For Your Own Good

Systembolaget: annoyance or blessing?  Justin Chan requests a sober look at Sweden’s notorious alcohol monopoly. 

On Saturday afternoons, if you see students on the street looking defeated and forlorn, these poor souls have probably missed their chance to buy alcohol for the weekend.  That means no liquid courage to approach their secret crush; no liquid layer to ward off the cold night.

Ah, Systembolaget…

Which of these is easier to despise about this place: the exorbitant price for room temperature beer, or those unmistakable plastic bags which practically scream, “I’m getting wasted tonight”?  Only Swedes—good-natured to the last drop—can tolerate such an institution.

Yet, there is method to this madness.

Drinking is messy business.  The weekend reveler’s talents comprise of visiting hospitals, crashing cars, and damaging property.  This leaves the benevolent welfare state to pick up the tab for medical bills and sick days off of work.  Compounded with the loss of productivity from hungover employees and drinking, becomes a real cost to the system.

It seems that the Swedish rulers anticipated this problem, and—not about to let their generosity be exploited— pushed some of the cost onto their subjects.

The state’s weapon is Systembolaget, Sweden’s fearsome, two-headed hydra of enforced sobriety.  While one head suffocates the customers with miniscule opening hours, the other spews a stinging alcohol tax onto its hapless victims’ wallets.  Some southerly peasants are forced to flee to Denmark.

The ends justify the means, though.  Higher priced liquor decreases consumption, which the government hopes will lead to less harm.  Furthermore, the sizeable tax revenue is useful to the state, just in case any fellow racks up a hefty hospital bill or is unable to work a few days.

Quite simply, Systembolaget is a necessary evil that has Sweden’s interests at heart.  So go easy on them.  Not everything they do is annoying.  After all, they did design those cute store tags which list every drink’s country of origin, alcoholic content, and complementing foods.

Which is great, of course, since that’s obviously what we care about when shopping for booze.