Unhealthy snacks to be banned from checkouts at supermarkets in England | Hacker News Reader

Unhealthy snacks to be banned from checkouts at supermarkets in England

theguardian.com

Quite right. Take the extra minute to walk over to the confectionary aisle and buy a multipack of candy for a fraction of the price.

Well it will reduce impulse purchases. I dont remember exact number, but a high % of crisps sales are not planned purchases.

My suspicion has always been that people would probably rarely chew gum from single small packets if it wasn't there where you line up for checkout. Instead, they'd buy the same-size packets that come in bunches of 5 or whatever, and usually cheaper per pack anyway.

You often see batteries there along with them with the gum and chips/crisps. At least batteries practical sense - the last moment things people tend to forget, but actually do need or want.

Great example of excessive government control in the name of "saving you from yourself", or trying to look like they're doing something without actually doing anything.

The UK government is regulating Twinkies. Lol.

This seems like exactly the kind of thing government should do.

- it doesn’t take away meaningful freedom (you can still buy the product)

- it regulates the right entity (the business is restricted but the individual isn’t)

- it’s at least a minor public good (fewer people will buy trash on impulse, probably resulting in at least a small public health improvement)

- there’s no moral hazard (no one can complain that it’s motivated by tax revenue)

- parents will have an easier time making healthy decisions for their kids

In my opinion, your response is an example of why the libertarian impulse is absurd. The only loser in this scenario is manufacturers who frankly prey on unhealthy impulses, and they deserve to lose.

Well, the US has the most obese population in % of the world.

So, great example of capitalism then? ( I'm just giving the same type of response as you did)

Actually US is the 12th most obese population in the world. At 36.2%.

https://obesity.procon.org/global-obesity-levels/

I'm guessing most of the supermarkets are happy with this but didn't feel they could do it unilaterally.

Why not? They usually put the high margin items there so we pick a few extra things while paying

This is how one disciplines naughty toddlers.

So now it’s a good thing for a strict nanny state to tell us how to get to our candy. What’s next? A whack on the knuckles?

Altho’ this does seem like a very English thing to do. (Ok. Now say that again with an Etonian inflection.)

Bikeshedding at it's finest.

Why work on hard problems and tough issues when you can pad your resume with these little laws that end up only creating more regulation, red tape and accomplish nothing of value?

Right, I bet this is the reason brexit took so long, they were all so busy drafting up the regs to ban trash from checkout.

Listen to yourself ...

Wouldn't it be simpler to charge 1pence per gram of sugar and let the free market take control?

That'd be an impulse purchase disincentive in a much broader sense. Also, a new tax is more work. This is much simpler and more targeted.

Europe is beyond free market capitalism at this point.

This is not a bad idea and will pay dividends to future generations. It's like having a drug dealer at every check out lane.

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