Today I received the letter about the ballot to lift the alcohol ban. Lifting this ban would not only be wrong, but a farce. Thoughts on the pro points in the brochure: 1) Customer need: Customers prefer to buy everything in one place. The need is right, but the introduction of alcohol means that other products have to be removed from the range if shelf space is available. The argument is therefore invalid. 2) Changing times: Nowadays, alcohol abuse is no longer a problem. It is quite clear that alcohol is still a big problem nowadays. Not only the sad anecdotal evidence from my environment shows this, but also statistical surveys. It is true that less alcohol is being consumed overall (9 liters of pure alcohol per capita in 1997 vs. 7.6 liters in 2020 [1]), but the amount is simply still far too high. According to doctors [2], 100 g of alcohol (125 ml) per week is still acceptable. That would be 6.5 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. When calculating the "per capita figure", you have to factor out the teetotalers, who accounted for 23.3% of the population in 2017. [3] The tolerable per capita consumption thus shrinks to 5 liters per year. So the figures clearly show that more people drink too much alcohol than you might think. 3) Responsibility: Migros will offer alcoholic beverages with a sense of proportion and regional roots. Heroin addicts can also go to a cantonally controlled dispensary and get their fix. Does that solve his problem? 4) Pleasure: Alcohol is usually consumed sensibly today as a stimulant and is part of a good meal for many people. Alcohol is not a stimulant, see point two. "[...] is part of a good meal for many people": For the heroin addict, a good day also includes a shot. 5) Credibility: Migros already sells alcohol in other group-owned stores. This argument is sad, because it makes exactly the opposite sense. If Migros wants to be credible, it would have to stop selling alcohol in the other group-owned stores, because Duttweiler drew up his articles of association for the Migros Group and did not have it in mind that later company managers would disregard his articles of association by buying or spinning off other stores. 6) Competition: Migros is at a disadvantage compared to its competitors. This argument is actually correct, because Migros always makes less profit as sales increase. [4] But to want to introduce alcohol for this reason shows the weakness of the company's management to innovate and align the business with modern times. Conclusion: A function that, for example, Cumulus holders receive extra points if they do not exceed a maximum sugar content when shopping per accounting period or buy products that are as plastic-free as possible would have been innovative. Or, instead of working half-heartedly with TooGoodToGo, which annoys Migros employees because of the extra work and doesn't help anyone because there are only 5 decoy bags a day, they could set up their own "Migros Last Minute" branch or something like that, where you can buy leftovers from the surrounding branches at a good discount. After all, we live in a time when people are particularly receptive to new ideas. Vegatarians, vegans, conscious lifestyles, no plastic - it has never been easier for a company to take a bold step forward. But no! Migros turns back and says that alcohol is good for business. The card is filled out accordingly and is still thrown into the urn today. [1] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/798451/umfrage/pro-kopf-konsum-von-alkohol-in-der-schweiz/ [2] https://www.apotheken-umschau.de/gesund-bleiben/ernaehrung/alkohol-so-viel-ist-zu-viel-836599.html, "For example, the US American Cardiology Association recently recommended not drinking alcohol at all if possible." But I have kindly used the threshold of 100 g mentioned in the article above [3] https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/gesundheit/determinanten/alkohol.html [4] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/297363/umfrage/gewinn-der-migros/, https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/297371/umfrage/umsatz-der-migros-in-der-schweiz/