How to make money on poor people.

[dmcowen674]

Prices aren't near $10/pack...

What?

What rock have you been living under?

Prices going towards $20 pack here in Chicago

$100 for a carton and people still buying them like crazy.

 

[mmntech]

Cigarette taxes are very steep here in Ontario. So what's a smoker to do? Head on down to the local Six Nations (Indian) reserve. The natives will sell them to you cheap and 100% tax free. It's completely illegal for non-natives to buy Indian cigarettes but so many people do it. My great uncle used to. The natives are making a killing off it.

 

[Doppel]

i dont think its right putting down a group of ppl with a certain vice just because its not your bull getting gored. im sure you have your own unhealthy, or superfluous habits.

not nearly any so repugnant or injurious...

 

[Phoenix86]

What?

What rock have you been living under?

Prices going towards $20 pack here in Chicago

$100 for a carton and people still buying them like crazy.

$5 each when you buy 2 packs at the local corner market and the OP lives in my area. Many smokers buy a carton which is even cheaper/pack, iirc ~$40-45 for 10 packs.

Of course with gas prices in your area and highly restricted vinegar sales, perhaps this is normal, in your head.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Alcohol? Jewelry? Fast food?

 

[FelixDeCat]

$5 each when you buy 2 packs at the local corner market and the OP lives in my area. Many smokers buy a carton which is even cheaper/pack, iirc ~$40-45 for 10 packs.

Of course with gas prices in your area and highly restricted vinegar sales, perhaps this is normal, in your head.

If you want to buy the cheapest product you can find, you are welcome. But if you want the best, you pay for it. Taxation varies widely.

Cost of Marlboro Reds by state from lowest to highest:

51. West Virginia: $4.74
50. Louisiana: $4.82
49. North Dakota: $4.91
48. Kentucky: $4.97
47. Idaho: $4.99
46. California: $5.19
45. Alabama: $5.27
44. Georgia: $5.29
43. South Carolina: $5.42
41-42. Indiana, Wyoming: $5.50
40. North Carolina: $5.51
38-39. Nebraska, Virginia: $5.55
37. Tennessee: $5.56
36. Missouri: $5.58
35. Oregon: $5.59
34. Mississippi: $5.75
33. New Hampshire: $5.87
32. Nevada: $5.95
30-31. Arkansas, Colorado: $5.96
29. Montana: $5.99
26-28. Delaware, Iowa, Kansas: $6.00
25. South Dakota: $6.03
24. Texas: $6.07
23. Florida: $6.08
22. Oklahoma: $6.19
21. Ohio: $6.22
20. Minnesota: $6.53
19. Maryland: $6.70
18. Pennsylvania: $6.80
17. Arizona: $6.87
16. New Mexico: $6.88
15. Michigan: $6.90
14. Utah: $7.22
13. Maine: $7.97
12. Washington, D.C.: $7.99
11. Wisconsin: $8.11
10. Vermont: $8.23
9. Connecticut: $8.25
8. Massachusetts: $8.30
7. New Jersey: $8.35
6. Rhode Island: $8.60
5. Alaska: $9.14
4. Illinois: $9.67
3. Hawaii: $9.73
2. Washington: $9.89
1. New York: $11.90

http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/what-a-pack-of-cigarettes-costs-state-by-state

 

[jjyiz28]

not nearly any so repugnant or injurious...

really? alcohol, fast loud dangerous cars, condoms, pornography, i can go on and on.. if you like any of these things and its taxed how it is compared to cigarettes im sure you'll be up at arms too.

alcohol kills, so lets limit it by putting more taxes, fast loud cars are superfluous and uncessary causing more pollution, if you still want these types of cars, pay more taxes, condoms are a luxury practice abstinence before marriage pornography can lead to broken marriages

edit: yea fast food taxes, cuz its so unhealty and causes health costs to go up, and i dont mind because its not gore getting bulled, but if you like fast food, oh well,
etc..etc..

 

[Phoenix86]

If you want to buy the cheapest product you can find, you are welcome. But if you want the best, you pay for it. Taxation varies widely.

Cost of Marlboro Reds by state from lowest to highest:

http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/what-a-pack-of-cigarettes-costs-state-by-state

Do you want me to take a pic to show you are wrong or do you just want to admit defeat here?

Of course even your own link disagrees with you.
24. Texas: $6.07
6.07 is FAR closer to $5 than $10, and again from your own link...
Methodology: Prices were obtained by calling a gas station in each state's most populous city and asking the clerk for the price of a pack of Marlboro Reds with tax. Memphis, Tenn., was toughest (nine phone calls). The gas station in Milwaukee, Wis., had the only employee who ended the conversation with "have a good one."

So they called random stores, they didn't shop around. Do you really think I can't prove a ~20% savings vs. you proving ~160% increase? While not a terrible method given their objective, it's clearly not really very accurate.

Actually, I'll just claim burden of proof. Show that cigs are $10/pack in the DFW area.

If you manage that, I'll gladly show you it's 1/2, with a receipt. Hey since your local, let's make a bet! Steak and potatoes at Del Friscos or Ruth's Chris in downtown.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Do you want me to take a pic to show you are wrong or do you just want to admit defeat here?

