Minimum alcohol price introduced in Scotland

ClaretAndJew · Post by **ClaretAndJew** » Tue May 01, 2018 8:27 am

As of today there's been an introduction of a minimum unit price of 50p per unit in Scotland to try and combat the abuse of low cost alcohol abuse. A bottle of Frosty Jacks for example is now costing £11.25.

A good initiative or will those who have alcohol problems now going to go extra lengths to get a bottle such as sacrificing a meal or stealing etc.

Diesel · Post by **Diesel** » Tue May 01, 2018 8:29 am

Prohibition?

Goobs · Post by **Goobs** » Tue May 01, 2018 8:30 am

Option B

No Ney Never · Post by **No Ney Never** » Tue May 01, 2018 8:39 am

Good news for the off licence trade just over the border in England.

MACCA · Post by **MACCA** » Tue May 01, 2018 8:42 am

They'll just turn to smack, far cheaper...

ElectroClaret · Post by **ElectroClaret** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:18 am

Home brewing.

starting_11 · Post by **starting_11** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:25 am

How many people are now going to end up in A&E with posioning by drinking counterfeit spirits?

How many people who like a sup of a nice 7% IPA and don't get ******* leathered now have to pay more for drinking quality stuff?

Absolute shambles of a policy, I hope this is Sturgeons poll tax and it hits her hard.

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:38 am

This should never happen. Why?
People with drink problems will just pay the higher price - it is NOT a deterrent.
It yet again punishes the less well off as those with money will not be affected.
It punishes the vast majority of people who do not have a drink problem.
Nothing should be controlled by money because again it punishes the less well off.
If it were introduced here would it be applied to the house of commons heavily subsidised bars?
I honestly don't know but who is getting the extra? Is it yet another tax or will the retailers make a killing?

And yes I like a drink (wine mainly) so I declare a vested interest.

ClaretAndJew · Post by **ClaretAndJew** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:52 am

The profits go straight to the retailers, it is not a tax.

It doesn't really effect the top shelf stuff, though does add some on but not a massive amount. The only time it will affect more pricey stuff is when they do discounts such as 3 for X amount or whatever.

Funkydrummer · Post by **Funkydrummer** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:55 am

Hooch soon to be the tipple of choice.

You could say, "Hooch mon"

I'll get my coat !!!!

ayrshireclaret83 · Post by **ayrshireclaret83** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:23 am

Strongbow 18 cans was 12 now 19.90

Most spirits went from 16 a litre to 20

ayrshireclaret83 · Post by **ayrshireclaret83** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:25 am

Although the more annoying part is that my 10% off for working for a supermarket no longer works on ANY alcohol used to work on beer and wine but no more

Dom · Post by **Dom** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:27 am

How will they regulate the likes of Amazon who might send from a distribution centre outside of Scotland?

Any Scotsman looking in who wants to make cider without any complicated setup - https://delishably.com/beverages/how-to ... -equipment" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Requires - Apple juice & baking yeast.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:28 am

Many alcohol products already cost more than 50p a unit, so consumers may find the drinks they buy at bars, restaurants and shops will cost the same as they did before.

However, cheaper drinks with high alcohol content will become more expensive.

Examples:

Frosty Jack’s 3L bottle - was £3.59, now £11.25

Diamond White 2L bottle - was £3.79, now £7.50

Whisky 70CL bottle - Minimum of £14

Four 440ml cans of 5% strength lager - £4.40 (same price as usual then)

Blossom Hill 75CL bottle - £4.31 (same price as usual then)

Burnley Ace · Post by **Burnley Ace** » Tue May 01, 2018 12:09 pm

If a corner shop in Glasgow set itself up as a distribution centre for a “wine club” (like Laithwaites without the quality) and the orders/money was paid electronically to the warehouse in Carlisle, would it be English price?

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Tue May 01, 2018 12:11 pm

Wine won't be affected, as it is already priced at above 50p per unit.

Most drinks which normal people drink won't be affected.

Pstotto · Post by **Pstotto** » Tue May 01, 2018 12:28 pm

They are normal people UTB, they're just desperate folk because life is desperate for so many. Depriving them of their only solace won't help those battered and already crushed.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Tue May 01, 2018 12:30 pm

They're not depriving them of their only solace, a bottle of wine will still only be £4.31.

