Holy Smokes-$36.99???!!!

[SamRoc]

I think the price for a carton of cigarettes in New York City is now $100.00!!!

 

[Silent1CB]

Something like $63 at BJ's Wholesale. $48 at AAFES on base.

 

[SAHDad]

Totally agree. I'm hoping it gets to $100 a carton.

IIRC, smoking is inversely linked to economic status - the more you make, the less likely you are to smoke. So, a bunch of people who can't afford to smoke are getting hit with higher and higher prices to maintain an addiction. Obviously, as prices rise, some will quit (and others never start) simply due to the cost. But, since a lot of social programs (like SCHIP) are funded in large part from taxes on cigarettes, a new source of funding (most likely soda or junk food) will be next.

ETA - I don't smoke, FWIW.

 

[mamacatnv]

Lots of local/state goverments add taxes to cigarettes similar to what we see with gasoline which is why the costs can vary so much.

I quit 1 year and 6 days ago
The reason - plain and simple, the cost. I knew they were unhealthy yada yada yada. I enjoyed smoking but I am frugal and the cost was getting out of hand.

I am just now starting to not like the smell. I am hoping that someday they won't smell good and I think I am getting close.

When I quit my premium name brand Benson & Hedges were over $50 a carton

 

[jen0610]

Well, maybe I am assuming too much. The sign said "$36.99 Marlboro." I know they can't be that much a pack, is there another packaging that would make more sense? I can't believe there would be that much of a descrepancy between South and North. I just firgured it was a carton.

Oh your not assuming to much. There is a huge difference, South to North and the Coast to the Midwest.

Our friend from Arkansas is coming up here on the 26th. He's a smoker and he knows he needs to bring however many packs he needs to get through the week. It puts a pinch on his budget to smoke up here. Even going to get smokes at the discount places.

 

[mrFDNY]

I think the price for a carton of cigarettes in New York City is now $100.00!!!

Yep, i don't buy em but has a co-worker that pays $101.50 per carton and the local store sells him a pack for a discounted rate if you buy 2 at one time for $9.99 per pack.

 

[dnoyes]

Holy Crap....around here you don't buy cartons at the grocery stores. They cost a heck of a lot more than the Low Bob's Discount stores. Gas stations, maybe...but never at the grocery stores, except for maybe Wal-Mart. But I don't ever go thru that check out lane, so I have no clue what they are charging these days.

I smoke Marlboro Lights and grocery stores are NOT the place to buy them. I pay $43.45 with tax at the local Shell station. (Boise Idaho) $58.95 plus tax at Fred Meyers.

 

[SaraJayne]

IIRC, smoking is inversely linked to economic status - the more you make, the less likely you are to smoke. So, a bunch of people who can't afford to smoke are getting hit with higher and higher prices to maintain an addiction. Obviously, as prices rise, some will quit (and others never start) simply due to the cost. But, since a lot of social programs (like SCHIP) are funded in large part from taxes on cigarettes, a new source of funding (most likely soda or junk food) will be next.

ETA - I don't smoke, FWIW.

I've found that to be true in my experience.

 

[KAMLEM]

IIRC, smoking is inversely linked to economic status - the more you make, the less likely you are to smoke. So, a bunch of people who can't afford to smoke are getting hit with higher and higher prices to maintain an addiction.

That's so true. I know of people who can't afford to pay their bills but they still manage to buy cigarettes. I just don't get it.

 

[tennvalgirl]

That's so true. I know of people who can't afford to pay their bills but they still manage to buy cigarettes. I just don't get it.

Almost everyone I know who smokes can't afford to pay their bills.
Smoking takes precedence over many things in people's lives.

 

[golfgal]

Almost everyone I know who smokes can't afford to pay their bills.
Smoking takes precedence over many things in people's lives.

I have a friend that smokes, so does her husband, yet they don't have health insurance because they "can't afford it". For what they pay in cigarettes every month they could more than pay for their health insurance .

 

[Carly_Roach]

It's over $50.00 a carton here in Michigan. When it went over $30.00 a carton, I found out about roll-your-own and have been doing it ever since. You can get almost three cartons out of $22.00.

If there are any smokers here on the boards who don't want to quit or don't want to pay the extortion, check out roll-your-own (go with the pipe tobacco instead of the cut tobacco). Totally worth the time and effort.

I agree with whomever said sodas and fast food are next. If/when they get to the point where there aren't enough smokers to justify the taxes, the next "sin" is those who are overweight.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

OT, I grew up in Trenton, Michigan.

 

[legalsea]

It's over $50.00 a carton here in Michigan. When it went over $30.00 a carton, I found out about roll-your-own and have been doing it ever since. You can get almost three cartons out of $22.00.

If there are any smokers here on the boards who don't want to quit or don't want to pay the extortion, check out roll-your-own (go with the pipe tobacco instead of the cut tobacco). Totally worth the time and effort.

I agree with whomever said sodas and fast food are next. If/when they get to the point where there aren't enough smokers to justify the taxes, the next "sin" is those who are overweight.

Or, if you wish to quit cigarettes while keeping 'smoking', try the electronic cigarettes (somewhere herein is a thread devoted to such). No cigarettes since April 2009.

 

[Darsa]

Or perhaps just plain quit? Truthfully I don't care that people have to pay through the nose for cigarrettes, but I'd prefer they paid nothing, yanno?

It puzzles me all the time, why people do such things to their bodies and to the people around them in this day and age where there is so much known about cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke. It makes me sad.

I remember when my gram quit smoking cold turkey after her quadruple bypass surgery, and after that point she was a regular MONSTER about smoking.

 

[angel12]

Who is she ? I wanna more pics ...

 

[MushyMushy]

They're around $43 for name brands in WV. I'm so glad I quit when I did... smokes were coming up on $2 a pack when I did and I thought that was outrageous! I can't imagine paying close to $5 a pack.

And some of you are right. The people I know who do still smoke are very low income wage earners.

I just did a workshop yesterday on poverty and some things they said there made a lot of sense regarding this issue (they didn't talk about smoking, but about attitudes towards money). People in poverty think of immediate, concrete issues to spend their money on -- it's kind of ingrained in them from childhood and they need to be taught differently. So cigarettes would be a priority over health insurance because health insurance would be more of a vague notion to them.

 

[luvmy3]

Yep, i don't buy em but has a co-worker that pays $101.50 per carton and the local store sells him a pack for a discounted rate if you buy 2 at one time for $9.99 per pack.

holy beeeep

 

[Free4Life11]

And I hope they continue to go up up up. I believe I read that every time the prices increase, the number of smokers decrease.

 

[Deb in IA]

IIRC, smoking is inversely linked to economic status - the more you make, the less likely you are to smoke. So, a bunch of people who can't afford to smoke are getting hit with higher and higher prices to maintain an addiction. Obviously, as prices rise, some will quit (and others never start) simply due to the cost. But, since a lot of social programs (like SCHIP) are funded in large part from taxes on cigarettes, a new source of funding (most likely soda or junk food) will be next.

ETA - I don't smoke, FWIW.

This is true, but in a way, it is justified. Lower income people are more likely to smoke, but are also more likely to utilize those social services that their cigarette taxes pay for.