So, could a person in NYC purchase cigs by mail from somewhere cheaper? You would save a ton of money.
Seems about right. Most packs are 25 or 30 now. For a couple that smoke a pack a day each like me and my ex used to about 9 grand a year.
That might count as contraband tobacco trafficking. A quick look at the ATF website didn’t get me a cite though.
This study definitely says that fewer young people start when prices are higher.
Not as easy to find studies of adult smokers who decide to quit when prices go up, though.
Not sure if the smiley means you know but are joking, but it’s 300 yen per pack in Tokyo (and, apparently, less in Wakayama). There are some things that are cheaper in Japan than elsewhere.
Here in NC I can by a carton of cheapies for 17 - 20 dollars per carton. Brand names go for about 30.
Thinking about rolling my own.
In Southern Ontario it’s something like $10.80 for a pack.
I checked today just because of this thread: Marlboros 25.38 a carton at the discount tobacco place, one pack of Marlboro Reds in the box that I bought for my roofer last week: $3.25 including taxes of 9.25%. This is in Tennessee, a tobacco growing state.
Cost was one of the **many factors ** that influenced my quitting the cigs.
I do not have a cite, but in my graduate economics course[sup]1[/sup] they used cigarettes as a classic example of inelastic demand, which means that the % drop in sales divided by a % price increase is very much less than 1. Which really means that a large increase in price results in a small drop in sales. There was no distinction drawn between existing smokers vs. “not starting” smokers, just overall sales figures.
- University of Michigan Graduate School of Business, Econ 5-something, 1982
I can remember when a carton of Lucky’s or Camel’s was less than 3 dollars. When I was on Okinawa in the Air Force, a carton of anything was only 1 dollar.
Yes, he/she could. However – if the law there is the same as here in NJ, one is legally obligated to report this purchase and pay the tax on it anyway. Many online tobacco retailers will not or cannot take credit cards for purchases; I think most of the major credit cards have declined to accept this business. Many shippers will not take the cargo, either.
One *could * order on line and forget to pay the taxes as required, but that would be wrong.
I guess I need to get out more. I was really suprised when ol’ Andy said $75 for a carton. One could argue that such high taxes are immoral.
I quit qbout four years ago. Not because of the price, which was pretty high then, but because I just got tired of it. Smoking is a hassle, and messy.
Most smokers I know (my daughter is one) haven’t cut down. They simply adjust their spending on other things. I’m going to ask my daughter how much she spends on her habit. She’ll lie, like all addicts do, but I’ll call her on it. 
You can buy a freakin’ car for $250/month. :eek:
I am truly astonished. And that, I promise, isn’t an easy thing to do.
mangeorge
It is, and if they find out, you will pay for that difference. There was a thread awhile back with some one complaining how they bought them offline so they missed out on the taxes, then when NY found out, required them to pay.
In NY, however, you can buy tax-free cigs at reservations, and it is legal as far as I know.
Apparently, there’s a substantial amount of tobacco smuggling between the US and Canada. Canada’s taxes on cigarettes are even worse than US taxes, and consequently it’s pretty common for Canucks to come over here to Michigan, buy a few cartons of cigarettes, and smuggle them back home.
Or so I’m told. I’ve never smoked myself.
Why? Are you too hard to light? 
Here in Sunny South Carolina. A pack of Marlboros is $3.35, and a pack of Marlboros with a Red Bull comes to $5.75. A carton runs about $27.
NYC is going out of its way to catch smokers who do just that. NY’ers were buying cigs over the internet from out-of-state and from Indian Reservations. However, as cigarettes are regulated by tax stamps, the out-of-state retailers got in trouble for exporting cigarettes over state lines without collecting tax on them or reporting the purchase to taxing authorities. Many were forced to give up their purchase records so NYC could track down these tax dodgers and send them tax bills.
Credit card companies will no longer accept payment for cigarettes purchased over the internet and most companies, including Indian Reservations, no longer sell cigarettes over the internet (you have to call and do a check by phone with them). UPS and Federal Express will no longer deliver cigarettes to NYC recipients. Oddly enough, it’s the U.S. Post Office that still delivers.
NYC is trying to force Indian Reservations (even those within the State of New York) to give up their purchase records, but have so far been unsuccessful.
Major brand cigarettes do cost an average of $75 a carton in NYC. It’s no wonder that when you can get them for about $30 from an Indian Reservation that NY’ers take the risk of mail order - or driving to the nearest Reservation.
Saw it on ABC news. The Indian Reservations are online selling cigarettes, the state has gotten Fed Ex and UPS to stop taking deliveries, but the US Postal Service refuses and the USPS said “We are not in the business to inspect every package, only to deliver them.”
Even though this is all the Indian Reservation sells online. So the USPS is behind the reservations at least for now
Thanks for the information.
What would really be interesting is information on how prices affect how much smokers smoke.
For example, even if an established smoker doesn’t quit because of the higher prices, does he cut down at all? Assuming he’s not going to quit, how much does he cut back given various levels of price increases? As CWG pointed out, demand for cigarettes is quite inelastic. It would be interesting to see how inelastic it is.
More importantly (IMHO) is how the higher prices affect people’s smoking habits as they develop. Let’s say Joe has his first cigarette at 15 and by 17 is smoking somewhat regularly, but is still not smoking very much because of lack of opportunity and money. Over the next few years, however, Joe will have plenty of opportunity and sufficient disposable income to develop a regular smoking habit. Will he become a pack-and-a-half a day smoker? A pack a day? A half pack a day? Or less? How does the price of cigarettes play into this?
I think almost everyone would agree that smoking less, either individually or as a country, is a good thing. But how much does raising prices actually help? And what negative societal effects do higher cigarette prices have?
(Discussion of the above questions is outside the scope of GQ, of course, but I did want to pose the questions in the hopes that someone knows of some studies that cover these issues.)
Moved to IMHO.
-xash
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