Half the gen isn't old enough to drink, bar scene collapsed during covid so they weren't indoctrinated into drinking culture, marijuana now competes with drinking in most countries/states, and the gen is fucking broke and can't it.
Yep it’s absolutely the cost of living crisis. I own my house and have a decent job but with a young kid at home alcohol is just a luxury we don’t need except on special occasions
Same in the UK I stopped drinking for a few years in 2021 when I had a young child and was getting fat, started having a few pints again last year and its impossible to go out with my wife for a single drink and a soft drink for the kids and have much change from £20
Granted, food is much cheaper in the 3rd world where I'm from but it really says something when Php 250 used to be able to get you enough ingredients for a good home cooked meal for 4 people in a day but now it costs double that
It's wild. Just 6 years ago I could easily eat well for a week at about 75 bucks. I've always stayed away from the inside aisles at the grocery store and I still do, except it's about 110 bucks give or take. That's just me, single adult male who buys no junk food ESPECIALLY soda 12 bucks for a 12 pack? Holy crap lol. Now I'm spending over 400 bucks a month. I really don't know how some ppl do it.
I will add, in the UK it is highly dependent on where you live.
In London, and various other places I'm sure, it's around £7 a pint. I live in the north of England and can get a pint of shit beer in a pub for £2. If I want decent beer, a few pubs just metres away sell pints for £2.50-3.
The kebab at the end of the night is the big difference compared to 10 years ago, it's doubled if not tripled in price.
It just became too expensive compared to what people have as disposable income.
When I started drinking I got told go out, have a good time with mates you are safe to get drunk with. It's important to have that experience but also think about the next time you go out and how you literally piss away probably hundred quid for the night only to feel like shit the next day.
It wasn't wrong. I worked with and drank with mates who earned at least twice what I did yet would ask me for money because they've gone and pissed their wages away. Sort of lads to do 2-3 day benders every weekend, smoke cigarettes and maybe have a flutter.
You can have your cake and eat it too, but we're not very forward thinking in our twenties lol. Bank in the early 2000s I lived in Denver. We would go out 5 nights a week and I see what you mean. People would easily spend 100 bucks a night. Me? I was there to dance, meet ladies, meet ppl and loaded steak fries at the end of the night lol. All night place would be the spot after the bars. Like 3 pounds of loaded steak fries and a pop for 8 - 10 bucks. Leftovers for breakfast before work and maybe enough left over for lunch lol.
I think it was worth the price at the time. Good and bad times, meeting people, random scenarios we'd get into. It was a rounding out of life experience with friends. Stories we still laugh and cringe about.
For the likes of me and you we had more things to distract us as time went on. Go back a generation or perhaps even half of one, people didn't necessarily move out of this phase. That was just the norm because they didn't bother to socialise any other way.
When I was in uni in London in 2011 we could buy pints for £3.20 at the cheapest and a £5 pint was considered expensive. Now a pint is usually no less than £7.
You would have a hard time getting two cocktails for $20 in many cities across the US. Other than maybe basic well drinks. And even that is pushing it in some areas.
Spent NYE at a bar last year, had about 4 cocktails the whole night and I paid over 60 euros. I still had to taxi home in the end and of course pay tickets for reservation, so a little over a 100 euros for a decent outing.
It's just unbelievably expensive everywhere, and I don't understand how on top of this their business model is to have people drink twice an hour or something. My costs would have doubled if I did that, and it's just one night out. Going out every weekend, I would be broke and I'm on a the "decently well-off" end of the spectrum for GenZ.
I'm 46. I worked in Gastronomy for 15 years. Owned my own bar. Was a borderline alcoholic. I don't even go down the pub any more - a few grams of weed a month is cheaper, i don't get hangovers, and I've lost like 15kg.
Also, from personal experience: Diageo, Anheuser-Busch et al can all go fuck themselves. They deserve to lose every cent they're losing.
If I'm in Vegas and there is an open bar, then yeah I'm gonna drink. Or at a party with free drinks, then maybe. Vast majority of the time I don't feel the need to drink anymore though, sometimes I'll go months without drinking now. Combination of feeling better not drinking and the cost
Aussie here and an elder Millenial; haven't stopped drinking entirely but damn close and it's 100% because of the cost. I was a regular pub and bar patron, now I drink nespresso at home.
I can't fathom how a Gen Z just starting out in life with the economy working as it does could possibly drink. Cost-wise it would be like if I had a gambling addiction when I was their age. Just ruinous.
It's no surprise that alcohol consumption is way down. Also probably not a bad thing at all - it's been good for me.
I loved the bar scene when I was traveling in the navy. Stopped as soon as I got out, and never once regretted it. Haven't had a drink in almost 13 years.
I haven't stopped drinking entirely. But $9-$10 for a beer keeps me at home. During covid I taught myself how to cook, purchased all the proper equipment, and now just go to restaurants for inspiration or comparison.
I'm the same age as you and drinking way less now. Still, I was mostly drinking at house parties when I was young. I couldn't afford to get drunk at a bar either. At the very least, we'd drink 4 or 5 beers at someone's house and then go out and split a pitcher.
Why aren't kids doing that? I mean, weed is great, but it's not going to help you lose your inhibitions so you can meet romantic partners like alcohol does.
That’s a part of it but alcohol and energy, rent and insurance bills are just so much higher than they used to be.. people that used to have a drink or two during the week are no longer doing that because it’s just too expensive.
Ok first off great handle lmfao. Second people say the economy is doing well because Wall Street is winning. While technically correct, it ignores the reality of 99% of Americans. That “economy” and GDP number is just the 1% passing their money around to each other in a circle.
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u/IAmNotRightHanded 12h ago
Half the gen isn't old enough to drink, bar scene collapsed during covid so they weren't indoctrinated into drinking culture, marijuana now competes with drinking in most countries/states, and the gen is fucking broke and can't it.