I was intrigued to read a full page ad in todays Dagens Nyheter from the Brewers of Europe and Sveriges Bryggerier.
It read with the above headline and then:
- Despite one of the worlds highest alcohol taxes Swedes dont drink more or less than the rest of Europe.
- More than 30% of the alcohol we consume in Sweden is NOT bought at the Swedish retail monopoly Systembolaget or at the restaurants
- Criminal gangs and persons supply Swedish teenagers with alcohol 24 hours a day. Without controlling legal age and offering lower prices than Systembolaget does.
- Swedish alcohol policy has created a black market where alcohol is available without any control.
Of course this is an effort by the Breweries to liberalise the market so they can achieve more sales through more sources. This does make a mockery of some of their statements above as a more liberal alcohol policy in UK has not eradicated the sale of booze to kids.
The Swedes love Systembolaget, for me its a relic of a Socialist era that should now be swept away and the choice given back to the consumer rather than the government.
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{ 9 comments }
I moved from Sweden when I was 19, thus I was never allowed to purchase alcohol from ‘Bolaget’.
I love it though. I can live with the restricted opening times and the sometimes long queues knowing that what Systembolaget offers is the best in the world. The assortiment is probably by far the best in the world. And if it turns out that your particular favourite drink is not there, you can in most cases just go ahead and order it.
This doesnt even compare to ordering your own beer, wine or whiskey from shady foreign websites.
I’m a big fan of czech beer and living in Holland doesn’t make that easy. It is more or less impossible to find anything but dutch, belgian, german and the occasional american “beer” (its mostly budweiser).
But okay, blame it on socialiasm, you blame anything else you personally don’t find that interesting on it anyway.
The reason why Systembolaget remains the way you now see it is not because of some socialist idea that people need to be controlled, most people in Sweden aren’t socialists anymore! No, the reason is the fact that Systembolaget is best alcohol shop in the world. And while the prices on the “base alcohol” like the cheapest beer or wine aren’t very low when compared to neighbouring countries, the prices of more festive and perhaps a bit stranger alcohol, and then especially beer, are very low! Also non-mainstream whiskey is cheaper in Sweden then for example Holland.
I started to follow your blog since I thought it was interesting to read a foreigners perspective on Swedish society, esp since you got a fondness for Hammarby. Tthe past few months however, it’s just been more and more of a bitter guy wondering what the hell he is doing in this communist shit place. Or so it seems at least. Oh, and the way you write stuff in your blog resembles propaganda very much.
You say you want to remove systembolaget so that the consumer is given a choice. Ironically enough, choice is EXACTLY what you get with Systembolaget.
Even specialized alcohol shops, like Gall & Gall here in Holland, is not even near having the same amount of expertise as the employees of Systembolaget has. Try going to a local shop here in NL, or any other part of Europe for that matter, and say that you’re going to serve this and this kind of meat for diner with this kind of sidedish and that kind of dessert, asking what they would recommend for drinks to that?
The answer would probably be something like “if the meat’s red, then i guess you should have a red wine… right?”
At least you got the part about Swedish people loving Systembolaget right. But as you can see, obviously for the very wrong reasons.
Hi Joakim
You are right this blog has evolved very much since the early days where everything was new and an adventure.
Back at the start I used to blog about things I experienced. Now I read a lot more Swedish, read DN and therefore am exposed to a lot of things that many foreigners choose not to be exposed to because they choose not to read the Swedish press.
I think you will find most foreigners pissed off with Systemet. Now I happen to agree with you there is plenty of choice and the staff are knowledgeable. However why I happen to think its Socialist is because we are not allowed to shop there when we want. Lets say I decide to knock up a steak (especially if I am cheering myself upbecause of another Hammarby debacle) on a Saturday night. If I haven’t planned ahead then I cant have a nice glass of red with it. Or if friends drop in and I have no booze in then I cant get any. That is the restriction of choice.
Another shocker is the fact that my nearest Systemet is at Gullmarsplan so 10-20 mins bus ride from my flat, thats a joke. Why not allow the Co-op opposite me to sell wine and spirits? Thats freedom of choice.
I also do not like the fact that I am restricted to Systemet. If Systembolaget is as good as you say Joakim then let it stand on its own two feet and compete in a free market.
There are many things I love about your country and I think there are plenty of posts on here that demonstrate that. If I didn’t like the place I would pack up and leave. My company has 25 offices all over the world so it wouldn’t be difficult but I really enjoy living in Sweden but that doesn’t mean I have to paint it a some kind of Utopia. There are good and bad in all countries.
Also Joakim there are still lots of the ‘Swedish model’ in operation – just looking at the whole rental situation in Stockholm for a classic example.
Of course Reinfeldt would like to sweep a lot of this away but he cant- He would jeopardise his chance of a second election victory if he went too far, I think he has learnt from Carl Bildt in that regard.
Ever since I’ve moved to Sweden I couldn’t avoid discussions about alcohol and systembolaget. In my first month I had to comment on that in my blog (in German), because it was such a BIG topic in all coversations. I really have the impression that systembolaget has a great deal of influence on how Swedish people (and immigrants) plan their freetime: around the opening hours of systembolaget!
