Mom, today I was at the cancer factory!
Comment on anyone have personal experience with industrial tourism?
IWW4@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
I don’t know if they still do them or not, but Phillip Morris used to do tours of their factory outside Petersburg VA.
I did the tour as part of class I was taking. It was interesting to see how cigarettes were made. One thing the tour guide kept stressing was all these perks and things they did to make the work less boing/miserable for the workers.
- The company put a lot of effort into sound suppression systems so the staff aren’t pommeled with harsh sound all day.
- The company had multiple small lunch and break rooms so people could get a bit of privacy if they wanted.
- The rotated staff on the machines so they don’t go insane with the boredom.
As a college kid you are just learning about the world so while I knew people smoked and back then smoking was a lot more in your face.
I really didn’t get how many people smoked until I saw that factory. It was staggering how many cigarettes were in at places and how many that factory churned out daily.
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Just looking at the wall behind the counter in 7-11 boggles my mind. Dozens of cigarette and dip brands (and now vape and nicotine pouches too), with most smokers having a preferred brand and style - they don’t buy anything except the one type they like. Which means the demand must be high enough for each of those products to justify keeping them fully stocked all the time. Then consider that every corner gas station and convenience store has the same set up, even if they’re all within walking distance from each other.
That’s a lot of tobacco/nicotine users.