressed the try putting yourself in his shoes for a change and quit looking down on those who have to do that kind of work for a living factor in a previous post. In short, it is not my fault or concern that somebody being an asshole to me has a job they don't like, and I don't have to like being treated that way when I'm giving my hard-earned money to them.

And, I have for almost 40 years made my way in the world without having to work for fucked-up corporations or business people I don't like, so, if you don't like that either, tough shit.

You don't know me, and I don't know you (thankfully), so I'll just leave it at that.

[cwydro]

44. OK.

You take care now.

[GReedDiamond]

45. Likewise, cwydro...nt

[BlueJazz]

33. Rite Aid does sell a lighter that states "perfect for lighting campfires, barbeques, pilot lights,..

...,fireplaces, gas or charcoal grills"
I'd bet my ass that they wouldn't card you for that.


https://shop.riteaid.com/scripto-lighter-multi-purpose-1-lighter-0093625

[cwydro]

34. Yes, those are what I use for my grill and fireplace.

Those little Bics are crap for lighting grills.

[GReedDiamond]

37. I don't have any trouble at all...

...lighting a grill with a BIC lighter. I don't need to spend $5 or $6 dollars on a special lighter for the grill, when the $2 BIC works just fine (for me, maybe not you).

In any case, whatever I do with a lighter, which can have many other uses other than for lighting tobacco products, is none of Rite Aid's fucking business.

[DebJ]

47. Actually our grocery store here in Pa has to check age for that item.

If you are in the self-check out lines, and you scan it, the computer won't do anything further
until the clerk checks you out.

[LeftinOH]

36. A lighter isn't a 'smoking product' any more than a drinking glass

is for beer. People use lighters for lots of things other than smoking. The very idea is silly.

[GReedDiamond]

38. Exactly, LeftinOH...

...some here don't seem to get that, for whatever reason.

[Liberal Veteran]

39. I got carded once buying red wine vinegar.

Sometimes shit doesn't make any sense at all.

It's vinegar....not wine, but the computer said ask for ID so they did.

Both the clerk and I laughed at the idiocy of it.

One of things that happens in retail is that corporate management likes to do "spot checks" (or stings) on their clerks to make sure the clerk is following policy. Fail one or two of these and you get fired or written up.

It is annoying.

[WinkyDink]

40. My Wegmans does that with beer. Gotta show the Drivers License, everyone.

[GReedDiamond]

43. The issue is not regarding alcohol...

...this is about a lighter. There is no ordinance or law that makes it mandatory to card people buying lighters, that I know of.

This is a Rite Aid corporate nanny policy that shoves their sense of anti-smoking "morality" down everybody's throats.

And, on the rare occasions I have bought alcohol at Rite Aid, I have never been carded, so why the double standard?

[DebJ]

48. Apparently there is one in So Central Pa. See my response above.

It's not a cigarette lighter either.

[bigwillq]

51. Target carded me when I bought Nicorette gum (nt)

[steve2470]

52. a kind and gentle suggestion....

John T. Standley Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

You might want to write that guy. Here's the best possible address I found:

Rite Aid Corporation
30 Hunter Lane
Camp Hill, PA 17011

https://www.riteaid.com/corporate/investor-relations

Granted, the letter may do no good, but I've written letters to CEO's and gotten results at times. At the bare minimum, I felt better. Best wishes, GReedDiamond!

[Smarmie Doofus]

53. Kick. I'll get back to ya. n/t for now.

[alamandar]

55. You all are missing the bigger point...

This isn't a law enforcement exercise with lighters, tobacco, alcohol, etc. This is a DATA MINING exercise. Your precise BIRTH DATE is a personally identifiable data point that can be shared with marketers, HEALTH INSURANCE companies, the Feds, the NSA, HACKERS to the Rite-Aid data base (like Target, Home Depot, et al.)

Buy too much tobacco and/or alcohol, Humana and others want to know how to ultimately adjust your premiums and copays.

