The beginning of a smoker’s life is simple: you start as a passive smoker around a friend or family member who’s always lighting up a cigarette. Then, you start asking for a drag occasionally until you get used to the act of smoking. But there comes a time when your friends get annoyed with you constantly asking for another cigarette. That’s when you have no choice but to buy your own pack.
But when you try to buy it, you realize there’s not a standar practice when you’ll purchase your cigarettes.
To begin with: everywhere I’ve gone to buy a pack, the price always varies. In fact, cigarette prices are regulated, and it seems like there’s even a law that requires the price list to be displayed in the establishment – at least in my country.
In practice, each place adds arbitrary fees depending on your method of payment, and some go as far as charging more, ignoring the regulated prices.
Going to pay with a card? There’s an additional charge of 1 reais. Using online transfer? Add 50 cents. Paying with cash? Then you can pay the original price. This leads me to believe they are simply evading taxes – which is beautifyl and moral, as we say back here.
The problem is, as a typical millennial, I’m carrying less and less cash, and I think this is a trend that will continue in the coming generations. As a result, I always end up spending a little more in my cigarretes just for not carrying cash.
But nothing beats the Chinese bars (in Brazil, there’s a TON of them, serving cheap – and dubious quality – food and drinks). A cigarette that would cost 7 or 8 reais in a regular place is sold for 10 reais, out of the blue. The Chinese have a reputation for being cheapstakes, and this is another clear sign of why that reputation exists.
And even so, I should be thankful: because some places don’t even accept card payments for cigarette purchases, only cash, like Neanderthals used to do.
In other words, every time you go to buy a cigarette, it’s a new adventure, and you don’t know how much you’ll end up paying in the end. It could be 5, 6, 7, or even 10 reais.
That’s why I ended up developing a simple strategy that seems to be followed by most smokers: I started buying cigarettes in only one place same place. That way, at least I have a predictable idea of how much I’ll pay for my pack.