New Bedford, Massachusetts cigar prices jump to discourage kids from smoking. Worth the business hit?

[JohnS]

New Bedford cigar prices jump to discourage kids from smoking. Worth the business hit?

Frank Mulligan - The Standard-Times

NEW BEDFORD — A mandated increase in cigar prices to discourage young smokers has some city councilors criticizing its effect on small businesses.

“Minimum cigar pricing” was part of updated tobacco regulations that were adopted by the Board of Health on Oct. 21 and went into effect Jan. 1.

Councilor Ian Abreu said the cigar pricing was having a “negative economic impact on our small-business community who retails these products.”

Where a single cigar could be purchased for $1 or $1.25 in the past, the minimum price is now $2.90, he said. The minimum price for two or more packaged cigars is now $5.80.

A seagull tries to kick its smoking habit, as it makes its way across the crosswalk on S. Second Street in New Bedford. Some city councilors are saying the cigar prices in new tobacco regulations are for the birds. PETER PEREIRA/The Standard-Times

Abreu: Retailers not happy with increase in cigar prices

Abreu said he called local retailers, and the reaction was overwhelmingly negative.

He said a successful gas station and convenience store owner in the North End told him his cigar sales have plummeted, which has hurt gas sales because people were going elsewhere.

He now must raise other prices to compensate for the losses, Abreu said.

“These are the unintended consequences that you see when certain legislation and actions like these happen to the small business community here in New Bedford,” Abreu said.

Meeting with health officials, retailers to be set

He called for a meeting with city health officials and retailers to discuss an amendment to make the regulations more equitable.

Councilor Shawn Oliver said, “There was a little bit of government overreach, is what I’m hearing.”

There should have been more time for retailers to sell of their stock before it becomes stale, he said. If the aim is to curb tobacco use, it should be done through education, Oliver said.

A customer leaves Downtown Smoke Shop on Union Street in this file photo. JOHN SLADEWSKI

Some business owners may not have been notified

And it didn’t appear that all the business owners were notified of the changes, he added.

“Now they’re forced to not only raise prices and exile some of their consumers but also possibly eat some inventory and a loss of money. That doesn’t sound like a city that is pro-business to me,” Oliver said.

Councilor Naomi Carney said it didn’t seem fair. She said the storeowners should at least have been given nine to 12 months to sell off their inventory. Some further discussion could be of help, she said.

City already a 'noxious environment' for small business

Councilor Leo Choquette said, “As the expression goes, the road to hell was paved with the best of intentions. I don’t understand where the Board of Health thinks it has the right to interfere in the free market or the economy of this area in that regard.”

He said the city was already a “noxious environment” for small business.

Choquette added, “And now you want to do idiotic things like this to drive business owners out who are trying to get by. It’s ridiculous.”

Councilors unanimously voted to set up a meeting with health officials and local retailers, as well as a representative of the New England Convenience Store & Energy Marketers Association to discuss the regulations.

A man smokes a cigarette in front of the downtown New Bedford bus stop. Cigar pricing in New Bedford’s new tobacco regulations are meant to discourage kids from smoking, according to New Bedford Health Dept. Director Stephanie Sloan. PETER PEREIRA/The Standard-Times

Almost 200 Mass. communities have adopted a similar measure

New Bedford Health Department Director Stephanie Sloan said the updated regulations were unanimously approved on Oct. 21, and implementation was delayed until Jan. 1 to give retailers some lead time.

The minimum cigar pricing is done to reduce youth access to tobacco, Sloan said.

The reasoning is that smoking is hazardous to a person’s health, and it’s harder for them to quit once they’re addicted, she said.

Minimum cigar pricing was adopted in Boston in 2012, and almost 200 communities across the state have adopted minimum cigar pricing to date, Sloan said.

Health board hearing info was delivered to each retailer

Sloan said the board also updated tobacco regulations to keep in step with state regulations, which went into effect in June 2020. New Bedford hadn’t updated its tobacco regulations since 2019.

Sloan said health officials were willing to meet with councilors and retailers and make their presentation.

She said that the health board public hearing on the changes was attended by about a dozen people and was available on Zoom.

Sloan added that the hearing was more than duly advertised.

“Our tobacco compliance officer really wanted to make sure everyone received the information, so she went with the help of our inspectors to every single tobacco retailer, and dropped off the proposed regulations, and had people sign for them," Sloan said. "She went above and beyond what she needed to do on the regulation side to make sure that people knew that this was coming and knew when the hearing was.”

Source: https://eu.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/2025/02/05/new-bedford-city-councilors-pan-health-board-hike-on-cigar-prices/78218170007/

[riderpride]

Tobacco compliance officer??? I'd love to see that job description. I wish these retailers the best of luck, but no municipality with a compliance officer will be reasonable. 

Cheers

[BrightonCorgi]

New Bedford is a massively corrupt city that's been in decline since whaling was banned. Youth are not allowed to use or buy tobacco as it is. How about enforce the laws that have always been on the books?

[joeypots]

Out of the ashes of the Industrial Revolution......

Warren Buffet's empire started with a fit of pique. In 1964, Buffet acquired shares in a failing New Bedford textile mill known as Berkshire Hathaway. His intent was to sell the shares back to the owners and make a tidy profit. His good business sense did not fail him.