I’m someone who likes a drink at the weekend — nothing excessive, just a few beers. Since the minimum unit pricing (MUP) came in, prices have gone up so much that I’ve started driving to England to stock up instead.
But here’s the weird bit: I end up buying more alcohol because I’m bulk buying to save money. £150 worth of beer in Scotland costs me around £100 in England. So now I’ve got way more drink in the house than usual.
The Scottish Government says MUP is saving 156 lives a year, and I get that. But we’ve got over 5 million people in Scotland. Meanwhile, millions of us are paying more for alcohol — even those who drink responsibly.
It feels like we’re being punished for something we’re not even doing wrong.
They haven’t banned alcohol — they’ve just made it more expensive. And that doesn’t stop problem drinking, it just pushes people like me into buying differently or drinking at home more often.
There has to be a better way than this. Support services, education, proper help — not just tax hikes and pricing people out.
Anyone else feel the same?
by montymck
35 comments
You’re not being punished, you’re making a choice.
MUP isn’t a tax. As far as I remember the Scottish government couldn’t create a tax, which would raise money for those services, so this was what was left.
As far as anecdotes go, I had a bit of a poor habit with alcohol about 18 months ago and the price of it was the biggest factor in me stopping.
1. How much does it cost you to drive down to England to bulk buy that booze, so how much are you actually saving?
2. It doesn’t push people to drink more often at home, the difference between buying beer to drink at home and the cost of a pint in a pub is slightly smaller, so instead encourages you to go out drinking more.
3. It’s the cheap crappy lager that’s mostly had it’s price increase, the difference between that and slightly more expensive craft beer of various sorts, usually locally produced beer, is now smaller, encourages people to try those more. More business to the smaller companies the better.
Nobody is “making” you buy it mate nor is it a “punishment”.
Its not just about saving lives its also about improving the health of the nation, the arguments your making are the exact same arguments that people made about the prices of cigarettes back in the day.
Personally i think its a good thing making it more expensive, i would say the fix here is to put a stop to special offers. I would actually like to see them making it more expensive for off-licences to sell alcohol and make it cheaper in pups to promote the pub trade.
Personally i made a bit of a change about a year ago, i now basically don’t buy any booze from the shops, if i want a drink i head to my local.
If your response to the cost of beer going up is driving down to England to bulk buy beer, you might be one of those people with a problem you’re talking about lol
Dog, I think you have a problem if this is your ‘solution’.
Just buy less beer. Why is this hard?
I’d certainly be happier with the price rise if I thought the extra money was going to the NHS or other support services.
As for changing behaviour, yeah I bought some spirits in bulk off Amazon so there’s more in the house. But I’m not drinking more.
It’s not just mup, in Scotland they outlawed promotions that incentivise you to buy more alcohol, like the 3 for £30 deal, or any bogof offers. It’s the same reason there’s no happy hours etc in Scotland anymore.
Driving to England to pick up booze seems problematic, that’s certainly a choice…
If you’re seriously driving to England to save a few quid on gallons of bevvy, you might want to think about speaking to someone about that, mate.
Your take on being punished and being pushed into drinking at home more often is ridiculous. You are drinking at home more often because you are bulk buying and always have alcohol available.
This is your choice, maybe consider cutting down and stop buying alcohol this would probably solve your problem?
Mate with all respect just because you buy 126 beers to take advantage of a good deal, doesn’t mean you need to drink that more often than you normally would. This is entirely a you problem. Personally I’d be content just buying 1 or 2 of those. Filling your basket like that is insane, unless that will stock you up for a few months.
You may not realise it, but you’re actually underlining why it works.
Driving to England to get cheaper alcohol is an added barrier that most people aren’t doing.
You’re driving to England to save £50 on beer 😂😂
As a now ex-alcoholic, who was trying to stop in the years around MUP coming in, I can absolutely say without a shred of doubt that MUP made my stopping drinking a bit easier. I couldn’t afford as much as I used to, so I drank less. MUP definitely was a few bricks in the wall I built.
