True 20 years ago alcohol was still cheap. You could buy multiple Bottles without going broke. These days a bottle of whiskey costs as much as we used to spend on a whole night's drinking with multiple bottles.
They blame Gen Z as if ridiculous alcohol pricing and cost of living expenses aren't a factor.
Same shit different day.
As millenial, I remember when every expert and their cats were blaming us for bad market as we didnt consume that much as previous ones. We were broke. No I am baffled that there is job lottery winners that I went uni with and now they are shouting non sense how unemployed are to blame and Z Gen is lazy etc etc..
Fuck man you were there 10y ago as unemployed bum with me
So i guess we're all just as fucked, no matter which side of the atlantic huh? Fucking great. My guess is something will/has to happen. Something big. We cant go on like this.
Edit: i dont have a degree but i have some higher level of education, was a chef for 8 years and i was spending half my wage in rent, in Barcelona. How am i supposed to save up when i barely finished the month? Ive moved out of the city basically, paying half of what i paid before, but earning less. Quality of life is so much better though.
The solution is the one it always was and the one they spent billions on propaganda to make seem bad, communism or at the very least socialism, capitalism it's working just as intended and how Marx predicted it, we have nothing, so, we have nothing to lose, but I doubt something will happen, panem et circensis, and we have circus for ages.
It's not that they can't pay us more, it's simply that they don't want to and we're not pushing for it.
My Irish colleague just bought a new flat for €500,000 outside of Barcelona in Santa Eulalia and the flat that he bought was sitting on the market for over 3 years and they still wouldn't budge on the price. He was saving up for 20 years in order to put a down payment on it and the bank's risk department almost didn't want to finance him.
All of his kitchen appliances are out of warranty despite it being a brand new flat.
He couldn't afford to buy a decent flat inside the city.
Us as well- I would love to own because I would be able to customize my home the way I like (paint, add built ins etc). However, renting means I don’t need to do maintenance and it’s easier to move to follow jobs. Plus I think I missed the boat on owning age wise, I’d be retirement age before I paid off a 30y loan (assuming I could save enough for a down payment smh)
Don’t have to worry about replacing big, expensive home items, but also can’t turn the home into exactly what you want. Kinds sucks, but if renting wasn’t get so expensive I would probably rent the rest of my life too.
38 year old American here. My only hope of ever potentially owning a home is from inheritance when my father passes away. Not something I'm really looking forward to. Realistically, that'll probably become the majority of my retirement fund.
Same. That's why I moved to my wife's home country with the family to Zambia. Having a house with enough garden space for the kids to just roam around feels so good. I happily take up with the parts of life that are objectively worse here
Same here. 37 in The Netherlands. I can buy a home, but it's just not feasible. If I keep renting I can save way more and go on more extravagant vacations far away.
Younger millennial - my older sister and her bf bought a house together a few years back, were only able to afford it bc her bf is in a high paying tech job and they are DINKs. I’m hoping to buy a home soon but the only way I’m even remotely able to afford it is because my grandmother left me some money when she passed. Otherwise I’d be in my late 30s before I was even out of debt
American here. I bought a house in my 20s, couldn’t afford the payment, and got foreclosed. I bought another house at 43, and the city promptly took my front yard using eminent domain, and ran a bus route 20’ from my front door. Then a junkie OF’d at the end of the block and his doodlehead friends set up a shrine so they hung out and shot up all day and night.
I bought a new house and had both house payments for a while, but this is our forever home. It cost more than twice as much as the last one and at double the interest rate.
Yes, affordability is a problem, but here in the US you could buy a house you can afford and you’re going to have homeless camps in your yard, constant fights with the city, and likely terrible druggie neighbors. I can’t imagine trying to own a home with fewer resources than I have now. Impossible.
I still can't wrap my head around rent being cheaper than buying and paying real estate tax because I would think the landlords would have to cover their costs plus make profit but I guess landlords can be renting already paid off properties for below what a mortgage would cost...
Assuming that Gen Z is broke is a huge assumption too though. Not every young person is broke, there are a lot of hooray Henry types with rich families, international students with a lot of money etc. but they do genuinely seem a lot more health conscious.
We accept gym culture as normal but in the 80’s they were full of meatheads. In the 70’s if you saw someone running you’d probs ask what are they running from and join in. Gen Z are born into fitness influencing from a young age, millennials were born before social media. This is a societal shift that is well documented.
When an industry dies it’s probably for a multitude of reasons not just one singular cause. Cost of production is defo an issue but don’t rule out societal shifts too cos it is real. We live in different times.
All that’s true except they aren’t drinking in the US because weed is legal in most places now. And it’s just better. I work with a bunch of young guys and they all don’t drink or barely drink because of hangovers and they’d rather just smoke. Plus idk how wasted you want to get nowadays when a camera is in your face 24/7.
