EnglishU. S. Postal Service against all
It is the only carrier left that continues to deliver cigarettes to individuals in the US.
A few months from the neutralisation of the credit card companies, now it's the turn of the shipping carriers: after DHL, also UPS Inc., the world's largest, will stop delivering cigarettes to individuals in the United States under an agreement announced Monday, October 24th with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.
“It is an embarrassment that major private companies have stopped carrying contraband cigarettes, but the Federal Government continues to accept them”, said Spitzer, a Democrat running for governor. “Congress needs to step in and stop this practice immediately”.
Spitzer's battle against “cigarette traffickers” appears to be a defence of the privileges of the major cigarette makers, their middleman courtesans, and their distribution system.
How much would the cigarettes purchased from the Yesmoke online shop have to cost if the US Customs applied the duty-tax when the goods are delivered, like their Canadian colleagues do? Herès how Big Tobacco fights the “forbidden” pricelist!
The Attorney General's weapons
1. Online purchases from abroad: “No to contraband!”
Why have US Customs never wanted to request the payment of duty tax on cigarettes purchased from foreign resellers like Yesmoke? Yesmoke's shipments are always accompanied by customs declarations, and even though Swiss authorities have repeatedly solicited it, cigarettes in the US have always arrived at the customers doorsteps completely duty-free or, by “smuggling”.
In Canada, for example, duty taxes were applied when the packages were delivered and, pleasant surprise, the cigarettes still cost a less than at the local stores. Those who said that the world of tobacco and cigarette distribution is in the hands of Big Tobacco, that has eliminated all forms of competition, had to change their tune. Here, for example, was a new free sales channel. Good for you, Canada!
2. Online purchases between the American States: the “Jenkins Act”
Imagine that the U.S. Postal Service was not a Federal service, but State run, and that each of the 50 States had its own stamps and rates; so a person mailing a letter from Pennsylvania to New York could buy a stamp that only paid for the travel to the Pennsylvania border.
Imagine, then, that for the portion of travel owed to New York State, the sender had to file with the tax administrator of the State into which such shipment was made, no later than the 10th day of each calendar month. The bill will arrive at home. …Really modern!
This is exactly what happens if you send cigarettes; the practice dates back to the Jenkins Act, a federal law passed in 1949 that requires anyone who sells cigarettes across a State line to report the transaction to the State tobacco tax administrators. But as the Jenkins Act is difficult to apply, Spitzer is proposing the total abolition of cigarette sales online.
3. “No cigarette sales to minors!”
“UPS Sends Smoke Signals to Teens”, are the newspaper titles. “In addition to helping to stop criminal activity, this is also an important public health issue, because an increasing number of children are obtaining cigarettes over the Internet”, says Spitzer.
But there isn't a single study that proves this.
Now, if you were a minor and wanted cigarettes, how would you go about buying them: A or B?
A) OVER INTERNET:
1. You'd need a credit card, which would have to come from an adult.
2. You'd have had to wait from 4 days to several weeks to receive the shipment.
3. The package could be intercepted by your parents.
4. The payment would show up on the credit card statement and it would inevitably be discovered by your parents.
B) FROM YOUR LOCAL STORE:
1. All you need is some cash.
2. The delivery is immediate.
3. Therès no trace left of the operation.
4. No one would know who you are and there would be no consequences.
While public opinion continues to be against online cigarette sales, considered an easy way for youngsters to obtain cigarettes, in Long Beach (CA), according to a study performed a few months ago, the success rate of youngsters attempting to purchase cigarettes in local stores is as high as 36%. And if a kid can't get them in one store, he can walk into the one next door.
“Step in and stop it”
“I commend UPS for cooperating with us in this initiative”, Spitzer said. “The Internet has become a haven for illegal cigarette traffickers, and this agreement eliminates one more avenue through which these criminal enterprises had been shipping their products…” Bullshit!
Earlier this year, DHL stopped delivering cigarettes to individuals nationwide; the nation's major credit card companies have also stopped processing payments for cigarette sales (but not for online pornography, gambling, and medicine purchases).
“This agreement will significantly curtail cigarette sales over the Internet … Internet retailers negatively impact major manufacturers by actively —down-trading consumers— to bargain cigarette brands”, said Prudential Equity Group.
But why then, does the U.S. Postal Service, in spite of Spitzer's efforts, refuse to stop delivering mail containing the cigarettes of these “criminal enterprises”? They say that receiving cigarettes by mail, both from foreign countries and from an American State, is not illegal: it is a right of American citizens based on by federal laws.
And that's why Spitzer says that “Congress needs to step in and stop this practice immediately”. According to Spitzer, Congress could help matters by putting tax-free cigarettes on the list of nonmailable items, like guns and explosives.
That would raise the risk level by making cigarette shipments a violation of federal law, punishable by fines and prison sentences.
More info
- The Jenkins Act – a Bizarre (Wacky) Law
- One - One = Zero
- Test Your IQ Level: A or B?
- Selling Tobacco to Minors Online Draws Fire – Chicago Defender, 07-15-2005
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