Pstotto · Post by **Pstotto** » Tue May 01, 2018 12:32 pm

Oh well that's something...

LS7 · Post by **LS7** » Tue May 01, 2018 2:19 pm

Something has to be done - if you look at the state of people - and this is a good start.

ElectroClaret · Post by **ElectroClaret** » Tue May 01, 2018 2:24 pm

Lidl do an excellent Cote du Rhone and an equally good Merlot
for less than a fiver each.

So if the price of those ain't gonna change, I'd recommend
they tuck into those.

Sorted. (hic)

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Tue May 01, 2018 2:40 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:Wine won't be affected, as it is already priced at above 50p per unit.

Most drinks which normal people drink won't be affected.

Unfortunately this is wrong. Our wine of choice (mainly) is a 13% Chardonay from Asda, usually priced at £4 per bottle. There are 10 units in a bottle of 13% wine. It doesn't take Einstein to work out a 25% increase in that. We rarely pay £5 per bottle for any wine and we usually look for 12.5% plus (not because of the alcohol content per se but because it actually tastes nicer) so if it were introduced here it would put up the cost of our drinking by 20/25% depending on the alcohol content.
Given that we don't smoke and have long since given up anything 'slightly illegal' I have to ask why we should pay more for our only vice just because someone has decided that those with no willpower should be protected from themselves?
For anyone who thinks it isn't a tax please remember that all alcohol is subject to VAT (and there is a lot of alcohol consumed in England) so even if the extra is going to the retailer a portion is going to the government.
This is a bad idea on every level given that it's original intention is to stop alcohol abuse, and it just won't.

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Tue May 01, 2018 2:52 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:They're not depriving them of their only solace, a bottle of wine will still only be £4.31.

A 13% bottle of wine contains 10 units (actually slightly over). Decent wines tend to be of higher volume (12% plus). £4.31 would be the minimum price for a bottle at 11.5%, which is probably what has been quoted by the supporters of this idea to make it seem more palatable. I personally, and no wine drinker I know, would usually buy a bottle at 11.5% as it is usually 'plonk'. The REALITY is that a half decent bottle would cost a good deal more than £4.31 and a 13% bottle would be over £5.

Oh I forgot, it's up the beehole.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Tue May 01, 2018 2:54 pm

A half decent bottle of wine will not be affected, as it is priced over 50p per unit.

hampsteadclaret · Post by **hampsteadclaret** » Tue May 01, 2018 3:03 pm

There's a few places I know, that need a maximum price sticking on them.

Lord Beamish · Post by **Lord Beamish** » Tue May 01, 2018 4:22 pm

Will 8 Ace still be one forteh nine?

KeighleyClaret · Post by **KeighleyClaret** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:01 pm

Research shows very clearly that alcohol consumption is directly related to price. You may not like this but it is absolutely true.

The Booze companies have fought tooth and nail to stop this, so clearly they believe it will hit their output.

Far from being a shambles, it has been a principled and determined effort to do the right thing.

mdd2 · Post by **mdd2** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:42 pm

Not just price KC but availability which is why licensing laws were brought in during WW1 but Mr Blair thought that 80 years on Anglo-Saxon man had developed into a Continental drinker rather than getting hammered at the first opportunity.
Sadly problem drinkers will remain problem drinkers but hopefully in the future fewer will become addicted.
All we need now is to introduce this in England and try and reduce outlets that sell the stuff.

mdd2 · Post by **mdd2** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:50 pm

Pstotto wrote:They are normal people UTB, they're just desperate folk because life is desperate for so many. Depriving them of their only solace won't help those battered and already crushed.

It is often the other way round- life is desperate because of drink.

