Swiss people are voting about alcohol sale in largest Supermarket chain

Now here's something you don't hear every day.

I have been talking about democracy in Switzerland before. In the past, the citizens got a say in becoming a UN member, opting out of having an army or making abortion legal.

Last year we got to vote on gay marriage and pandemic measurements.

In Switzerland we have two major supermarket chains: Coop and Migros. Many people claim you have to decide which team you're on, you can't shop at both places. 

I have my favourite items in both, and according to my shopping list, traffic and day of the week, I frequent one or the other. 

If I had to say which one is closer to my heart, however, I would have to say, Migros, and one reason for it is purely sentimental: it's the Migros van. 

This picture was taken in 2016 when Migros rented out the fun park for its customers

Gottlieb Duttweiler, Migros' founder, started this service in 1925, it was to give people who lived in remote villages and who had no car, the opportunity to get groceries. In the beginning, they only sold six items: coffee, sugar, pasta, rice, coconut fat and soap. Over the years, the range expanded steadily.

On a weekly basis the bus stopped in various neighborhood streets. Ours came to Parkstrasse, which is a 5 minutes' walk from where I grew up. So on van shopping day (Wednesdays for us), people would come out of their houses with their grocery lists and large shopping bags at hand and waited for the bus to arrive.

Of course there was not much space in the van, and not everybody could go in at the same time, so it was usually an opportunity to chat with people from the neighborhood and for the kids to run around and play. Good times! 

Back in the 1920s, the retail trade was strongly characterized by cartels, and Duttweiler wanted to counteract this fact. Most people didn't have enough money to feed their families. Given this situation and due to widespread "devastating liquor habits," Duttweiler wanted to protect people from poverty, which was also caused by alcohol abuse.

This was the original reason for Migros to never sell any alcoholic beverages at their grocery stores or restaurants.

Duttweiler's activities were not welcomed by opponents, even sabotaged; associations decided to block deliveries and threatened their members with boycotts if they continued to supply Migros. He shrugged and imported his goods for a while.

Duttweiler and his helpers ran the Migros van business for a good 15 years while in parallel they were building stores in different Swiss areas. They were the very first self-service stores in Switzerland. He had learned about this concept during business trips to the U.S., and although he was concerned that the personal contact between customers and sales staff might be lost, he took a chance on the venture.

In 1941 he transformed his privately owned companies into ten regional cooperatives that to this day still exist. In my area it's called "Migros Genossenschaft Aare." Aare stands for our local river.

In 1948 Duttweiler got some pressure to rethink alcohol sale in his stores, and he let the cooperative members vote on whether wine should be included in the Migros range. A majority of 54.2% rejected this at the time. 

Of course this didn't happen in person. It was an "Urabstimmung" = strike ballot. Not unlike federal voting I told you about in my post about democracy, they will send you a voter's card as well as a chocolate bar as a thank you for your participation. Who will disagree with their way of doing business..?

Duttweiler died in 1962, but not without leaving behind a lasting legacy that I believe has been very well preserved.

Fast forward to 2022. 

Today, about 2.3 million people (out of the 8.6 million total citizens in Switzerland) are members of the Migros cooperative and hold a free share that allows them to vote at the general assembly. I am one of them.

So in early June, we'll get to vote - again - on whether or not Migros should offer alcoholic beverages in their stores in the future. To motivate its members to vote and to encourage discussion, Migros is accompanying the democratic decision-making process with a campaign. The Migros beer serves as a symbol. Depending on the outcome of the vote, the supermarkets of the regional cooperatives will include the Migros beer "Oui" (French for YES) with alcohol or the alcohol-free "Non" (NO) in their range.

What are some of the official pros and cons?

PROS

• Customer needs: Customers prefer to buy everything in a single place. Many would also like to buy alcohol at Migros - without unnecessary detours to other stores.
• Changing times: When the sales ban was introduced around 100 years ago, conditions in Switzerland were completely different. In the meantime, times have changed and the sales ban is no longer in keeping with the times. Even "Dutti" himself was open to it and had a vote on wine sales in 1948.
• Responsibility: As a responsible company, Migros would offer alcoholic beverages with a sense of proportion and with regional roots.
• Enjoyment: Alcohol is usually consumed sensibly as a stimulant - unlike 100 years ago, when there was no social insurance. Today, the ban seems like patronizing the customers.
• Credibility: Today, Migros already sells alcohol in its online supermarket, at Denner and Migrolino. Alcoholic beverages in the stores are therefore only logical and consistent.
• Competition: Since it is not allowed to offer alcohol in stores, unlike its domestic and foreign competitors, Migros is at a disadvantage compared to other retailers. 

CONS

• Identity: Many people identify with Migros precisely because it does not sell alcohol. By selling alcohol, Migros would give up a unique selling point and become more and more like any other company.
• Tradition: If Migros were to sell alcohol in the future, it would be disregarding the will of its founder Gottlieb Duttweiler, who introduced the ban in 1928.
• Danger of addiction: If more alcohol is offered in Switzerland, this will promote consumption and thus increase the health risks for the population. The Migros stores are the only place where people with alcoholism or abstinence can still shop without being tempted to buy alcohol.
• Today's Migros offer: Migros itself offers enough options to buy alcoholic beverages apart from in its own stores. For example, in the branches of Denner, Migrolino or at Migros Online.
• Economic thinking: Migros only wants to make more sales with the sale of alcohol, as many other companies do.
• Assortment: If alcoholic beverages are sold in addition, the rest of the assortment must be reduced in smaller stores.

What do I think?

I have to say, I am conflicted, and writing about it is supposed to help me structuring my thoughts. 

In the arguments there is talk about Denner, Migrolino and others. 

