3 ms·

So person who stocks and or plans shelves needs to be an expert on obscure legal theory?

ceejayoz 4y ago
Store layouts are heavily researched and engineered at the corporate level. "Little old me had no idea" isn't an argument that's gonna be easy to make.
woodruffw 4y ago
No. CVS and Walmart are massive chains, with thousands of pharmacists and entire teams dedicated to store layout. They dictate stocking and planning, and it is not remotely unreasonably to expect them to consult the experts (including legal experts) they work with. Also, none of this requires awareness of some obscure DC law. That's just the justification for this particular court case. "Don't stock fake medicine next to real medicine" strikes me as a somewhat common-sense thought.
- logicalmonster 4y ago
  > No. CVS and Walmart are massive chains, with thousands of pharmacists and entire teams dedicated to store layout. Personally I hate that this line of reasoning has been brought up because I think it's a bad argument based on reality. In the real world, it's true that big companies spend thousands of hours putting together rules and guidelines from experts. But then their fancy policies and guidelines are passed down the chain through less and less trained people until the ultimate task arrives in the hands of perhaps a minimum wage high-school kid with maybe 30 seconds of training. A real solution should be foolproof and not rely on proper placement through a game of telephone. If that's the system that you're arguing for, IMO it's a very bad one that guarantees human error.
  - woodruffw 4y ago
    > But then their fancy policies and guidelines are passed down the chain through less and less trained people until the ultimate task arrives in the hands of perhaps a minimum wage high-school kid with maybe 30 seconds of training. Nobody (either in this thread or in the case) is attempting to sue minimum wage high school kids for placing homeopathic products on the wrong shelf. The claim (which is attested by both the case and independent anecdotes in this thread) is that, on a corporate level, both CVS and Walmart have made it their official policy to put homeopathic products in the same aisles and shelves as actual medicine. That kind of corporate policy clearly has made its way through the game of telephone. In other words: I don't have an opinion in this context on the "right" solution. I only know that the current policy has successfully placed fake medicine on real shelves, and that the lawsuit we're discussing identifies the appropriate defendants (the corporate entities themselves, not a pimply 17 year old).
dotancohen 4y ago
No. The person planning the shelves needs to refrain from deceptive practices. There is no doubt of ignorance or coincidence in this case.
richbell 4y ago
I would hope the person responsible for creating shelf plans for the pharmacy has at least a cursory understanding of medicine.

Store layouts are heavily researched and engineered at the corporate level. "Little old me had no idea" isn't an argument that's gonna be easy to make.

woodruffw 4y ago

No. CVS and Walmart are massive chains, with thousands of pharmacists and entire teams dedicated to store layout. They dictate stocking and planning, and it is not remotely unreasonably to expect them to consult the experts (including legal experts) they work with. Also, none of this requires awareness of some obscure DC law. That's just the justification for this particular court case. "Don't stock fake medicine next to real medicine" strikes me as a somewhat common-sense thought.

logicalmonster 4y ago
> No. CVS and Walmart are massive chains, with thousands of pharmacists and entire teams dedicated to store layout. Personally I hate that this line of reasoning has been brought up because I think it's a bad argument based on reality. In the real world, it's true that big companies spend thousands of hours putting together rules and guidelines from experts. But then their fancy policies and guidelines are passed down the chain through less and less trained people until the ultimate task arrives in the hands of perhaps a minimum wage high-school kid with maybe 30 seconds of training. A real solution should be foolproof and not rely on proper placement through a game of telephone. If that's the system that you're arguing for, IMO it's a very bad one that guarantees human error.
- woodruffw 4y ago
  > But then their fancy policies and guidelines are passed down the chain through less and less trained people until the ultimate task arrives in the hands of perhaps a minimum wage high-school kid with maybe 30 seconds of training. Nobody (either in this thread or in the case) is attempting to sue minimum wage high school kids for placing homeopathic products on the wrong shelf. The claim (which is attested by both the case and independent anecdotes in this thread) is that, on a corporate level, both CVS and Walmart have made it their official policy to put homeopathic products in the same aisles and shelves as actual medicine. That kind of corporate policy clearly has made its way through the game of telephone. In other words: I don't have an opinion in this context on the "right" solution. I only know that the current policy has successfully placed fake medicine on real shelves, and that the lawsuit we're discussing identifies the appropriate defendants (the corporate entities themselves, not a pimply 17 year old).

dotancohen 4y ago

No. The person planning the shelves needs to refrain from deceptive practices. There is no doubt of ignorance or coincidence in this case.

richbell 4y ago

I would hope the person responsible for creating shelf plans for the pharmacy has at least a cursory understanding of medicine.