I found this article very interesting. The reason for this article choice is that I always wondered how smokers could save money on cigarettes due to the never ending increase of state taxes. Currently, cigarettes in Connecticut are almost up to $8 a pack. This article was written in 2001 so I am sure the number of online purchases have greatly increased since the state has not slowed down on taxing smokers.
Tobacco products are a major retail item in the USA. In 2001, there were over 47 million adults and 4 million teenagers who smoked cigarettes. The annual sales of tobacco products exceed $40 billion.
Smokers usually purchase cigarettes by the pack or by the carton from local retail outlets but there is new competition that can be found online from a growing number of e-commerce sites. Due to the fact that there are more people online, these online outlets are getting an increase in sales. "Increased state taxes on cigarettes have fueled demand among smokers who seek refuge from escalating retail prices".
Cheap cigarettes can be found now just a click away.
There are over 130 sites selling cigarettes in which at least three dozen of them are operated by the Senecca Indians in Western New York.
Some promotional strategies these sites use include reduce price specials, free gifts with purchase, and monthly specials. The purchasing method included buyers could order directly online or by phone and the most common used payment method was credit card. These sites sold a wide range of cigarette products that include premium, discounts, and value brand.
The problem found in all of this is that it was found that only 28% of the sites had the US Surgeon General Warning. However, 81% had a warning about the minimum age of sale for tobacco products.
Many states fear that the growth of sales online will lead to decreased cigarette tax revenues. In a prospective view; "Forrester Research estimated that in 2005, 14% of tobacco sales will occur online and that states will lose an estimated $1.4 billion in tax revenue. My feelings on this is simple, let the smokers buy cigarettes from where ever they want. If buying online is legal, which it is and will save them money, and they want to continue to smoke, then it is a good deal for them. The state tax smokers all the time with a very significant increase each time so if they are going to lose so much money on not getting cigarette taxes from smokers then tax someone else. I'm sure there are other items/ people that states can tax to make up for that loss. It is unfair to the smokers to be continously taxed so if they have somewhere else to buy them other then locally and it happens that the state is losing money from them, oh well.
Source:
Kim, A.E., Ribisl M.K., & Williams S.R. "Websites Selling Cigarettes: How Many Are There in the U.S.A and What Are Their Sales Practices. Tobacco Control. 2001. JSTOR. BMJ Publishing Group. 352-359
I had no idea that you are able to buy ciggarettes online and get deals! When you said that only a small percent actally goes online and purchases ciggarettes I think that this is because not to many people know about this way of buying them. Im a smoker and I didn't know about this and now that I do I'm going to check it out and see if I can save money! I also can't believe that this is legal? Do you think its because its sold by Indians? I agree with you Ash, when you say there shouldn't be anything wrong with people buying ciggarettes cheaper online then in stores because the economy is bad, so why not give people a break and let them get deals online! I feel like since the tobacco industry is so big and they make so much money already, that it shouldn't matter how you buy them and if they are cheaper because the companies are still making big bucks!
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ReplyDeleteSee you learn a new thing everyday! I had no idea you could do that either! I am not a fan of smoking nor do I smoke, but that just goes to show that in fact, everything in on the internet. I found it interesting that people are afraid of the sales tax going down because people will begin to buy them on-line. But what about under age kids buying cigarettes on-line? How are we going to be able to stop that? We have worked so hard to help stop under age smoking, and smoking in general. This may be good for smokers, but personally I think we have worked to hard to try and stop this. This could be taking a step back in the cigarette world, when we really need to be moving forward.
ReplyDeleteLike the other two people above me, I had no clue about being able to buy cigarettes online.. I find that very ridiculous actually. People really will do anything these days to get their cigarettes. When you mention people being able to save so much money a year if they just didn't buy cigarettes, I couldn't agree more. I think it is out of control the amount of money people waste of those things but at the same time, everything else is on the internet, so why not cigarettes. People are going to continue to buy them either way no matter the horrible things people might say about smoking, so I guess online buying is much easier..
ReplyDeleteI, as everyone else who commented cannot believe this either. Given the vastness of the Internet, I cannot say I am surprised. You can find almost anything on the Internet. I wonder if there are sites that sell alcohol. What I wonder though, is how the site controls the age of the purchaser. When I thought about the alcohol thing, I wondered the same thing, forgetting there's an age law on cigarettes as well. I wonder how people find out about these sites, and if google can link you to them, though I'm sure they can.
ReplyDeleteAs Tiffany said above, I cannot believe this is legal either. I think Native Americans must have their own laws or something. If I was a smoker, I would do anything to save money, and if I knew cigarettes were available online, I would definitely buy them through the Internet rather than stores. I would tell my friends too. With the way taxes are in our country, we deserve a break. That being said, this market should really be advertising more. Sales would probably skyrocket.