Monopoly, but just not the board game! Posted by Katja on Nov 15, 2011 in Culture, Living in Sweden
As many, if not all of you know, Sweden has a strict monopoly on its alcohol sales. It is only “Systembolaget”, the name of the organization, that is allowed to sell alcohol over 3,5% in all of Sweden.
There are a total of 416 stores and 508 agents who are allowed to sell alcohol.
When talking about alcohol in Sweden many people believe that, were the monopoly to be taken away, the consumption of alcohol would increase enormously and would be a huge cost to society. Others counter and say that the only reason we still have a monopoly on products such as alcohol is for the government to have a big source of income. And that it wouldn’t really matter at all if people were able to buy alcoholic beverages in supermarkets as they do with other products.
Many people who have immigrated to Sweden find it completely ridiculous that there is only one or two stores in a whole city where you can purchase alcohol. Not to mention that on red days Systembolaget is closed. During Halloween for example, all of Systembolaget’s stores in Sweden were closed. People who were planning on partying were extremely frustrated that they had forgotten to buy a lot of spirits the day before and had to settle for low percentage drinks from grocery stores instead.
On Systembolagets homepage they have published a short video on their stance on what were to happen if the monopoly was removed. The video is only about 1,5 minutes and in english so it is well worth a look.
http://www.systembolagetkampanj.se/forskarrapport_en/
There is also a Swedish version for those of you who want to practice you swedish. The two versions are almost identical apart from the fact that they are in different languages. There is also the possibility of subtitles so you can hang along a little more.
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Comments:
Nikki:
This is the only thing I have a problem with in Sweden. It must be so frustrating!
Steve:
Your opening paragraph is not entirely correct. Supermarkets and other stores can sell beer and cider containing up to 3.5% alcohol. Wine and spirits are only available at Systembolaget, along with beer and cider that is stronger than 3.5%.
Katja:
I’m terribly sorry, you’re completely right. I’ll correct it straight away!
Ekaterina:
I like the Systembolaget and the control that it offers on the consumption of alcohol. There are minimal inconveniences and it just forces people to be a bit less last-minute… I have to say that I wasn’t suprised to find such a monopoly there because it is basically the same in Québec (we have higher percentage beers sold in grocery stores though).
Natasza:
My fellow Swede told me that people would immediately get all drunk if the government gets rid of Systembolaget, because they would lose the control 😛 But this particular thing is rather funny, sounds almost commy, with people waiting in lines to get their beverages 😉