A sign of the times -- "loosies," cigarettes sold singly, 75 cents each or two for $1:
Itinerant cigarette vendors have long been a fixture in some parts of the city, like bodegas that sell individual cigarettes in violation of state law. But with cigarette prices up and the number of smoke-friendly places down, the black market for loosies is now thriving on the streets.
The administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has outlawed smoking in restaurants, bars and playgrounds, and outside hospital entrances. Even city parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas are now off limits to smokers. Then there have been successive rounds of taxes — the most recent one, a $1.60 rise in the state tax in July — that raised the price of a pack of cigarettes to $12.50 at many Midtown newsstands.
“The tax went up, and we started selling 10 times as much,” Mr. Warner said. “Bloomberg thinks he's stopping people from smoking. He's just turning them onto loosies.”
I actually saw this here a couple of years ago, at a liquor store downtown. And there's a store in town (not a major supermarket) where you can buy an individual sleeve of crackers instead of a box of four. As inflation heats up and salaries stay stagnant, wha's next? Bread by the slice? (Slicies!)