But I realise I’m in a tiny minority with that position. If I hadn’t been trying to stop around that time, I would have just spent less on food, bills etc, and when I had money, a far greater percentage of it would have been spent on drink.
It’s hard to disagree with something that really did help me regain my life, but I do. Folk in my very particular position must be a miniscule amount. The vast majority of folk are sensible drinkers, and have been hit in the pocket unfairly. The committed alky will always find ways to get their fill. And the worst part about it, is that MUP is literally just more money in the brewers pocket.
Making the assumption OP is from the central belt, 200 mile round trip. Will be about £35 – £45 in petrol.
In order to save £50 in booze.
I don’t think it’s the saving you think it is.
Edit – basing this on Glasgow to Carlisle. But Edinburgh to Berwick is about half as far
Sorry but “I have to bin £150 instead of £100 for booze in Scotland” is something worthy of the world’s smallest violin. This is a non-problem next to the 156 lives it saves per year as you’ve mentioned elsewhere.
One of the arguments against BUP was that the type of people who would be most affected were also the type of people most likely to make bad budgeting/lifestyle decisions to accommodate the higher price.
A few folk have mentioned that it’s not a tax which is obviously true.
Id be more positive on the scheme if it WAS actually a tax with money going towards the government for alcohol recovery or NHS.
As it stands, it’s just a ‘Tesco makes more money’ scheme which is just silly.
But do you drink more, less, or the same? If you’re buying more to stock up it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re consuming more.
Seems like you may need to get some help with the drinking.
“ saving 156 lives a year, and I get that. But we’ve got over 5 million people in Scotland”
Found this genuinely funny whether it was intended to be or not.
MUP is part of a long-game to try and change our national attitude to drink. While we’re seeing a reduction in alcohol-harm already, the true measure of it will be felt by our children and grandchildren.
And other than yourself, almost noone will be driving across the wall for some booze. Most of us live far too far north for that to be viable.
If you’re suggesting that if there’s alcohol in the house you’ll drink it, you’re the reason there’s a minimum price law.
You’re making it about it you when it clearly isn’t about you. You chose to do these things. You acknowledged that it saves lives…so stop whinging.
Someone needs to have a lesson on statistics and sample sizes I think
Mate, are you okay?
Sure why not if you are passing through or going to be there anyway why not save £50. . But pretty much a false economy for most.
Taking the HMRC mileage rate of 45p which covers fuel, wear etc etc. You’d need to be closer than 55 miles to make it worthwhile. That’s not factoring time costs. If minimum wage, Need to be about 35 miles away to break even with time.
9.50 for 15 Guinness…jesus thats cheap!
It should be a nationwide initiative instead.
And yet the evidence proves you arent the norm.
When I first started going to Sweden I thought it was pure insanity that they had a dedicated nationalised shop for buying alcohol. There are no deals and there are no bulk buys. You buy by the bottle and/or can. There’s also no alcohol tax in the same way so 5-6% is standard on normal lagers/pilsners. Only 3.5% and under can be sold in normal shops.
After a decade living here I know that not only do I have access to a much wider array of choices for drinks (whole shop, not just an aisle), I don’t buy more than I want for any occasion and I don’t have to buy packs of something to get a decent price.
My regular beers that I enjoy are between 70p & £1.40. They have a rotating range of special imports from all over for people to try, those can be £2 and up but always are a bargain compared to drinking out.
I’m not saying it’s perfect, I’m definitely not saying there aren’t alcoholics but generally speaking the system makes it easier to drink less, drink better quality and doesn’t punish you for wanting a drink unless you go out on the town.
“Nothing excessive” now needs redefined.
That’s because the law wasn’t written with you personally in mind; it was written with the country of Scotland as a whole in mind. The number of people for whom driving across the Border to save a few quid is a worthwhile prospect is so small that the government has just factored that in. Evidence shows that overall, the policy is saving lives. So enjoy your extra beers, and be glad you have a lucky setup, and don’t worry about a few folk like yourself experiencing things differently from the majority of Scots.
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