Rajevskis: alcohol restrictions may encourage buying in bulk
Political scientist Filips Rajevskis says alcohol sales time restrictions may produce the opposite effect – some buyers start purchasing more and stocking up, while occasional drinkers are the ones most inconvenienced.
After Latvia introduced time restrictions on alcohol sales in public spaces, debate continues over whether these measures actually work. Political scientist and co-founder of communications agency Mediju tilts, Filips Rajevskis, has shared an observation pointing to a possible paradox.
He notes that some consumers may have started buying more alcohol, stocking up in advance. From the perspective of excise tax revenue and overall trade, such a trend might even look positive, as it could increase state income and turnover.
What Rajevskis finds more curious is the type of people who complain when they find a store closed and cannot buy alcohol. In his experience, these tend to be people who rarely drink, are into sports, and do not keep alcohol at home. By contrast, regular drinkers or alcohol enthusiasts do not seem bothered by the restrictions, because they know in advance when and where to make purchases and build up reserves.
As a result, the restrictions appear to inconvenience mostly healthy people at whom they were not aimed. These people sometimes end up without a drink simply because they are not in the habit of keeping a stock.
The observation highlights a possible side effect: some buyers may switch to planned, larger purchases instead of spontaneous ones. Meanwhile, occasional drinkers are the ones who more often face an empty store at the wrong time. It remains an open question whether limiting availability actually reduces consumption or simply encourages people to buy in advance and in larger quantities.
