New York City's famous branded condoms—available for free in a bodega or bar near you—are being smuggled and sold at pharmacies in the Dominican Republic. Think of this as you stare in awe at the handsome sum you're paying in city taxes today.
The Daily News headed to the small seaside town of Las Galeras for some good old-fashioned gumshoe journalism, where they discovered the NYC Condoms being sold for around 50 cents each—a steal compared to Durex condoms, which run around a dollar per rubber.
The city's health department hands out around 38 million such condoms each year, with a new, larger "KYNG" size newly available as well. The packaging also underwent a recent redesign. The city's contract with condom manufacturer Ansell is set for five years at a total cost of $5.7 million, though officials say the financial blow of smuggled condoms isn't all that severe. "We estimate that the lost condoms are a very small percentage of overall distribution,” a spokesperson for the Health Department told the tabloid.
If the condoms have to leave New York, Manhattan Councilman Corey Johnson says he at least hopes "people are using them." Fingers crossed that residents of the DR are more adept at disposing of their crumpled contraceptives than we are.