Coming from a country where alcohol is available at any time to any price and where people are known for having the highest beer consume in the world (after the Czechs), I must say that alcohol plays a much bigger role in Swedish every day life than in Germany. I still can’t understand the fuss people make about it. However, people talking about it all the time has brought me to think about how to get cheap alcohol from Germany just to have some, because – as another typical thing in Sweden – people use to bring their own alcohol when they are invited to a party.
I just find the whole systembolaget issue peculiar, not annoying (in contrast to the rental situation).
This was really quite amusing, and very typcial.
Swedish people defending the monopoly on alcohol with tooth and nail since it’s the best thing since sliced bread (as they say).
Foreigners with experience from Sweden puzzled by
a) the fact that everyone in Sweden seem to love Systemet,
b) that they (Swedes) are convinced that it’s the best thing on earth and
c) that everyone in Sweden is so hung up about alcohol.
Archetypal.
Dara and Shane are just two of many.
@Joakim
Unfortunately you are deluded. You are simply wrong on much of what you say. For example, the wonderful selection at Systembolaget. It’s simply not true. Yes, perhaps they have a pretty good selection compared to many other shops. But there are other shops with better selection. And that’s actually a bit beside the point. The point is what is avialable on the market. If you don’t find what you want at your Albert Hein in Holland you go around the corner and buy in another shop, or another. And they have different selections. In the Systembolaget they sell 2000 different items. I Denmark, a much smaller country, it is estimated that they sell some 20 000 different wines…
And this thing about prices. Well it might be true that there are some good prices in Sweden (actually, very, very rarely). But it’s really beside the point. Or do you really think “good prices on a handful of exclusive wines” can be a good enough reason to have a monopoly? Oh, come on!
The only, yes the very only argument for a monopoly is that it is necessary, no, even crucial for “public health”. And that seems to have failed in Sweden. No one in the political establishment really dares to look at that question. Do we have a failed alcohol policy.
But judging for example from how foreign observers see the situation in Sweden (as well as how many Swedes see the “alcohol situation”) the Swedish policy certainly seems to be a failure. I live in France and it certainly seems we have less inebriated youngsters running amok on the streets, less “drunks in the parks” etc etc.
One can also look at consumption. Consumption in Sweden has gone up but in most other countries it has gone down. Successful alcohol policy?
Don’t think so.
But why do Swedes love the Systemet so much? Well, perhaps because they have a marketing budget of 25 million kronor per year. And you know that they are not spending it on marketing wines and spirits.
So in reality, they spend 25 million kronor annually on propaganda campaigns telling Swedes how wonderful Systembolaget is, how magnificent selection they have etc etc. And how terrible it would be with alcoholism, deaths, wife beatings etc if we didn’t have Systembolaget. (No, I’m not making this up. Really, I’m not.)
25 million kronor each year.
As a Sweden who has been living abroad for the last seven years I came back home for 8 months last year. Living abroad you get used to alcohol being availible at any hour everywhere. I didn’t find it that hard to get used to Systemet again and I do agree that they are very knowledgeble and that the selection (of wine not that much for beer) is generally good, further if there is something they do not have they are usually very helpful ordering it for you (and you can also hand back stuff which is good if you are organizing a big dinner). However, the main motivation for keeping the monopoly has been for health reasons, and simply I do not think it works. Returning home I realized how focused things are on alcohol and drinking and I think one of the reasons for this is because of Systemet we make it such a special thing, in the UK or in the US where I live now people do not seem to bother that much, beer is not that different from any other grocery you get. Of course its hard to change the monopoly, from what I remeber when the started being open on Saturdays there was a clear increas in domestic violence and that is clearly not worth me being able to pop down to the shop for a few tinnies whenever I feel like it. What needs to change is the attitude towards alcohol in Sweden and how that is done I am not sure, we all now that you are seen as a weirdo having a pint with your meal on a weekday but getting hammered on a Friday is not just normal it’s what you are supposed to do.
I live in Austria and if I had any of the cases above (the steak or friends visiting) I would have the same problem, because supermarkets close at 18 Saturdays, some close later during the week, but I wouldn’t want to buy wine there anyway.
)
The store Wein&Co closes rather late, but there aren’t many around, so Sweden is not the only country where it might be critical to buy alcohol any time. And government is red / black (socialist/people’s party
I think that turning it into a private company would make the selection decrease. There store called Wein&Co here in Austria has a lot of wines but Systemet has by far a lot more of brands/drinks. A private company sells where they get the highest margin. Systemet just sells almost everything.
I am glad this wouldn’t be an issue for me if I ever live in Sweden
Well, its effective, at least if we are to believe The Guardian wine critic:
http://swedish-notions.blogspot.com/2009/10/systembolaget-and-binge-drinking.html
Systembolaget is meant to protect public health and despite all the “impressions” people have about drinking habits of Swedes, Sweden is still second country with the lowest consumption of alcohol in Europe (right after Malta). Yes people drink a lot on fridays and young people binge drink but the total consumption is lower than in other countries and that’s something Systembolaget contributes to. Swedes are doing pretty well protecting public health. There is always something to be improved but I wouldn’t call the Swedish system a failure.
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