Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Holy Smokes!

Stopped into the local gas station last night to feed the Hemi. I happened to glance at the convenience store attached to the gas station and saw the going rate for a pack of brand name cigarettes:

$7.50.

Seven freakin' dollars and fifty cents. When I started smoking (1987), the price of a pack of smokes at this same gas station (albeit four or five ownership changes ago) was $1.10... That's a change of over 700% - gas was $0.90 or so at the time; had its price increased similarly we'd be paying around $7/gallon!

I am soooo glad I quit...

That is all.

14 comments:

West, By God said...

"I am soooo glad I quit..."
Dang straight, me too! At the price I was paying for smokes (FL is still cheaper) I was spending between $1000 and $1500 a year. That's a friggin' post-election-inflated-price AR rifle right there.

At $7/pack I would have been spending closer to $2500! That's two nice black rifles. Or ~30 Mosin Nagant rifles.

Am I the only one who always thinks of $ savings in terms of what guns I can buy?

Jay G said...

Not at all.

In fact, I've been thinking about what we spent on our upcoming Disney trip.

I could have gotten my green card (machine gun license in MA) and a Mac-10 or 11...

Anonymous said...

Just think about how much money you could make (and how many guns you could buy) if you traveled down to VA or NC and bought boxes at $35 or $40, and sold them for $65 or $70 where you are.

Of course, such would be a wee bit on the far side of the law. However, the fact that the AQ guys apparently fund themselves that way just stimulates thought.

Anonymous said...

You know it's bad when it went from $27/carton not 2 years ago in NH to $40+/carton last time I was up there. And yes, it's always been worth the gas to go buy up there than down here. Ugh.

Home on the Range said...

Ouch. I saw $4.50 a pack where I'm at and thought that was high. I don't smoke. I lost my Mom to lung cancer, and now my stepmom has a smoking related cancer. She had quit when she met Dad, but she'd already smoked for 30 years.

It was enough for me not to want to start.

Mike W. said...

Damn that's nuts. Since it's MASS I'm assuming most of the cost is taxes?

Sure am glad I don't smoke. Hell, I think MJ might actually be cheaper around here.

GunGeek said...

Someone has to nit-pick, so it might as well be me....

That's actually less than a 600% increase.

Doesn't that make you feel better?

libertyman said...

My friend and his wife stopped smoking this year and put the money in a kitty. So far two new firearms purchases.

Borepatch said...

Your government at work. For The Children, of course.

Lissa said...

I don't and have never smoked, but I still think the MA cigarette taxes are OBSCENE.

ASM826 said...

To "West, By God",

No, you are not. There's a group of us that measure things in "1911s". Our sort-of-working-price is about $800, figuring that gets you a decently set up base 1911. Fractions are also used.

As in, "Oh man, I had to take my wife's car to the shop, it cost me a point five to get it fixed."

Or, "I bought that new wide screen TV we'd been looking at." "How much did it cost?" "It was almost two and a half."

For smaller purchases, we used to use ammo as the standard. For a long time, WWB .45 in the 100 pack was about $25, and we could figure everything from a tank of gas to shopping to the kid's school supplies in potential ammo. The recent leap in prices has thrown that equation off, but if it stabilzes again, we'll probably go back to it.

Rick in NY said...

I don't smoke, never have, but frankly, pricing folks out of a percieved "bad habit" is just WRONG! What's next, a 100% tax on Twinkies because they lead to high cholesterol? 200% tax on the lead in our bullets? Where does it end!This path leads down a long and slippery slope. Beware!

Les Jones said...

My brother asked me to pick up a pack of smokes for him. I was shocked they were 4 bucks a pack for the cheap stuff. Camel Lights were 2 bucks a pack when I hung up my Zippo a decade ago.

Unknown said...

I don't smoke, but I remember when that got you a carton.