I

t is common practice in Indonesia that cigarettes are sold above their actual retail price. However, is it legal?

This scam of customers impacts the reputation and regulations of the government.

I have been in many countries and never ever paid more for a pack of cigarettes as was indicated on the tax seal!

For some background information, each pack of cigarette has its retail price printed on its tax seal. This price includes all costs/taxes.

Now, the current practice by reputable retailers is to retail a pack of a certain brand of cigarettes for up to Rp 19,500 where the tax seal indicates a retail price of Rp 12,300. Thus, the retailer is overcharging its customers by almost 60 percent in this case! How is this justified?

Per pack the overcharge might seems minor (well, 60 percent overcharge isn'€™t that small) but translate this to the millions of packs being purchased. Isn'€™t there consumer protection or regulations in place to take care this?

Surely, millions of Indonesian smokers would dare an answer, action and transparency on this matter.

Tom
Jakarta