CVS Caremark Corp.’s pattern of locking condoms and selling expired baby formula, medications and other products came under fresh scrutiny recently at a town hall meeting in San Diego attended by more than 100 consumer advocates, community activists and faith leaders from Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties.
The town hall was organized by Planned Parenthood of Riverside and San Diego Counties and the activist group Cure CVS in response to a new survey showing CVS stores repeatedly selling products past their expiration dates and locking up condoms in communities of color.
Cure CVS surveyors found that condoms were only locked up in stores located in communities of color. “All we are asking for is equal access to these products for customers no matter where they live,” said Olivia Olusegun who protested outside a CVS Pharmacy in Rialto Saturday.
Demonstrators outside CVS stores throughout Southern California and across the nation, called on the drug retailer to unlock condoms and stop selling expired products.
Critics claim keeping condoms under lock and key stigmatizes condom use by forcing customers to ask store employees for help.
CVS competitors Walgreens and Rite-Aid have policies prohibiting condom lock up.
CVS officials say the condoms are locked up on a store by store basis as a means to prevent shoplifting. In March the chain reversed its controversial policy in some of its Philadelphia and Boston stores after a coalition of civil rights leaders, health advocates and local residents protested. “The number of thefts at a given store determines which locations have condoms locked up, not the ethnicity of customers,” said CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis.
“It’s really embarrassing to ask for help,” said a 17-year-old male protester in Rialto. His name is withheld because he is a minor.
An assistant manager at the Rialto store who would only identify herself as “Jessica” because she was not authorized to make a statement on company policy, said the Baseline Road location does not have a locked condom display but would not say whether the store had such a policy in the past.
“We are not going to stand by and allow CVS to use shoplifting as a reason to perpetuate a practice that increases the risks of HIV/AIDS in our communities,” said Marilyn Randolph protesting in Rialto.
Randolph who surveyed CVS stores in San Bernardino and Riverside and San Diego Counties said Cure CVS members found locked condoms at (9 of 27 stores) in the region. She said in each of the stores all of the condoms are inaccessible without staff assistance, despite CVS’s claim that all stores visited have some unlocked packages available.
Gary J. Bell, executive director of Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual Health Issues, says the CVS practice puts communities of color at great risk for spreading sexually transmitted disease. “The practice is both short-sighted and dangerous. Teen boys in particular, already struggling with their sexuality are more prone to avoid the stigma of asking a sales clerk to unlock a display case. We recognize the right of the retailer to determine how to showcase and protect their merchandise, but they also have a responsibility to be ‘good’ neighbors in the community.”
CVS has no plans to change it’s policy of keeping prophylactics locked up in stores with a history of high condom thefts DeAngelis said. Cure CVS is demanding that CVS Pharmacy parent Caremark Corp. adopt permanent company wide policy governing condom displays and stop what it calls the company’s “shameless” pattern of selling expired products. Surveyors recently visited 310 CVS stores operating in 9 states including California and found expired infant formula, child and adult medication for sale at over 50% of CVS stores visited. Standing before a display of expired infant formula, baby food, medications and other products purchased at area CVS stores, community leaders attending the town hall meeting called the practice a public health risk and insisted the drug retailer remove all expired products.
Members of the group highlighted ‘a quart of Enfamil A.R. Lipil, a brand of infant formula one year past its expiration date’ bought in a CVS store. This is not the first time expired products have been found at CVS. Last year surveyors found expired infant formula, milk or eggs in 666 CVS stores across the country representing more than 42 percent of the stores surveyed, according to Cure CVS.
In June 2008 California Attorney General Jerry Brown criticized CVS for selling expired products at dozens of stores in Southern California, saying the practice violated laws against deceptive advertising and unfair business practices. Although California law does not explicitly prohibit the sale of certain expired products, federal laws require that all products contain expiration dates.
Customers outside the Rialto CVS store say they haven’t had problems with items purchased at the store. “I haven’t had a problem, but I must admit I don’t check the expiration date. I trust them,” said Edna Fenny.
CVS released this statement: “We have a clear product removal policy to ensure items are removed from shelves before their expiration date. No process is immune from error we strive to achieve 100 percent compliance.” CVS claims behind the condom, expired goods dust up may be some union politics. Spokesman DeAngelis told the L.A. Weekly, the campaign “is being waged by a labor union that had threatened to ‘expose’ us in the press if we refused to violate our employee’s rights by having union elections that weren’t fair and secret.”