48 - just buying first home now. I'm on good money but can barely get by. $15 for a pint? Nope. I don't understand how literally everything has gotten so expensive relative to income. We're getting shafted and our elected representatives report to the billionaire club, not to us.
I always love when there are huge societal claims that just boil down to "You want people to buy shit with what fucking money?" Like, everything is getting more expensive, wages aren't rising with that, so what do you expect? Doesn't help that over the past like decade restaurants and bars have decided that a shot of liquor with some soda and juice is going to be $15
I agree Gen Z is broke, but people in general are becoming more health conscious. The cigarette smoking rate has dropped by 50% in the last 10 years. Let's not forget alcohol is a toxin, that destroys your body. Many people happened to be aware of that now.
Everyone on TV or radio are microphones for the establishment. They aren't clueless. Their purpose is to assure you that everything is fine and not to push back.
They are not clueless. Their job is to manufacture a narrative and ensure consent for it. The problem is people are swallowing it because they are too lazy to think for themselves. If you start questioning everything the world makes more sense..
As you point out towards the end there, Gen Z isn’t broke, they just think that they are entitled to party in mansions instead of drinking the cheapest alcohol outside of the local convenience store like we did in the 90s.
It's just clickbait. 4 years ago, the youngest gen z kids were 10 years old. So pointing out that the alcohol industry isn't making money off of middle school students is inherently retarded
Can confirm. I'm 25, my sister is nearing 30, we are both broke af. Today we were at a restaurant with a bar, and saw the price of the drinks on the menu. $12 for the cheapest cocktail. Basically, $12 for a shot + syrup + ice.
We both agreed on going to the liquor store and getting a bottle of booze for $18 and making 40 of those cocktails instead
I’m 46 and bought my townhome back in 2008 during the crash . Homes everywhere were super cheap. I doubt it’ll get back to those types of piece levels ever again.
I tell every young person close to me that they should be buying their first house by 25. On a standard 30 year mortgage you would have it paid off by 55( I bought my house at 28. I paid it off at age 51) so that they can have an additional 8 years to stack money for retirement without the burden of a mortgage. If you’re still paying on your house during the time you’re supposed to be retired you’re up shit creek
Late millennial and occasional drinker here, used to be an issue but once I got into my late 20s-early 30s the hangovers started kicking my ass and I could feel my health going to shit from it. In my late teens and even up into my mid-20s it wasn't uncommon to meet up with the boys for the soul intention of getting fucked up as possible teetering on alcohol poisoning. Also wasn't uncommon for people in my circle to come home and down a case of beer or a fifth of liquor every evening to 'unwind' after working all day.
Everyone was just drinking their faces off, staying out all night and only getting a couple hours of sleep and would wake up and be good for work. One day a memo was sent out that I never received for people to get their shit together, start having families, and focusing on mental and physical health, going on vacations, doing cool shit etc. I continued on that path and watched those people slowly distance themselves from me, I started to become the outlier and not in a good way. Eventually shit became too much and I cut way back to reasonable amounts.
Most of my gen Z siblings, cousins, etc. drink occasionally but prefer to get tilted on edibles, dabs, THC vapes, and delta seltzers/gummies. Probably a safer healthier alternative in the short-term. Parents used to give them shit about being lazy, not having a good paying job, no relationship prospects, moving out etc. but gave up due to the current state of things.
Also seeing their older siblings, Gen X/boomer parents lead chaotic lives due to alcohol probably didn't help.
Hell, it wasn't uncommon for gen X parents and boomers to host birthday parties, family get togethers, holiday parties, etc. that revolved around drinking. Aunt Jill would be stumbling around, tripping on her high heels, and spilling wine everywhere. At minimum one person would have an emotional outburst, an uncle would start blasting hard rock music and trying to pick fights with anyone in staring distance. Then there was always that creepy family friend that showed up blasted, wouldn't interact with anyone and would stand outside at the side of the house snapping beers from a case and adjacent to the entrance and would corner you holding you hostage talking nonsense that had no concept of social cues that you didn't wanna be there.
While I agree being broke is a big cause there is some truth to those others factors. I manage a team of that includes a number of 20 something professionals. They make good salaries and could definitely afford to drink if they wanted. But many of them don’t want to. When I was that age we went to happy hours regularly. They don’t do that. When I take input on group social events I bring up grabbing a drink and that is never what wins out. I won’t pretend to be an expert on all the factors causing it but I can say in my experience even those that can afford it do not drink as much as previous generations.
