Published on July 27, 2009
Shocked customers’ complaints can be heard in every corner, in every Cigarette store in the US. Chicago resident and Salem lover Candy Fowler said that she felt like she was punished by the government and tobacco industry and named the situation she caught herself in on Monday as “ridiculous”.
Her words are echoed by another chain-smoker, Pauline Edwards from Port Angeles. "It is just horrible," Mrs. Edwards said, adding that cigarette price hike could be explained by the fact that Administration simply hated smokers. She stated that people have forgotten about the democracy otherwise they would not infringe smokers rights so much. “If we could only make smoking become legitimate under the Constitution, they would not rape us, like they did”, Pauline Edwards cried.
The major reason for the recent increase is the 150 percent increase in tax on cigarettes and tobacco products imposed by federal government. The new tax which entered into effect on April, 1 forced every smoker to pay $1.01 for each pack instead of actual 39 cents a pack. The revenue is promised by the government to be directed to health care for uninsured children.
These increases are considered by many analysts as an effort of tobacco moguls to gain some additional profit in anticipation of expected sales drop.
Thousands of smokers, who wanted to stock up before April 1, have been crushed by these absolutely unexpected price hikes.
Kevin Paul, a 72-year-old retired doctor from St. Petersburg, FL even joked saying that the recent situation with price and tax hikes made smokers feel like being below the poverty line. However, with keeping smoking he felt himself like a patriot, doing a heroic job to the country economy and particularly health insurance for children.
Bill Garnett, Altria Group communication manager earlier declared that prices for Philip Morris cigarettes - including Marlboro, Virginia and Parliament - would rise by 71 cents per pack on Monday, naming the excise tax as the main reason.
Mr. Garnett said that tobacco industry was not responsible for price increase and customers must direct their impressions to those lawmakers who had set such taxes, since more than half from the cost of each cigarette pack was intended to pay for federal, state and local taxes on tobacco.
Altria Group communication manager advised smokers to look and see how the representatives voted and, in case they did not like it, they ought to let their delegates know about it.
The next day, the customers who came to St. Louis Cigarette Shops found out that Camels increased from $4.05 to $4.95, Marlboros went up from $4.30 to $5.05, and Newports jumped from $4.30 to $5.22. The most interesting thing in that story is that it is still unknown whether prices would increase again.
Ted Teutenberg, owner of Dirt Cheap Cigarettes Liquor and Beer store has heard so many complaints about ax increases during previous couple of days that he was even forced to hang a sign on the door of his store, saying “the cigarette prices have increased. It’s not owner’s fault”.
He said that last days were insane, and added that the manufacturers did not even notified them of the price hike since they did not want people to stock up before those increases."
Teutenberg also mentioned that he thinks that the tax increase would not give the desired effects. Instead smokers would simply purchase less, that would make retailers who depend on monthly rent payments to get out of business, and even contribute to more shoplifting.
Illinois imposed a 98-cent-per-pack tax comparing Missouri’s 17 cents for a pack of cigarette makes the latter state the second-lowest in the country and the object of desire for thousands smokers.
One of such smokers, 47-year-old Allan Shepard says he would definitely spend his time crossing the river in order to stock in his native town.
