Smokers inhale after price hikes
Cigarette price hikes have done little to make some Manawatu¯ smokers quit, but some are trying to cut back.
Cigarette prices went up once again on January 1, with a 25-pack of cigarettes costing close to $40 after a tax increase. Since 2009, the tax per cigarette has increased from 30 cents to 82 cents.
John Wright from Pah¯ıatua picked up his first cigarette when he was 6 years old. He said the price increase made him consider quitting his $200-a-week habit, or at least cutting back.
‘‘I’ve definitely chopped down since the start of the year.’’
Although not as much a heavy smoker now, Wright used to smoke 40 cigarettes a day. He prefers to buy his cigarettes overseas when he goes travelling.
Taxi driver Sanjiv Maggon spends about $70 a week on cigarettes, which he thinks is ‘‘too expensive’’, but he has not been able to quit. Maggon is reluctant to try vaping as an alternative, as he is wary of the chemicals in vapes. Richard Walton has also tried using a vape to kick his habit and describes them as a ‘‘Clayton’s’’, in reference to the alcohol-free beverage that was packaged to resemble whiskey during the 1970s and 1980s.
Although he thinks cigarettes are ‘‘bloody expensive’’, the price change has not affected his habits and he will continue to smoke.
Richard Green, the owner of the two Butt Bucket stores in Palmerston North, is concerned the price hike will lead to more burglaries of shops that sell cigarettes. ‘‘Every retailer is a target . . . the burglaries are definitely going to continue.’’
The discount tobacconist has fallen victim to multiple burglaries in the past few years, including an aggravated robbery in 2016. Green is also concerned that his business may have only a few years left, however, and has started to stock e-cigarettes and vapes.