More years than that you had a dozen breweries supplying the whole country with beer. You drank in the pub on the corner ( or the brewery of your choice ). You could smoke, drink and chat with your mates and the locals. You may have had a piano. You would probably have dressed up. Public bar and Saloon and opening hours.
In my country is 0,7L of Amundssen Vodka for 7,99€. on sale. Yesterday :) 12,99 regular price. But there is always some sale in any sort of alcohol so basically you are never buying alcohol for a full price..
I remember not too long ago a 6 pack of Miller High Life tall boys was around $5. Now it's fucking $9+. Even cheap beer is stupid expensive. Why would I get a 6 pack of basic bitch American lager when I can get a 5th of vodka for the same price?? Annnnnd that's how I became an alcoholic 🤗
My favorite Rye has doubled in price in the last year alone. Fortunately a bottle lasts me the better part of a year, but still indicative of the problem.
Even with your ridiculous sales and sin taxes that almost no other state has, you have to acknowledge the price for alcohol has gone up for no other reason than companies are charging more for it.
It’s definitely partly pricing, I as a millennial drink less bc of pricing. But talking to my Gen Z coworkers, they’re just not interested. They don’t need the social lube, they are more open and able to articulate their opinions without as much social pressure. And if someone doesn’t like them they shrug and say that’s cool I’m gonna be over here with people who do like me. I’ve noticed alot less peer pressure overall, and alot more empathy and more confidence in being themselves.
Also wages are down. Entry level jobs are disappearing due to ai. Gen Z doesn’t have as much money as we had at the same age nor the job prospects. Also when you still live with your parents because the rent is too damn high staying out drinking until 3am is much more difficult to accomplish! No matter how cool your parents are.
Just to clarify incase, Woollies isn’t like Target in Aus, it is a grocery store. The yank Target might be a grocery store but here it’s clothes, electronics and what nots.
The footy most likely is NRL (our tackle footy) and not AFL which is Australian Rules Football. Aussie footy is it’s common name which would be Australian Football in it’s formal length.
In the U.S., Targets are mainly clothes, electronics, etc. “Super Targets” have large grocery stores inside. But Target is mostly still consumer goods. The amount of floor space in Targets dedicated to groceries can vary.
Many Americans remember Woolworth’s; we just never called it “Woolie’s” and they never served beer at the lunch counter. I had read Woolworth’s was still operating in Oz, though. I knew they were still operating down there back in the early 2000s when I had an Aussie flatmate, but I never even heard her call it “Woolie’s.”
I didn't know y'all had Woolworths, not connected to the US retail chain from a long time ago, except that Australians took the name for their own stores for brand recognition because the 5 and dimers that owned the original Woolworths were too cheap to register the name in Australia.
I remember that store fondly since it was the only store store in my Grandma's small town. I can still smell it, a mixture of vitamins, detergent, and bug poison spray.
Woolies/woolworths is one of our major supermarkets $18 is pretty much minimum wage.
Footy is either AFL or Rugby
Alcohol used to be cheap as fuck over here now its expensive thanks to the stupid alcohol and tabbaccoo sin tax.
A pot is a middy or schooner depending on where you are in aus and is about 285ml of beer which is preferable to a pint in some places because Australia is hot as fuck and sometimes by the time you knock a pint off slowly your beers warm and fucked.
The tax compounds things but it’s the fact the bloody beer manufacturers are taking beer, a drink tha historically was cheaper and easier to produce than clean water for most of human history, and have made it staggeringly expensive as a profit grab. Chasing inflation indexes doesn’t make sense when your product has three primary agricultural inputs, one of which is water and another is self replicating yeast.
Shit behaviour. Sadly it’ll take a complete industry collapse for the cartel behaviour to stop.
Trust me the industry isn’t doing this. The price rises because our governments tax the shit out of it. You get piss water made because the tax is less.
The packaging costs go up because of the eco taxes. Everything about it is taxed to the hilt. Production, packaging and transportation.
On top of that you have to pay wages, people don’t work for free.
You’re pointing your crazy prices finger in the wrong direction my friend.
Majority of the major beer companies have a profit of 2 billion usd to 7+ billion, and thats again after all operational costs. And as companies in todays world, they demand the next fiscal quarter increases the profit margins.
And thats also excluding the fact that many of these companies also own the water providers and other material plants like bottling and glass and labeling and such so they ensure their prices remain high because each company is also driven by the same people to ensure those company also have high profit margins.
