There Appears To Be A New Law In The UK Regarding Loose Tobacco Sales.

[peckinpahhombre]

I assume the requirement to pass a smoking test is because your health insurance is provided by your employer, and your employer pays more to the insurer if you are a smoker? If that is correct, then all that is happening is that you employer is passing on the incremental cost of your smoking to you, which doesn;t seem wholly unreasonable. Presumably if you refused to take the test then you would just be assumed to be a smoker and would pay the exta monthly amount, correct?

 

[marconi]

I thought you couldn't buy over 100g in a pouch or tin there for quite some time?
Although I've seen some places selling bulk but they may have been individually 50g packed.
seems like a technicality though as you could just buy 5, 100g packs.. correct?

Clearly a Cornish thing! you can buy 500gr factory bags from GQ and other online uk retailers, why you would want to buy a 500gr bag of FVF is another matter

 

[jpberg]

Griping is useless in all matters regarding tobacco. Maybe pissing about insurance in the US or how much you can buy in the UK makes us feel better, but things, tobacco wise, have been going deeper in the shitter since I started smoking, and nobody has done bubkis about it in 30 years.

 

[georged]

I assume the requirement to pass a smoking test is because your health insurance is provided by your employer, and your employer pays more to the insurer if you are a smoker? If that is correct, then all that is happening is that you employer is passing on the incremental cost of your smoking to you, which doesn;t seem wholly unreasonable.

That slope is coated with the purest grade of teflon-silicone-Tufoil in the Universe.

Dear employee. Please check all boxes which apply:

--- Alcohol?
--- Trans fats?
--- Sugar?
--- BMI index over 25?
--- Skiing?
--- Motocross?
--- Skateboarding?
--- Rock climbing?
--- Scuba diving?
--- Gymnastics?
--- Sit more than eight hours per day without 75 minute of vigorous exercise?
--- Auto racing?
--- Passenger in, or pilot of, private aircraft?

etc. etc. etc.

 

[verporchting]

The new policy is mandatory with an opt out that requires attestations that you or your covered spouse will not / do not use nicotine and then tests to verify. Otherwise you will automatically be charged whether you use nicotine or not. However, there’s no mechanism to really test if you just remain silent and accept the surcharge through inaction or failure to opt out. Idiotic. Last time I looked around there were a few more pressing issues that could be addressed. ?

 

[olkofri]

What's next, brain scans to check if your thoughts align with corporate policies?

Yep, that's coming. For now they just monitor what you say on social media on your off-work time: make a comment they don't like however inane and you get fired; they think you work for them 24/7.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

That slope is coated with the purest grade of teflon-silicone-Tufoil in the Universe.

Dear employee. Please check all boxes which apply:

--- Alcohol?
--- Trans fats?
--- Sugar?
--- BMI index over 25?
--- Skiing?
--- Motocross?
--- Skateboarding?
--- Rock climbing?
--- Scuba diving?
--- Gymnastics?
--- Sit more than eight hours per day without 75 minute of vigorous exercise?
--- Auto racing?
--- Passenger in, or pilot of, private aircraft?

etc. etc. etc.

I would assume most or all of those would be fair game if the insurer priced on the basis of any of those factors, since they all go to the risk of what is being insured. I would add pipe restoration to the list, however, as that can be an extremely dangerous vocation.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Yep, that's coming. For now they just monitor what you say on social media on your off-work time: make a comment they don't like however inane and you get fired; they think you work for them 24/7.

That's actually happened where I work. Good thing I use pseudonyms on forums and don't use Facebook or any of the other top social media.

 

[BROBS]

That's actually happened where I work. Good thing I use pseudonyms on forums and don't use Facebook or any of the other top social media.

same where I used to work..
say something not even bad about work and you can be penalized..

 

[georged]

I would assume most or all of those would be fair game if the insurer priced on the basis of any of those factors, since they all go to the risk of what is being insured. I would add pipe restoration to the list, however, as that can be an extremely dangerous vocation.

Such activities are cherry picked as a means of social control.

Bombing San Francisco hills on a skateboard through traffic---without a helmet, no less---is expressing personal freedom, while sitting on your porch smoking a cigar is not.

That sort of thing. It's 100% Karen-minded bullshit.

Either punish ALL hazardous activity, or none.

And yes, fixing pipes is right up there with wingsuit flying, but lets not draw attention to it, OK? There might be some lurking Karens waiting to pounce.

 

[BROBS]

Such activities are cherry picked as a means of social control.

Bombing San Francisco hills on a skateboard through traffic---without a helmet, no less---is expressing personal freedom, while sitting on your porch smoking a cigar is not.

