Two out of five convenience stores visited by a Times reporter on Tuesday sold individual cigarettes out of clear jugs that sat next to the cash registers. Handmade signs indicated they were 47 cents plus tax.
Store managers said they started selling the single sticks [image-nocss] within the last two weeks, after the latest tobacco tax increase. They maintain it is helping customers who can't afford $6 or $7 a pack and encouraging them to smoke less. "If I've got a whole pack in my car, I'm going to smoke it," a Bay City man, picking up two cigarettes for $1, told the reporter. "Now I get one or two a day and I'm good."
According to the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth, the sale of single cigarettes is in violation of state law, and is considered a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine for each offense.
Critics of the law say it works out in favor of the tobacco industry, not the consumer, as the purchase of a pack of 20 keeps a would-be quitter committed, and casual smokers who really only want one or two are encouraged to smoke a whole pack.
Store owners and state authorities say the practice of selling single cigarettes has been going on for years in Saginaw, though it is mostly done under the counter. If it is going on above the counter in Bay City, that is "pretty brazen," Sergeant John Trafelet of the Michigan State Police told the newspaper. "It's not real legal to sell single cigarettes," he said.
Jim Drager is the assistant manager for United Wholesale Grocery, the tobacco wholesaler for many area c-stores. "I know that some of our customers [sell individual cigarettes], but it is very much against the law," he told the paper. "I'd say 90% of our Saginaw stores do it, but they keep it under the counter."
Store managers said the practice has hit Bay City with the poor economy and cigarette prices that have reached a new high. Those factors combined have led many people to try to quit, making individual cigarettes a popular commodity, said the report.
"Most of them are trying to quit smoking, or cutting back or to be honest, they can't afford a pack," one manager of a store in Bay City that has started selling singles told the paper.
Kim Brissette, manager of Brissette's 6-12 Inc. in Bay City, said she was told by her wholesaler that it is illegal, otherwise she would be selling them, too. "A lot of people are asking for them," she told the paper. "I think it would be a good idea, because a lot of people can't afford the cigarettes. People are having a hard time. It's sad."
A pack of 20 Marlboros was selling for $6.60 on Tuesday, the Times said, while Newports were $7.05 with tax.
Michelle Beson, owner of Beson's Party Store in Bay City, said she tried selling cigarettes individually a while back but found out that it is illegal and stopped. Bill Card, owner of Kader's Party Shoppe, also in Bay City, said stores that are selling single cigarettes may think they are acting within the law just because they keep the surgeon general's warning on the jug. "It's a gray part of the law, but I would say it's not legal," he told the paper. "We're not going to do it."
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