Of course even your own link disagrees with you.
24. Texas: $6.07
6.07 is FAR closer to $5 than $10, and again from your own link...
Methodology: Prices were obtained by calling a gas station in each state's most populous city and asking the clerk for the price of a pack of Marlboro Reds with tax. Memphis, Tenn., was toughest (nine phone calls). The gas station in Milwaukee, Wis., had the only employee who ended the conversation with "have a good one."

So they called random stores, they didn't shop around. Do you really think I can't prove a ~20% savings vs. you proving ~160% increase? While not a terrible method given their objective, it's clearly not really very accurate.

Actually, I'll just claim burden of proof. Show that cigs are $10/pack in the DFW area.

If you manage that, I'll gladly show you it's 1/2, with a receipt. Hey since your local, let's make a bet! Steak and potatoes at Del Friscos or Ruth's Chris in downtown.

I didnt say you couldn't, it was just to show that there was a basis for my claim for the latter in some parts of the country.

Goodness gracious man, calm down! Go smoke a cigarette or something.

 

[Lifted]

If you want to buy the cheapest product you can find, you are welcome. But if you want the best, you pay for it. Taxation varies widely.

Cost of Marlboro Reds by state from lowest to highest:

http://www.theawl.com/2011/06/what-a-pack-of-cigarettes-costs-state-
by-state

That $11.90 in NY is best case. I've been in shops in Manhattan that were asking $15.

 

[Doppel]

really? alcohol, fast loud dangerous cars, condoms, pornography, i can go on and on.. if you like any of these things and its taxed how it is compared to cigarettes im sure you'll be up at arms too.

alcohol kills, so lets limit it by putting more taxes, fast loud cars are superfluous and uncessary causing more pollution, if you still want these types of cars, pay more taxes, condoms are a luxury practice abstinence before marriage pornography can lead to broken marriages

edit: yea fast food taxes, cuz its so unhealty and causes health costs to go up, and i dont mind because its not gore getting bulled, but if you like fast food, oh well,
etc..etc..

I simply don't buy into your nihilistic view of a vice = vice = vice. Just as occasionally over-drinking isn't as bad as occasionally kidnapping and murdering women, I consider smoking among the most dastardly of common vices, so there you have it. It is an anachronistic vice more suited to the cavemen mentalities of our ancestors. Those who continue to smoke are advertising the fact that they at some point in their life cared so little about their future self that they started smoking and continue to not care enough to stop, even though they know it's taking years off their life.

BTW some of what you mention already is taxed; see sin tax or gas guzzler tax.

 

[bononos]

Sell cigarettes individually.

.....

Taking a cut of their paycheck is more lucrative. Poor people with poor credit scores have difficulty opening bank accounts and so they have to cash their checks.

The single ciggy problem is a bigger problem with kids who may not have the cash to buy a whole packet but can afford singles in their experimenting phase and can get hooked that way.

 

[Meghan54]

even though they know it's taking years off their life.

I've heard that argument made time and again. But seriously, care to share what you think those years that are taken away are like? Any idea? It's certainly not how the popular media portrays those years (and we're speaking about the very end years, not when you hit 65.)


How about having to wear Depends? Having to have someone clean your butt after you poop in the bed? Having to be fed by someone? Almost completely blind, deaf? No balance and having to use canes or motorized wheelchairs. Dementia, Alzheimer's, senility.....


Those are the realities of the aged, in case you didn't know. If you want the full experience of the years the "bad" vices cut off, try hanging out in a nursing home for a few weeks. May open your eyes.


Sure, I know there's emphysema, lung cancer, etc. And I know you can pull examples of 80+ year olds who are still self sufficient, bicycling hundreds of miles per week.....but let me assure you, those are the exceptions, not the rule. For every 80 year old you can show me that looks/acts like that, I can show you hundreds if not thousands of oldsters who have debilitation mental and physical breakdown as they age, none of which are related to vices, but instead related to just genetics (you cannot outrun, out exercise, out eat the problems that come with age....the body just breaks down and our genetics are the root of the problem.) Yes, smoking, drinking, etc. all contribute to a hastening of the demise/end, but you're not cutting off the productive years but the years when you're confined to a wheelchair, drooling on yourself, cannot remember your own name and/or cannot even clean or feed yourself.


Get off your high horse and face reality.

 

[Meghan54]

I simply don't buy into your nihilistic view of a vice = vice = vice. Just as occasionally over-drinking isn't as bad as occasionally kidnapping and murdering women,

And that comparison you've made, comparing murdering people to smoking or other vices, just shows you cannot make a coherent, intelligent debate and instead have to resort to the childish, lame, and specious arguments that most have to resort to make their points, which has yet to be made really. Intead of waving a red herring, how about a real debate instead of trying to equate, rather unsuccessfully, murdering a person to drinking or smoking or over eating.


Come on.......

 

[feralkid]

If you want to know how to make money off poor people just ask the very rich liberals. They have been doing it for decades all the while blaming poor peoples' situations on conservatives and most are too dumb to notice.