Pstotto · Post by **Pstotto** » Tue May 01, 2018 10:52 pm

Maybe so, but if one gets to an addictive state, pushing the price up is a funny psychology. It's making a game out of something. The man on the dole (for example) alone is now not only excluded but subjected to the psychology of those who exclude him, no?

mdd2 · Post by **mdd2** » Tue May 01, 2018 11:05 pm

I agree it will not help those who are already addicted. I can go back 50 years and over those years problems from alcohol have got more and more common parri passu the availability and price of alcohol. By price the relative price. It is now cheaper and more available than at anytime. Result more alcohol drunk and more addicts.
This measure (pardon the pun) will hopefully reduce consumption and reduce the number of people who become addicted.It won't help those already addicted-if they could control their drinking they wouldn't be alcoholics
This is no different from the policies to reduce tobacco abuse and this has been very successful by price increases together with curbing advertising and availabitiy etc.
And I do not think this is a game-far more serious than that
Alcohol is a major health problem (as of course is obesity-hence the sugar tax).

tiger76 · Post by **tiger76** » Tue May 01, 2018 11:42 pm

My father works in a distillery and the Scotch Whisky Association are up in arms about this policy,they fought tooth and nail in the courts but ultimately lost.As a teetotaller myself i am not affected by this change,but i'm not convinced this sledgehammer approach will pay dividends.If someone has an addiction they will find the money to fund their habit,it's possible that petty crime may increase north of the border.

bob-the-scutter · Post by **bob-the-scutter** » Tue May 01, 2018 11:52 pm

Can I sell my home made White Lightening on Mc eBay?

BleedingClaret · Post by **BleedingClaret** » Wed May 02, 2018 8:59 am

Cue the cross border raids

TheFamilyCat · Post by **TheFamilyCat** » Wed May 02, 2018 12:49 pm

I saw that Buckfast will stay the same price so the Jocks will be happy enough, won't they?

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Wed May 02, 2018 12:57 pm

There should be a dress code and ban men wearing skirts squeezing a cat with a tube up it backside.

Top Claret · Post by **Top Claret** » Wed May 02, 2018 12:59 pm

Sounds like the nanny state is grabbing the jock drinker by the ******** and trying to squeeze the poor sweaty for more tax.
It won't make any difference the usual **** pots will still be staggering around Govern and the Gorbals and the poor working man and woman, will just be screwed even more

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Wed May 02, 2018 1:04 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:A half decent bottle of wine will not be affected, as it is priced over 50p per unit.

Yes it WOULD. See my post above for a breakdown. Either you are rubbish at maths or you have never drank 'decent' wine. Since when did just over 10 units cost £4.31 at 50p per unit? There are a number of decent wines available at the main super markets priced at less than £5 and many at around £4. Yellowood for example, a very decent and very palatable wine, is 13% and is regularly available at Asda for £4, the new price if introduced would make it over £5. How, in your world, would this constitute no increase? It's actually over £1 over bottle increase and represents 25% top up.

Having said that your are UTB so I don't know why I bother.

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Wed May 02, 2018 1:30 pm

It might get people going back to the pubs and drinking socially, rather than drinking shite at home on their own.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:03 pm

houseboy wrote:Yes it WOULD. See my post above for a breakdown. Either you are rubbish at maths or you have never drank 'decent' wine. Since when did just over 10 units cost £4.31 at 50p per unit? There are a number of decent wines available at the main super markets priced at less than £5 and many at around £4. Yellowood for example, a very decent and very palatable wine, is 13% and is regularly available at Asda for £4, the new price if introduced would make it over £5. How, in your world, would this constitute no increase? It's actually over £1 over bottle increase and represents 25% top up.

Having said that your are UTB so I don't know why I bother.

Your classification of a decent bottle of wine is a £4 Asda Chardonnay.

I mean an actual decent bottle of wine.

duncandisorderly · Post by **duncandisorderly** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:15 pm

Even if £4 could buy you a 'decent' bottle of wine, then unless you have a bottle a day then that extra pound is neither here nor there.

Zugunruhe · Post by **Zugunruhe** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:22 pm

mdd2 wrote:This is no different from the policies to reduce tobacco abuse and this has been very successful by price increases together with curbing advertising and availability etc.

I beg to differ. There is a big difference. Moderate drinking isn't classed as a killer. The same can't be said for moderate smoking.

I'm against minimum alcohol pricing because it hits those moderate drinkers who can least afford the increase. Middle class drinkers will not be hit, but those on low wages will be. It boils my p1ss, to be honest.

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:24 pm

The working class don't have to drink high strength cider.

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:25 pm

UpTheBeehole wrote:Your classification of a decent bottle of wine is a £4 Asda Chardonnay.

I mean an actual decent bottle of wine.

