Minimum pricing law.

[ralfy legend]

Well with just over a couple of weeks to go before scotlands new law comes into affect I've started to sneak a look at how and what it's going to affect, I was scared to look to be honest but from what I've read and heard many whiskies will remain the same price! So let's take these two as random, Aldis hogwash at £14.99 and aberlour 10 from a spar shop at £22, so am I right in thinking they WILL remain the same price? High lagers and ciders at 8% or 9% will get the price upped correct?

[RN Rob]

It should only effect the cheaper low end whisky but I do wonder if some retailers will take advantage in Scotland and how does it work if someone in Scotland orders online from an England based retailer, will retailers have separate Scottish pricing.

[Mark]

My understanding is that a 70cl bottle of whisky bottled at 40% ABV will contain 28 units of alcohol so this cannot be sold for less than £14 (£0.50 per unit).

It really shouldn't effect anything for me but come Christmas when the likes of a 1 litre bottle of the Famous Grouse or Bells is on offer often for £15 it will now have to have a minimum price in Scotland of £20. I am sure they normally sell loads of these to gift buyers at Christmas and it may effect these sales with customers perhaps not buying a alcoholic gift or looking at alternatives which will not seem so much more expensive now as many single malts are on offer for not much more than £20 at this time of year.

Time will tell if minimum pricing will have an impact on alcohol misuse, personally I would think the people it is aimed at will simply misuse other substances for a high, leaving decent innocent people who enjoy an occasional drink paying more.

[havaska]

My concern is, because the price of the lower end of the market will have to rise, it means the higher end will rise too to maintain the 'gap' in pricing.

And you can bet your bottom dollar they'd apply this UK wide to make more profit

[deadz101]

I popped into waitrose tonight to use a coupon for money off for a bottle and due to the 'minimuim pricing laws' they cannot take coupons for alcohol, even though the bottle was close to £40, ridiculous!

[MattS]

Daft and my worry is it will spread to the rest of the UK. Why on earth do we put up with these politicians.

[dindu]

Whisky auction sites have followed suit and set the minimum price per bottle at £15. This instantly kills off most of the auction market for miniatures and worthless full sized bottles!

[eelbrook]

That must be a blessed relief for online auctioneers. Having to process hundreds of crappy lots yielding minimum commisssion must have been a pain.

[dindu]

The online auctioneers are still processing hundreds of crappy lots.

It's going to take 2-3 more months of auctions for sellers of these lots to realise that re-listing is futile!

[Dave h]

Auctioneers could still sell minatures at the legal price. But they have effectively ended the sales of minatures, with the only plausible reason thats not given being its time consuming. They could sell a standard minature for £3. Supermarkets sell them for £3. Its legal.

The minimum pricing has certainly impacted the whisky minature fans / collectors and drinkers, but only as auctioneers are not willing to sell lesser value lots, its not related to the minimum pricing, but profitability of the business. Wish they were honest and state this. Feel for the minature collectors and drinkers!

Minimum pricing impacts cheap strong cider and lagers.

[dindu]

Now I don't feel pity for auctioneers but for a £15 bottle, miniature or full size, they earn approximately £3 to receive, unpack, inspect, photograph and list a bottle. Maybe a further £2 if it sells. Even at £15 I don't think it's worth their while.

We are lucky that they don't set a £100 minimum!

That said, I did manage to sell a Private Eye miniature for £440 last weekend, so the market is still buoyant for the right bottles.

[MattS]

I visit Scotland from England sometimes and have noticed in Morrisons although they are selling blends at higher prices to meet minimum requirements they appear to be selling some malts at lower prices than in England such as HP12 for £22 when I've not seen it lower than £25 south of the border. I wonder if this is there way of rebalancing a little?