Please confine your coot-rants to P&N.

Now get off my lawn!

 

[feralkid]

Taking a cut of their paycheck is more lucrative. Poor people with poor credit scores have difficulty opening bank accounts and so they have to cash their checks.

A credit check to open a bank account?

 

[lxskllr]

Sure, I know there's emphysema, lung cancer, etc. And I know you can pull examples of 80+ year olds who are still self sufficient, bicycling hundreds of miles per week.....but let me assure you, those are the exceptions, not the rule. For every 80 year old you can show me that looks/acts like that, I can show you hundreds if not thousands of oldsters who have debilitation mental and physical breakdown as they age, none of which are related to vices, but instead related to just genetics (you cannot outrun, out exercise, out eat the problems that come with age....the body just breaks down and our genetics are the root of the problem.) Yes, smoking, drinking, etc. all contribute to a hastening of the demise/end, but you're not cutting off the productive years but the years when you're confined to a wheelchair, drooling on yourself, cannot remember your own name and/or cannot even clean or feed yourself.

On top of that, nicotine helps to prevent dementia. It has numerous medical benefits, but that message is contrary to the anti tobacco zealot's religion and career, so you won't hear about that outside the research community.

 

[Wreckem]

Do you want me to take a pic to show you are wrong or do you just want to admit defeat here?

Of course even your own link disagrees with you.
24. Texas: $6.07
6.07 is FAR closer to $5 than $10, and again from your own link...
Methodology: Prices were obtained by calling a gas station in each state's most populous city and asking the clerk for the price of a pack of Marlboro Reds with tax. Memphis, Tenn., was toughest (nine phone calls). The gas station in Milwaukee, Wis., had the only employee who ended the conversation with "have a good one."

So they called random stores, they didn't shop around. Do you really think I can't prove a ~20% savings vs. you proving ~160% increase? While not a terrible method given their objective, it's clearly not really very accurate.

Actually, I'll just claim burden of proof. Show that cigs are $10/pack in the DFW area.

If you manage that, I'll gladly show you it's 1/2, with a receipt. Hey since your local, let's make a bet! Steak and potatoes at Del Friscos or Ruth's Chris in downtown.

Marlboros go for as much at $8/pack per individual pack in Texas. Can you get them for less? Yes but not everywhere.

 

[bononos]

A credit check to open a bank account?

Not all banks do it but some do and some even do it as a hard enquiry that will affect the applicant's FICO score.

I should've mentioned that the bigger problem for opening accounts for the working poor is the difficulty of maintaining a minimum balance when they are living hand to mouth. Another category are illegal immigrants who don't have the documentation to open bank accounts.

 

[alent1234]

On top of that, nicotine helps to prevent dementia. It has numerous medical benefits, but that message is contrary to the anti tobacco zealot's religion and career, so you won't hear about that outside the research community.

Nicotine in small quantities and highly refined

Cigarettes are sprayed with addictive quantities of nicotine and have over 200 chemicals added including polonium and uranium and breathing in the burned particulates is what screws up your body, not the nicotine

 

[lxskllr]

Nicotine in small quantities and highly refined

Cigarettes are sprayed with addictive quantities of nicotine and have over 200 chemicals added including polonium and uranium and breathing in the burned particulates is what screws up your body, not the nicotine

Cigarettes aren't sprayed with nicotine, at least not typically. They usually have additives, mostly for flavor, and moisture regulation. Food has radioactive substances also. It's a part of living on an imperfect planet. I'll agree that breathing smoke isn't the best thing for you. That's why there's several other forms of tobacco that cause little harm, and provide more benefit than pure nicotine.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Not all banks do it but some do and some even do it as a hard enquiry that will affect the applicant's FICO score.

I should've mentioned that the bigger problem for opening accounts for the working poor is the difficulty of maintaining a minimum balance when they are living hand to mouth. Another category are illegal immigrants who don't have the documentation to open bank accounts.

Credit unions offer checking accounts for keeping $5 in savings.

The real problem is that it's hard to open a checking account after you use over-draft to take $500 from the bank and then never deposit to cover it.

Kite a few checks for pampers and take the free $500 in over-draft they have at the bank and you'll see quickly that opening a bank-account is hard.


It's not a credit-check, so much as a "are you known to fuck banks" check.

 

[edro]

Sell high calorie food for lowest price.
Charge for healthcare.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Sell high calorie food for lowest price.
Charge for healthcare.

Get your totalitarian government out of my gas-station burritos

 

[bononos]

Credit unions offer checking accounts for keeping $5 in savings.

The real problem is that it's hard to open a checking account after you use over-draft to take $500 from the bank and then never deposit to cover it.

Kite a few checks for pampers and take the free $500 in over-draft they have at the bank and you'll see quickly that opening a bank-account is hard.


It's not a credit-check, so much as a "are you known to fuck banks" check.

Last I opened a bank account, it was a credit check. The known-to-screw-banks database is chexsystems but some banks will perform a hard credit check instead of chexsystems or both at the same time. Its not just messing up the free overdraft and getting booted. Poor people need cash now to pay the rent/food not a couple days later when the check clears.