And you obviously enjoy being ripped off. If you shop around you can get very good wines inexpensively unless you are a wine snob who thinks that nothing under £7 will do. I suppose you think they should still have a cork while the rest of the world has moved on. Certain wines at Asda that can be purchased at well under £5 would cost you upwards of £7 or more at other places, the fact that they have the buying power to re-sell at reasonable prices does not alter the quality of the wine, how do you think Laithwaites can sell £20 bottles at around £10? Buying power is an amazing leveller and only those who WANT to pay more in the misguided thought that it must be better think otherwise.

Oh, and it's not a bottle of Asda Chardonnay, it's a bottle of Chardonnay at Asda, a world of difference.

Still you are UTB.

claretonthecoast1882 · Post by **claretonthecoast1882** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:28 pm

houseboy wrote:And you obviously enjoy being ripped off. If you shop around you can get very good wines inexpensively unless you are a wine snob who thinks that nothing under £7 will do. I suppose you think they should still have a cork while the rest of the world has moved on. Certain wines at Asda that can be purchased at well under £5 would cost you upwards of £7 or more at other places, the fact that they have the buying power to re-sell at reasonable prices does not alter the quality of the wine, how do you think Laithwaites can sell £20 bottles at around £10? Buying power is an amazing leveller and only those who WANT to pay more in the misguided thought that it must be better think otherwise.

Oh, and it's not a bottle of Asda Chardonnay, it's a bottle of Chardonnay at Asda, a world of difference.

Still you are UTB.

Do you really think the clown is trying to make out he drinks £7 bottles of wine, try £70 to match on his online fake persona.

Steve1956 · Post by **Steve1956** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:29 pm

ayrshireclaret83 wrote:Although the more annoying part is that my 10% off for working for a supermarket no longer works on ANY alcohol used to work on beer and wine but no more

Yea,I heard this,I work for the about to become Second biggest supermarket in the UK,I guy at work tried to use his discount card to buy alcohol and it didn't give him hie 10%, going to hit me when wine is on for 20% off for six bottles +my 10%

,what's going on?

UpTheBeehole · Post by **UpTheBeehole** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:32 pm

houseboy wrote:And you obviously enjoy being ripped off. If you shop around you can get very good wines inexpensively unless you are a wine snob who thinks that nothing under £7 will do. I suppose you think they should still have a cork while the rest of the world has moved on. Certain wines at Asda that can be purchased at well under £5 would cost you upwards of £7 or more at other places, the fact that they have the buying power to re-sell at reasonable prices does not alter the quality of the wine, how do you think Laithwaites can sell £20 bottles at around £10? Buying power is an amazing leveller and only those who WANT to pay more in the misguided thought that it must be better think otherwise.

Oh, and it's not a bottle of Asda Chardonnay, it's a bottle of Chardonnay at Asda, a world of difference.

Still you are UTB.

houseboy · Post by **houseboy** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:38 pm

claretonthecoast1882 wrote:Do you really think the clown is trying to make out he drinks £7 bottles of wine, try £70 to match on his online fake persona.

Nah, not at all mate. He is a bit of a prat really and it amuses me to wind him up sometimes. If I'm in the mood I can tolerate a bit of an argument with him but it's a kind of Pythonesque 'is this the 5 minute argument or the full half hour' situation. I used to be on another site with a much worse troll who had about 60 (really) different user names and they were all too recognisable. You couldn't win an argument with him because every time you got the better of him he changed the subject. All very sad really. But it was fun to have a banter with him occasionally. He eventually got that bad nobody would speak to him at all then he started creating ever more names to get a reply, it's all attention seeking really. UTB is not dissimilar but nowhere near as bad really.

ElectroClaret · Post by **ElectroClaret** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:39 pm

Zugunruhe wrote:I beg to differ. There is a big difference. Moderate drinking isn't classed as a killer. The same can't be said for moderate smoking.

Surely four or five pints of cider would be classed as one of your "five a day"? Being apples.

And everyone has a go at fags, but surely they're vegetation? So five or six Marlboros might qualify.

Tall Paul · Post by **Tall Paul** » Wed May 02, 2018 2:41 pm

ElectroClaret wrote:And everyone has a go at fags, but surely they're vegetation? So five or six Marlboros might qualify.

Only if you eat them.