That sort of thing. It's 100% Karen-minded bullshit.

Either punish ALL hazardous activity, or none.

And yes, fixing pipes is right up there with wingsuit flying, but lets not draw attention to it, OK? There might be some lurking Karens waiting to pounce.

HI GEORGE THIS IS BROBS YOUR NEW INSURANCE REPRESENTATIVE>> I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS.

 

[olkofri]

Either punish ALL hazardous activity, or none.

I was gonna say 'don't give them ideas' but they're already on the warpath to do just that. They also claim the right to define 'hazardous activity'. Screw insurers.

 

[anotherbob]

Is this serious? I don't know where you live but how can this be legal? What happens if you refuse the bloodtests and refuse to pay the fee? Do all nonsmokers have to take bloodtests regularly?

the hospital here banned smokers from working there, until they ran into employment shortages. Mainly with doctors. Who smoke more then the general public.

 

[anotherbob]

anyone understand why I hate insurance companies yet???

 

[unadoptedlamp]

A lot of people (most of the working class) were taught to demonize organized labour -you can't even say "union" in the majority of places without being called a commie bastard or have some other slander thrown your way... Hell, it may even be against forum rules to say something about unions?

I wouldn't doubt it.

Organized labour is right up there with animal cruelty in a lot of circles. A lot of surprising circles, actually.

This is a minefield of a discussion, but all I wanted to say was that some of the comments here appear to be a direct consequence of the powers that be having been immensely successful in eroding workers rights. They saw what was coming when people started to get organized and they put their boot on that neck pretty damn quick.

It's sad that regular working schmoes bought into the scam, but the outcome was entirely predictable. "Don't worry... sure, you're better off alone. Yeah, we'll pay you more. Sure, sure... You don't need to be organized. They'll rob you blind!" Mercy. It was a clever trick, whatever it was.

I'm sure glad I don't have an employer. I don't think I could stand it.

Some rough stories here. I feel sorry for some of you. Truly awful stuff.

 

[canadianpuffer]

I just miss the days when I could order tobacco from the UK. I’d gladly order 100g packs lol

as for the employment comments, it wasn’t until I read about “at will employment” common in the US that I really understood the difference between Canadians and our southern neighbours! Totally different landscape that’s for sure.

 

[peckinpahhombre]

Such activities are cherry picked as a means of social control.

Bombing San Francisco hills on a skateboard through traffic---without a helmet, no less---is expressing personal freedom, while sitting on your porch smoking a cigar is not.

That sort of thing. It's 100% Karen-minded bullshit.

Either punish ALL hazardous activity, or none.

And yes, fixing pipes is right up there with wingsuit flying, but lets not draw attention to it, OK? There might be some lurking Karens waiting to pounce.

Social control by whom? It's an insurance company not the government - their interest is in making money, not reshaping society. They are underwriting a risk and they want to understand what that risk is so that it can be priced accordingly. I can't speak for private health insurance of the type referenced because that is not something we really have here in Canada, but I do recall what I was put through when I obtained life insurance, and there was a thorough medical exam and many of the activities you cite (and much more) were a part of that life insurance underwriting application process. This is just the way insurance works.

 

[georged]

You can't see the forest for the trees.

Corporate decisions based on cost accountant analyses have a strong herding effect, and once the concept is adopted/accepted, all a government has to do to create the society they want is apply money pressure TO those corporations through that system. One that is already in place, and the precedents for which---legal and moral---are already set... innocently established by innocent companies trying to innocently make a buck.

The water in the collectivist pot is getting warmer every day.

 

[olkofri]

all a government has to do to create the society they want is apply money pressure TO those corporations through that system

Already happening. Some governments require a business/organisation to have insurance in order to operate, for say, 'public safety'—their favourite BS excuse. Insurer gives the applicant a list of conditions that must be met in order to have said insurance. Violation of any of such provisos voids the insurance. Business/organisation loses licence and is deemed by the gov't to be breaking the law if it continues to operate.

Masterful pwnage.

 

[Chasing Embers]

I just miss the days when I could order tobacco from the UK. I’d gladly order 100g packs lol

as for the employment comments, it wasn’t until I read about “at will employment” common in the US that I really understood the difference between Canadians and our southern neighbours! Totally different landscape that’s for sure.

And that clause is just above the signature line on an application so that you agree to their right to terminate your position with or without notifying you for any reason they deem necessary. Not to mention that with possession of your Social Security number they set up a "dead peasant" life insurance clause that they can collect money upon your death regardless if said death occurs while employed by them.