Denner is a discount chain that was acquired by Migros in 2007. Their concept is to not make unnecessary investments in interior design, and that's how the stores look: functional. Customers come here for a limited, but inexpensive range of products, including alcoholic beverages. 

Migrolino is a chain of convenience stores (wholly owned by Migros) at train stations, gas stations and other locations. Their competitive advantage is their extended opening hours (until 10pm or even midnight, open on Sundays - unlike in other countries, in Switzerland regular shops are closed by law on Sundays). 

There are other companies that belong to the Migros group that sell alcohol as well: Globus, the high end department store, and the Migros online shop.

With these main pillars, Migros gives its customers more than enough opportunity to source alcohol. Let's keep the supermarkets and restaurants clean. 

Let's talk about the restaurants for a minute. Today the clientele ranges from housewives to pensioners, craftsmen and students. They come here for coffee, a sandwich, a warm lunch or dessert. 

Will the type of guests (and the mood) change once you start serving beer? What's next, will we have the discussion of allowing tobacco sale? (Which has also been a no-no at Migros, but is a welcome revenue source at above mentioned Denner and Migrolino.)

It's gross enough that customers keep smoking at every store entrance and in the parking garage. 

On the other hand, while I am extremely sympathetic about providing alcoholics struggling with staying sober, a grocery store that keeps temptation away, let's be honest, if you want a beer, you will walk the extra few steps either to the closest Denner, and they are usually super close, like on the same compound, across the street or a block away. Competitors like Coop, Volg and other grocery stores are not far away either.

Will alcohol sale increase the overall consumption, or will consumption simply be divided among several suppliers, i.e. Denner will be weakened?

While I am a fan of convenience in many aspects of life, I am okay with not buying a bottle of wine on my regular grocery run. It makes it more special. 

There is an argument stating "back then we didn't have any social securities, but this has changed now". True. Back in the days when you spent your paycheck on liquor, and as a mid- or long term consequence, lost your job, you and your loved ones were scr**ed. Today we have these nice institutions like loss of wages insurance due to illness, unemployment benefits, welfare and the like. 

Should availability of alcohol been taken lightly just because we have the money to cushion the economic consequences of alcoholism? BTW, ironically, a huge chunk or our social securities is financed by alcohol and tobacco tax revenues. Go figure.

Here are some numbers:

How many people abuse alcohol?

• Around one in five people in Switzerland drink alcohol abusively; that is, they regularly drink too much, too often or at the wrong time.
• Almost 5% of the population is a chronic high-risk drinker, i.e. drinks too much too often.
• Nearly 16% of the population (20.7% for men, 11.1% for women) has spotty high-risk consumption.
• An estimated 250,000 to 300,000 people in Switzerland are dependent on alcohol. This does not seem a lot of people, but keep in mind our total population is only 8.6 million, which makes the 300,000 alcoholics 3.5% of the population. Add to that the 20% who "drink abusively", and we're at a quarter of the inhabitants. 
• Approximately every third person in Switzerland has at least one person with alcohol problems in their environment, which increases the percentage of people with alcohol challenges to a third of the population. 

How much does alcohol consumption cost the national economy?

• Alcohol abuse causes annual costs of around 2.8 billion Swiss francs, that's about the equivalent in USD.
• The largest part is borne by the economy in the form of productivity losses: An estimated CHF 2.1 billion are incurred due to premature death, illness or early retirement.
• Direct healthcare costs amount to CHF 477 million. They are incurred in the treatment of alcohol-related diseases, accidents and addiction treatment.
• Another 215 million francs are costs in law enforcement (police, judiciary and prosecution).

How many people die in Switzerland because of alcohol consumption?

• In 2017, alcohol caused 1553 deaths among people aged 15 to 74 in Switzerland 
• The share of alcohol-related deaths in all deaths is stable at around 10% for men over all measurement years, and has decreased slightly from 6% to 5% for women. 
• Alcohol is involved in one in eight traffic accidents in Switzerland that result in death or serious injury. 
• On weekend nights, it is even every second accident

What headlines can we read on the Swiss police's website today?

• On Saturday evening, a traffic accident occurred on Bahntalstrasse in Neuhausen am Rheinfall. The drunk driver injured four people and left the scene of the accident in breach of duty.
• An intoxicated tractor driver collided with an open railroad crossing and the signalization in Münchwilen on Saturday. The 60-year-old was not injured. Rail traffic was interrupted for about four hours.
• Early Saturday morning, a car driver had an accident on the Seetalstrasse in Boniswil. The unresponsive driver was found to be under the influence of alcohol. He was taken to hospital by ambulance.
• A heavily intoxicated motorist caused a self-inflicted accident in Uerschhausen on Friday evening. The 30-year-old motorist was driving on Nussbaumerstrasse shortly after 10 p.m. when he lost control of his vehicle and collided with a retaining wall and a manure pile on the forecourt of a farm. Because the breath sample of the Swiss driver showed a value of 1.5 mg/l, his driver's license was confiscated. Talk about a crappy night.

Photo Credit: Kantonspolizei Aargau

Looking at these facts (and talking to my teenage son) make my decision easy: 

Don't promote or encourage alcohol sale any further than it is already allowed. 

In Switzerland, spirits may not be sold to young people under the age of 18; beer and wine may not be sold to those under 16. Retail and catering sales staff comply with the legal age limits in four out of five cases.

With the closure of restaurants and the ban on public events in the wake of the Covid 19 protection measures, the leisure and consumption behavior of young people has also changed. Industry experts assume (and test purchases, conducted by the "Blue Cross", an addiction help association, confirm) that since then more young people have been obtaining alcohol via the Internet. Here, the protection of minors is hardly enforced at present. 

So, here's my voting card.

What are your thoughts on this? What is the general situation like where you live?