Day 26- Doing some Arithmetic.

I hadn't recently considered the math of chewing tobacco. I mean -- I know what it costs to buy a can of chew. That's not hard to think about but to really understand the mathematics involved? Not even close, no one thinks about that stuff.

I purchased chew at Quick Trip for approximately $40 a roll thus translating to $4 per can. To buy it individually at a convenience store would cost nearly $6 per can, unless it were on “sale” or on “special”. If I chewed exactly 1 can per day that would translate to exactly 365 cans per year which equals $1460 plus tax which equals about $1550 at an average sales tax of 6%.

Then there is the “while I’m here” factor. What’s that you ask? This factor references, “While I’m here I should get something to drink.” “Oh, while I’m here I should get something to eat and while here I should get something for later.” So $2.50 for a couple pops, $5 - $7 for food or junk rather. So let’s say for argument’s sake it cost an additional $10 with tax which would manifest itself into my wallet at least once per week. Thus, 365 cans divided by 10 cans per roll = 36.5 which translates to an additional 37 purchases times $10 which = $370. So now we are at $1550 + $370 = $1900 approx.

Now let’s factor time, it takes 10 minutes per purchase on average. 10 minutes times 37 purchases is about 370 minutes. Multiply that by a standard rate for a carpenter of $25 / hour = Another $154. Thus bringing the grand total to $2070.

To recap we have:      $1550 – Chew

                                $370 – Additional purchases

                                $150 – Lost time

                                $2070 Grand total

This is of course averaged and approximated throughout the year.

To put this total into perspective, a monthly average = $172.50 per month. My used car payment is only $158 per month.

There were some days I would use more than a can of chew per day. There would be some days that I would use less. Surprisingly I never graduated to any higher level of consumption. In addition, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who chewed more than I did either.