N.Y. Shows Black Market Cigarettes

AP Online via COMTEX ^ | Aug 26, 2002 | ERIN McCLAM

[grimalkin]

NEW YORK, Aug 26, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Standing behind a chest-high pile of more than 237,000 seized cigarettes, city officials said Monday they had cracked down on stores selling tobacco without a license.

But smoker advocates say black-market sales will only grow in New York, where a tax hike has pushed cigarettes to $7.50 a pack and the mayor is waging a policy war against smoking.

The city seized 11,871 packs - or 237,420 individual cigarettes - from 40 unlicensed sellers between February 2001 and February 2002, said Pansy Mullings, enforcement chief of the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Authorities say they worry unlicensed retailers are dodging cigarette sales taxes and selling tobacco products to minors. To obtain a license, sellers must agree to restrictions on signs and pledge not to sell to minors.

The crackdown is evidence that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is serious in his "campaign against tobacco," said Gretchen Dykstra, the city's commissioner of consumer affairs.

Although the crackdown concluded in February, the announcement Monday came amid Bloomberg's ongoing actions against smoking. He is also seeking to seeking to outlaw smoking in all bars and restaurants.

New York City smokers have been hit this year by a hike in the city's cigarette tax from 8 cents to $1.50. With state and federal taxes, a pack of cigarettes costs up to $7.50 - tops in the nation.

The result is that more smokers are buying cigarettes more cheaply off the Internet, at American Indian reservations and from unlicensed retailers, said Audrey Silk, founder of the smoker-rights group NYC CLASH.

"This is Bloomberg's doing. He set up a lucrative business. They can all thank him," she said Monday.

The city's Department of Finance will auction the seized cigarettes to wholesalers.

The cigarettes typically sell at auction for about $10 a carton, and the pile seized in the crackdown will earn the city nearly $14,000, said Martha Stark, the city finance commissioner.

---

On the Net:

New York City Department of Consumer Affairs:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/home.html

NYC CLASH: http://www.nycclash.com

By ERIN McCLAM Associated Press Writer

Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved

[Jonathon Spectre]

Welcome to the War on (Some) Drugs v2.0.

[Fraulein]

$7.50 a pack? Geez, I just purchased a carton of Marlboro Lights at a local Texaco station here in Tennessee for $25.99...

[Fraulein]

[Dialup Llama]

>The crackdown is evidence that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is serious in his "campaign against tobacco,"

If Bloomberg really were in a serious campaign against deadly tobacco, he would make it illegal. What Bloomberg is really serious about is increasing taxes falsely using the rhetoric of public health as a pretext.

[alloysteel]

And this was just the shipments they caught. A vast multiple of that number must be getting through.

Nu Yorekers shall NEVER have to pay full price for cigarettes if they are willing to seek unconventional outlets.

[TomGuy]

the pile seized in the crackdown will earn the city nearly $14,000, said Martha Stark, the city finance commissioner.

$14k earnings. And the sting operation probably cost $100k or more in equipment, personnel, time, etc. And the result was about 1200 cartons. 1200 cartons, and there are probably a few hundred thousand cartons blackmarketed each week.

At this rate, NYC will need to raise beer and burger taxes just to pay for the negative revenues their stings on tobacco blackmarketing are costing the city.

[kitkat]

"The city's Department of Finance will auction the seized cigarettes to
wholesalers.

The cigarettes typically sell at auction for about $10 a carton, and the pile
seized in the crackdown will earn the city nearly $14,000, said Martha Stark,
the city finance commissioner."

The City of New York is SELLING cigarettes? WHOA! I thought cigarettes were bad for our health? Why don't they destroy them? What hypocrits those liberals are. MAKE MONEY, MAKE MONEY, INCREASE TAXES.

I paid $28 dollars a carton at the Indian reservation for True Menthol 100s. That's $2.80 a pack. I'm going to NYC next January and you can be sure I'll be packing LOTS of cigs for my stay there.

[zeugma]

One might also note that this announcement by the city isn't really that spectacular. The writer tried to make it so by the way the numbers were reported...

The city seized 11,871 packs - or 237,420 individual cigarettes - from 40 unlicensed sellers between February 2001 and February 2002...

What that really says is that they siezed on average 29 cartons per 'unlicensed seller' over a year long period. That's a little more than one carton of cigarettes every 2 weeks. There's an impressive use of tax dollars!

[AGreatPer]

I don't know if I should post this, but I really don't think it will matter. I have contacts in South Carolina. Here is what they are doing in NY City. They load up a tractor trailor with about 27,000 lbs of cigs. They base in NJ and rent 4 mini-vans. From there they do what they call "hot spotting" to sell cigs in the city.

They get about $4 a pack which is a 100% profit, less expenses. They go to a corner or an isolated spot in the city. After they hang a shingle, "$4 per pack", within 5 minutes people are like flies. "We stay no longer than 30-60 minutes in a spot, then move on to a new one."

Several times the cops have seen them and moved on. One cop came up after he changed clothes and bought 5 carton.

Screw you Bloomberg.

[kitkat]

I wonder how many cartons some of the police got to take home FREE.

[qwert]

I just took a boatload into NY for all my relatives total cost < 10.00 per carton for Major Brands (Buy in Bulk)

[Alberta's Child]

Several times the cops have seen them and moved on. One cop came up after he changed clothes and bought 5 carton.

This one item reminded me of an article I once read about life behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. One of the leading dissidents in Eastern Europe who later became a national leader (it may have been Vaclev Havel of the Czech Republic) said that his family and friends decided that the best way to live under the totalitarian government was by simply ignoring those laws that they found most repressive.

"When the number of people breaking those laws grew so large," he said, "that even the police and the Communist Party officials were breaking them, we knew that it was only a matter of time before the entire system would collapse."

[KineticKitty]

"But smoker advocates say black-market sales will only grow in New York, where a tax hike has pushed cigarettes to $7.50 a pack"

Glad You don't live there huh? Man even as an X smoker this is JUST WRONG. I don't blame New Yorkers one bit for seeking out lower cost cigarettes.

[Max McGarrity]

Bad laws deserve the anarchy they create. Hey, Al Capone considered Prohibition a great success!

[bat-boy]

You're right. The WOD set the precedent. It's only a matter of time before tobacco is made illegal and people start doing time.

[TightSqueeze]

The city seized 11,871 packs - or 237,420 individual cigarettes - from 40 unlicensed sellers between February 2001 and February 2002, said Pansy Mullings, enforcement chief of the Department of Consumer Affairs.

I will lay odds that there is a insider group of sophisticated doughnut jockey’s working on getting these cigarettes back on the street as we speak.

[umgud]

There is only one rational solution; The feds must step in and pass a law demanding that all cigarettes cost $10 per pack. This would raise revenus and stop illegal trafficking. (/sarcasm)

[SheLion]

If Bloomberg really were in a serious campaign against deadly tobacco, he would make it illegal. What Bloomberg is really serious about is increasing taxes falsely using the rhetoric of public health as a pretext.

You speak good sense. I wish all non-smokers would wake up and smell the roses? When I think "Bloomberg," I smell garbage.

[SheLion]

At this rate, NYC will need to raise beer and burger taxes just to pay for the negative revenues their stings on tobacco blackmarketing are costing the city.

Yes! This is always a method to their madness! That's for sure.