It's a bit too obvious, but as I was riding in the car, I saw the sign. It was just at a 7-11 but it never caught my attention before. There was a sign showing cigarette prices. It never occurred to me that some people actually pay up to $7 for a pack, probably even more because they go through more than a pack a day. Is it really just to make money off of an addiction? It's pretty blatant. It's not like cocaine or heroin where you have to go to drug dealers. It's going to a corner store and buying a pack or two.
How could I not think this before? If cigarettes are addictive and the companies make them addictive, of course they can put up those prices for them. I didn't do any research for this but I just think it's quite crazy that it actually allowed. Those who are smoking aren't all rich, how are they affording them? Maybe the prices aren't all the same everywhere, but I really was shocked when I took time to think this through.
That's just my quick thought of the day.
5 comments:
some research have shown that tobacco companies do target low-income communities, many of them are minority communities. Plus, studies also show that many who smoke under that age of 18 tend to become life-long smokers. So, their ad will continue to target youth, though they may not specifically do that due to legality. But, their ads are typically designed to show youth that smoking is cool.
I remember quite poignantly seeing a woman with two small children buying food with food stamps- and paying for a pack of cigarettes. It's sad- a pack-a-day smoker spends $5-6 per day on cigarettes. That adds up to $35-$42 per week; that could buy a lot of food; maybe not a full week's worth, but at least most of it.
Once you account for the actual cost of the production of the cigarettes, the fair profit due to the manufacturing company, the profit for the drug store, and also the tax it adds up. The tax especially is high, in MA it is $2.51 per pack. This is probably to discourage people from smoking. The high price of cigarettes is not due to extortion from companies but a set price from the government.
http://www.mass.gov/Ador/docs/dor/Cigarette/PDFs/Minimum_PriceList.pdf
check out this link.
http://www.mass.gov/Ador/docs/dor/Cigarette/PDFs/Minimum_PriceList.pdf
it wont let me post the whole link this is weird but thats ok
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