I worked for EDS in the 90's, Ross Perot's old tech giant which is now part of HP. We got the contract to store data from Safeway supermarkets, the first grocery store to introduce "loyalty" cards. Why do you get a discount on your products using loyalty cards? Because they are selling your purchase history for WAAAAYYYYY more than the discount they're giving you. Information is money. And power. For them. For you, it's eventually higher insurance premiums or a knock on your door from someone you don't know. Much less want to know.

Wake up, sheeple! Your birth date is one degree of separation from your SSN. Fight these Nazi's at every turn. Refuse to give them your birth date.

[alamandar]

56. I cover my month and date with my finger on my license...

And Rite-Aid still won't sell me alcohol. I'm 54 years old. It happened 2 hours ago here in WV. First she said she couldn't see it all. I said, "You can see 1962 as my birth year. Make up any month and date you wish." She said she couldn't sell it to me. I said, "Is this corporate policy or state law, or both?" She said, "Probably both." I said," No, that's how little you and your feeble mind know about the job you're performing. It is NOT state law."

Left the bottle in the floor and walked out. I shall continue having fun with Rite-Aid clerks for years to come until I convince them, or corporate, or local managers that keying in my exact birth date into their point-of sale systems is an invasion of my privacy under a flimsy guise of law-enforcement. It is not required by law. It is Rite-Aid DATA MINING their customers to the ultimate detriment of their customers, and they couldn't give a flip about it because it lines corporate executives' pockets by selling you out.

BOYCOTT RITE AID AND SPREAD THE WORD! THEY ARE PROFITING OFF OF YOUR PRIVACY, BLATANTLY, PLAIN AND SIMPLE AND THEY COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS!!!

[Moe12]

57. LOL, the same thing happened to me today in Hollywood.

I've been shopping at their Sunset Blvd. store for twenty years. I wanted to buy a pack of 7 bic lighters and the clerk, who has known me for a long time and to whom I have shown my ID many times over the years when buying liquor or cigarettes would not sell it to me because I didn't have my ID on me. I got pissed, left the rest of what I was intending to buy on the counter and left. She says "Hm, it seems we are having a bad day..." I guess that's how I will remember her, until I forget.
Walgreen's is just a couple of blocks away.

[Eliot Rosewater]

58. Depending on your state it could be a law to card regardless of how old you look for any product

related to smoking or drinking.

Not sure, maybe.

[Erosion]

60. You're getting mad at a cash register

The cash register stops and the clerk can’t continue without following this stupid policy. I make up a birthday and they never check. These people are such zombies that once I picked the guys birthday and we talked about what a coincidence that was. The next day I bought something else and gave a different birthday to the same clerk. I have yet to use my any part of my actual birthday.

[PatrickforO]

61. Yes it has. But consider, GReedDiamond,

how insidious this really is.

Oh, it's all part of the plan to deregulate, privatize and gut social programs.

Because when small fry such as you and me go into a CVS and have to enter a birthdate if we buy a 'smoking product' we get all pissed off, right?

Then we don't make so much fuss when the politicians get rid of regulations that actually help us. Like environmental or consumer safety ones.

I mean, think of all those people who make a big deal about not wanting the gummint to tell them what light bulb to use!

[alan1855]

63. I agree the policy is stupid

I went into a rite aid the other day to buy some long lighters for the 4th of July but when I tried to buy them the lady said I had to be 18 and she asked me if I was 18 and I said no I’m 16 and she said I had to go get an adult, which sort of made me mad because me and my parents were already late to meet up with our family friends to do fireworks, so I had to end up telling my dad to go in and he bought them. I don’t think she carded my dad but I wonder if I said I was 18 when she asked if she would’ve just sold me them.

Also, in my state at least, the policy for buying tobacco and alcohol products is usually that they card you if you look under 40, so to think that rite aid has to card you, irregardless of your age, to buy a lighter seems really idiotic and unnecessary to me.

[gopiscrap]

65. welcome to DU

[llashram]

64. shades of draconian

"show me your papers!!!!"