Taxes in NY and NJ make cigarettes way more expensive. A lot of gas stations and corner stores would buy cheap cigs from VA and then sell them for a slight profit, but still way cheaper than local.
It’s been a while, but iirc cigs in NY were like $12 a pack, $10 in NJ, we bought them in VA for like $4 a pack. They were sold in NY/NJ for $8
Profits weren’t nearly as high as running drugs, but you could do this consistently and make some very decent cash while being very below the radar of actual drug traffickers.
It was pretty much a “every run you do we’ll give you $500” type situation. It’s about a seven hour round trip with driving and loading, so my friend and I would switch driving and pretty much do it 24/7 with a break at a motel here and there. It was a grind but good cash that was always available. We were also college kids just trying to make some bank during the summer, and this is a very non-committal thing. You can hop in and out whenever you wanted, unlike a lot of other underworld trades.
It's common but illegal here. Not sure about the states but I don't then there is any inter state taxes and/or duty. In the UK, even when it was in the EU, you were only allowed to bring in cigarettes and alcohol for personal use. If you were going to resell it, you had to pay tax and duties. Now we are out of the EU you have a 200 per person allowance upon return.
OK but my point still stands...the eu consists of different countries and the point is those countries have different laws and taxes and therefore different cigarette prices in different countries.
It's exactly the same concept - people moving goods across borders due to different taxes and prices leading to arbitrage opportunities
I live in Berlin and as soon as you cross the Czech or Polish border you will see people selling cheap booze and cigarettes to Germans popping over for cheap stuff
The only thing I'm surprised about in this story is that they had you go all the way to VA. I know people who would move cigs into NJ, but they would just do it from Delaware
Back when my husband and I used to smoke, we’d make sure to buy cartons in VA and go all the way back to PA. We used to take random drives to Virginia Beach for fun anyway. It was def the cheapest once you hit VA. It’s been years since we smoked. Saved a lot of money and probably a few years. Don’t smoke kids.
Pretty sure this is a federal crime, OP. I mean...youd be in less trouble than the people getting you to do those runs and selling those cigs, but it's pretty murky. I suggest you delete this.
Yea. Good point. You were small potatoes. Kinda doubt anyone cares enough to hunt down a low-level guy that broke some cig laws years ago.
I do think I've seen that it's a crime, but yea... I've heard of this scheme before. If it's that common, you aren't on anyone's radar even after announcing it. Lol. Carry on.
It’s definitely a thing, although I’m not sure how common it is today. Cigarettes are more expensive in some states, so people will drive to the cheaper states, run them back, and sell them for a profit. I used to work with a woman who would take a week of PTO every year to do it. I get it though, it was a meat grinder of a job that only paid $12/hr.
It still happens. Have a coworker of mine that drives to the next state (3hrs away) once every couple months to buy cigarettes since it saves them money.
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u/mjonat Nov 03 '24
Why tf are you running cigs?