Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by TedDoesntTalk 1482 days ago
Really? What if it includes alcohol sales? Do you want the state to know how much alcohol you consume?
3 comments

In case you were unaware, all liquor stores in Norway are run by the government — “vinmonopolet” as they are called.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinmonopolet

That misses the point.
You can’t buy alcohol at the supermarket in Norway.
You can buy alcohol at the supermarket in Norway, it's just that it's limited to alcohol of 4.5%vol. or lower (i.e. the supermarkets sell beer and alcohol cider and the like).
4.5%, no thanks. Easier to get water intoxication than feel anything about alcohol.
"How many villages does a Man need to Pillage to get a drink in this place?!"
Yes, you can. But only drinks with up to 4.7% abv
The state owns the only alcohol store.
Sounds like Virginia. A lot of states have a similar system in place:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_sta...

See my comment above - you can buy beer elsewhere, unless it's stronger than the typical lager.
And what will stop them from monitoring the alcohol sales?
I replied to the statement "The state owns the only alcohol store." - the only text in the comment I replied to. And as it's factually wrong, I replied with a comment stating just that. There was nothing about monitoring in the comment I replied to, nor in my reply.

As for monitoring - as said elsewhere, if monitoring of supermarket sales will happen or not depends not only on what that particular office wants (SSB - central statistics bureau), but what politicians decide on. And, despite many comments here believing otherwise, it is actually quite common for Norwegian politicians to listen to massive resistance from the people, particularly when the reasoning behind the whole suggestion is quite questionable, as in this case. In any case, whether alcohol is sold here or there it wouldn't make any difference to the monitoring. And cash is still legal tender in Norway, even if there are some that don't like that fact. As for myself I believe only Mastercard really know how much money I use on wine. I don't think they know my preferences though (Italian, as it were)

> The state owns the only alcohol store.

How do they feel about being responsible of delivering poison to people then? Somehow I can rationalize it if it's a transaction between private parties, but if the government acts as the drug dealer it's no better than a cartel.

Given that the alternatives to legal alcohol are well known, I’d imagine they feel fine about it.