I have done many things, decades ago I was involved in the coin-operated industry. Our company provided things like pinball machines and jukeboxes to taverns and clubs, or for that matter university campuses. We had a division for Laindy gear, like for coin laundromats. And vending. We had some snack vendors, and a large cupboard full of candy bars to stock them. We were allowed to raid that supply, so a good many free Hershey bars I got. My personal watering hole was one of our clients.
I watched as prices on vending machines slowly climbed. Back about 1974, a pack of cigarettes was maybe 75 or 85 cents. The longer ones cost more. I was the king of the technical departments, and was responsible for training and support, amongst other things. HAd to train the staff how to reset the prices on these mechanical wonders. When prices went up 10 cents, they approached a dollar. We nodded at one another and knowingly announced "NO ONE would ever spend over a dollar for a pack of cigarettes. And in fact, the mechanical "accumulator" in the machines only went up to a dollar. Progress was unimpressed, and when prices exceeded a dollar, they came up with add-on kludges to extend the price range of the machine. Oddly enough, people continued to smoke.
Every bar had a cigarette machine. We tried widening the selection. There were packs of condoms the size and shape of a cigarette pack. (The packs were the same size, not the condoms) There were packs of rolling papers, for guys who liked to roll their own...tobacco. There were even cigarette lighters in there. Some older machines had a side chute that we filled with match books, so you get a free book of matches with your cigarettes.
Cigarettes are taxed in Michigan, and each pack has a tax stamp across the top. We went to the wholesaler and bought cases of carton cigarettes. They are the same cigarettes you buy in a store, but the package is a little different, the cellophane finish is made so packs can slide over one another - no jams in the works. When we buy the cases, we have to pay the tax on them, whether they sell or not. Sometimes a brand doesn't sell well and packs get stale, or a machine gets put into storage with product still within. But, you can take the stale product back to the wholesaler, and get the tax back. It doesn't expire, so we wind up with boxes of stale cigarettes. Now boys will be boys, and we discovered that you can throw a pack - a flat spin is best. And when they hit someone, they have a satisfying whap sound. Of course once the shop had a hundred packs scattered, we had to clean them up. Taxes are money. This is a pleasure, few people get to experience. Hey, aim low, never disappointed.
So I left that industry a long time ago, but I still follow cigarette prices. Michigan outlawed smoking almost everywhere ten years ago. Previously smoking was banned in some places. I had stopped going to bars a long time prior because I hated coming home smelling like an ash try. Now we go to a local bar all the time for meals. But the cigarette vending machine business disappeared. Couldn't smoke in bars, restaurants, stores, offices, etc. No one bought them. You still an buy them at stores.
SO today I was at the gas station - which all sell smokes -- and noted on the window Newports selling for $7.72 per pack. Other big brands like MArlboro for more like $7.50. People still smoke at that price. I see people walk up to the counter at the Speedway and buy a carton (10 packs) for $75.
I can't wait to see what happens when they go over a dollar.