You may have thought that Systembolaget in Sweden never has any kind of sale or discount on its goods. It is because Systembolaget is actively working to ensure that Swedes drink less and that drinking does not decline with age.
These are also the reasons why Systembolaget is closed on Sundays and other public holidays.
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Something else that Systembolaget is strict about is age checks. In Sweden, you must be over 20 to be able to shop at the company.
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Systembolaget today complies with the Alcohol Act’s rules on sales, which deal with three important points:
Systembolaget has always closed on Sundays. Image source: Geir Olsen/TT
Anyone under the age of 20 may not shop at Systembolaget
Anyone who is noticeably affected may not shop at Systembolaget
Anyone suspected of longing may not shop at Systembolaget.
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But what happens if an employee during a stressful Saturday before closing happens to sell a box of wine to a 17-year-old when you forgot to check the game?
Teodor Almqvist, press officer at Systembolaget talks about the process that follows if that happens. He also tells how they constantly worked preventively to prevent that from happening.
– Systembolaget works hard to protect young people from alcohol. That is why we always ask for identification for people who could be under 25 years of age. Not selling to minors is one of our most important missions and something we work on continuously and systematically. We regularly carry out control purchases at our stores to measure how well we work with age checks and to keep the work with age checks alive, he tells News24 and continues.
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Systembolaget is careful about age checks. Image source: Ari Luostarinen/SvD/TT
– The control purchases are made by people who are between 20 and 25 years old, this because we have an internal rule to always check identification on those who appear to be 25 years old or younger. If a store misses a control purchase, the store gets to know about it and can have a dialogue about why it was missed and what can be worked on to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
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The employee who happened to sell to a minor is not fired, but the store manager has a dialogue with the seller to find out how it all happened.
– Should we find out that a store has sold to someone who is under 20 years old, the store manager will be notified. The store manager then has a responsibility to find out what has happened and why. The store manager conducts a dialogue with the seller and depending on what has happened, the measures may look different. The most important thing in such a situation is to learn from the mistake so that it doesn’t happen again, he says.
– In addition to what we do ourselves, legally, according to the Alcohol Act, you have a personal responsibility not to sell to a minor. This applies regardless of whether you work with us, in a grocery store or in a pub, he concludes.
Then you will be ported from Systembolaget – can be valid for one year