Sunday Afternoon Sticker Shock at the Local B&M in PA

[trubka2]

My B&M's tin prices have always been about double the online prices. Same with cigars. That's just the foot traffic they get. I mostly limit my courtesy purchases to their in house blends, which are around 4 bucks/oz. (and much more online for some reason). Whatever, I don't begrudge them a penny.

 

[mechanic]

Only b&m near me is one of those lotto ticket cigarette places they have 4 or 5 lane blends rebranded but clearly labeled with the lane names i think last 1q i got was around 2.50 a o no tin pipe tobacco ever but bags of gambler and other ryo "pipe" tobacco around the lane jars.

 

[aro222]

@bassbug
I haven’t been to a local B&M since last year I had no idea they had gone up that much. Unbelievable !!!

 

[woodsroad]

Was this the Haverford store?

Did you ask them about the price jump?

 

[bassbug]

@aro...maybe Toronto is more expensive than outlying areas, but I've given up on buying anything other than pipe cleaners and such locally. Shame really, but the taxes are just too much.

 

[shermnatman]

Woodsroad - I was so shocked by the sudden price increases (tins & bulk) that I was too stymied to ask; and I literally walked out scratching my head. I have to go back later in the week and I will find out what insights and explanations they offer. I will let you know what they say.
I was wondering if others where finding the same sudden price-jump happening in their local B&Ma - Sherm Natman

 

[pappymac]

You have Federal, State, County and Local sales taxes that a B&M has to pay so their prices are always going to be higher than an on-line retailer. Just know that many on-line retailers are sending out nice little letters informing you have how much taxes you have to pay to the state. In SE Louisiana that's about 10% of the retail price.
The local B&M I visit used to be a Tinderbox until 3 years ago. Now it is privately owned. I've seen the catalogs they make their orders from and they wholesale prices they pay are pretty close to the on-line retail prices. That means they have to mark up the price to make a profit.

 

[mso489]

Before my nearby Tinderbox moved to a different city or closed (don't know which) its prices were prohibitively high. I buy at my local independent now and then, to support the cause, but they are higher than online, of course. Online prices keep inching up. All this prompts me to smoke a little less, when I am already pretty moderate. Anyone visited a J&R cigar outlet lately to know how their prices are? I think Tinderbox caters to new pipe smokers, or non-pipe smokers, who don't know pricing, so they'll pay up. You can still get a tub of tobacco in the U.S., if you like anything that comes in a tub, online, for around $20 or $30, and that's like six tins of tobacco online... around that.

 

[sablebrush52]

I wonder how much of that is the tobacco tax in your state, added to the sales tax.

 

[woodsroad]

Sherm, I'd be interested in what they have to say. That store is in a very expensive area, with perhaps the highest rents in it's class. Across the street from Haverford College, a client of mine. Maybe their lease just got renewed?

 

[jguss]

Jesse, the tobacco excise tax by itself doesn't account for much of a $20+ per tin total retail price in Pennsylvania: in PA the excise tax is $0.55/ounce, or $1.10 on a 2 oz tin (on a 4 oz tin it's $2.20). For the relevant Pennsylvania taxes on "other tobacco products", of which pipe tobacco is one, see: https://www.revenue.pa.gov/GeneralTaxInformation/Tax%20Types%20and%20Information/OTPT/Pages/default.aspx. The current tobacco excise tax regime has been in place in Pennsylvania for over two years, so it wouldn't account for any recent price hikes.
Dan, we probably pass each other on Lancaster Avenue. My youngest daughter is in her first year at Haverford, and my wife and I drive down there once in a while to visit or pickup/drop her off (we live a little over two hours away in northern Bergen County).

 

[woodsroad]

(oops)

 

[woodsroad]

Congratulations, John. You did well by her!

Give me a yell some time when you are in the area, and we can have a bowl across the street.

Be sure to get in touch with me before graduation, though. I always photograph their commencement, and it would be my pleasure to make a family portrait for you.

 

[shermnatman]

Woodsroad - If you guys get together at the Haverford TB for an ad hoc PM Forum smokey-soiree, let me know; I'll buy - Sherm Natman

 

[woodsroad]

I'll buy

Those are beautiful words right there.

 

[jguss]

A get together for a pipe in Haverford would be fantastic. Unfortunately my trips there are tough to predict, but I'll let you guys know the next time I'm heading down.
And Dan, thank you very much for the kind offer. I'd love a family portrait. My daughter won't graduate until three years from this coming May; I'm pretty sure by then I'll need extensive photoshopping of my face, abdomen, and general posture. Come to think of it I'd need all that even if the photo shoot was today.

 

[woodsroad]

Haverford's commencement is on the 18th, so move-out must be right around there. Are you coming down for that?
Those three years will go by fast. My daughter is also a freshman, but at Pitt. The first year is almost done.

 

[jguss]

I'll be coming down for move-out, unless I can con my wife into handling it. But I think the actual date will depend on my daughter's finals schedule. IF she's done Thursday or even Wednesday she may want to pack up and leave a bit early. I'll check into it and let you know.

 

[lestrout]

Yo Jon, Nat, and Dan - include me in when this smokefest happens. I'm not that far from that TB.
hp

les

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

Mac Baren tins come in different sizes. If it was a 3.75oz. tin, then it was priced competitively.