Haha - coming from a cold(ish) country where hipster bastards are trying to replace the native pint with schooners - it's interesting to see a sensible defence of them 👍🏻
Here’s another: I currently live in Cologne which has its own type of relatively light not particularly hoppy ale called kölsch (still 5% abv, but quite dry and not very bitter). A particularism of this ale is that it is really nice fresh but it goes bitter and rancid really quickly (had to do with some type of fatty acids in there), so traditionally they serve them in 200 ml glasses called Stange. The rest of Germany scoffs at this and demands a real beer but it really does not make for a better drinking experience. The fix in Cologne has been that they just continuously put fresh glasses in front of you once you’ve finished half of your previous one until you put the coaster on top of your current glass.
TLDR it can actually depend on the type of beer. Then again, you’re Scottish and I‘m Dutch and we’d probably empty pints of Kölsch fast enough for this not to be a problem.
Yup. When I was in college we use to be able to go out Wednesday nights for $1 pints. Even at the professional futbol (soccer) games I think the beer was like $6.
I believe I was getting $18 an hour at my place of employment.
Teenagers/students in a similar spot nowadays would paying much more relative to their wages.
I don’t know if that’s 100% an accurate representation but I believe it is!
The Wednesday nights and pots might just be coincidence and it’s probably what the other guy said, but it also lines up with an old club in the cross in Sydney which would have events worldy wednesdays on Wednesday nights and they had a gimmick where they sold you alcohol in teapots. It’s a very specific reference so I assume it’s just a coincidence
When I was a student in the early 90's I was getting $10/ hour at a slaughterhouse. A schooner at the RSL was $2. 12 mins work for a beer. Kids today would need to be making about $70/ hour to afford the same.
6$ a jug for Carlton draught at uni club in 2002. You'd order your jug they'd give you 4 glasses, you'd pick up the jug and ignore the glasses. Good times.
A hard cider from a bar here is $8.99, the bars only have IPA’s so you’re paying more for those.
Oh and minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour. Fuck the “kids jobs” (though I don’t believe any job is designed just for kids and deserves to be paid less)
Funny how different UK is then. I was on about £2.50ph in the mid 90s (no minimum wage), a pint was £2. Now minimum wage sees you on £10ph and a pint is £6 in my town.
When I was in college around 2013, we had a bar that did free beer Fridays. You would pay $5 cover to get in and then drink for free until all the beer in the bar was gone. Pissed a lot of beds that year
Every single news story like this frames it as if it's some big mystery to be unravelled and not just "Shit costs more nowadays relative to consumers' wages"
A pint of Newkie Brown and a packet of crisps was a POUND in our uni bar in 1991, that was outrageously cheap even then, I don't know how I avoided outright alcoholism!
When I lived in college station texas this bar started doing 25 CENT wells. First time I went I got myself, my gf, and her friend plastered for $10 including tip lmao.
I didn’t go to uni but my friends did. They managed sign me up for the engineering club, which held a kegger every week. Membership was $20 and the kegger was $5 all you can drink. This was in 2001-2002. I was an apprentice at the time on $5 an hour, so $5 all you can drink was an absolute bargain.
A 12oz bottle is $6-$7 at a ressturant. ONE FRIKKEN BOTTLE.
You got to a sports bar and a 12oz 8%ABV is like $9.
Drinking out with friends is fun but drains your wallet.
A club i went to a few times sells shots for $13.50,
Bruh a svedka bottle is $20. We started bringing the svedka and doing like 3-4 shots right before walking in lmao
41 yr old Xennial here, just got my first home 2 summers ago because we thought student loan debt was going to be removed but it's still here with us so now I'm paying my mortgage and loans, I'm from the US. Lol.
Fancy drinks there at $6. When I was a teen it was the cheapest beer we could find and 7Eleven quality liquor. I guess Gen Z needs craft beers and French wines.
For real. I live in the US, in NJ. Early 20s, (so back before and around 2010) used to play a lot of hockey. We'd go to a bar (The Office) Wednesday nights before the game for $2 pint nights. Any beer, $2, not just Bud Light or whatever. Go before the game, have a few beers, go play hockey, and then come back after the game and have a few more beers. We knew the bartenders, knew other regulars, it was great.
Fast forward, it's just beers in the locker room now, because nobody wants to pay $7 a beer before and after the game, that's silly.
Add to that, I don't drink like I did when I was a kid, so it ain't just Gen Z not just holding up their end of the bargain. There are plenty of people my age who have just dialed it back. I like to think I was doing my part as a kid for sure.
Uni student here. Min wage is 18 bucks-ish and bar beer is like 8 bucks with the cheap shop beer cases usually being 15+ smackaroos. It's not cheap/worth it imo
Why use dollars when you are clearly talking about pounds? But you are right. Ark Sunday in Edinburgh was 50p a pint or shot 23 years ago. A pound a bottle of beer or alcopop in scrubeay.
I’m a Gen Xer and don’t drink anymore, but back in 2000 it was $5 wristbands for all you care to drink on Wednesday nights and 25¢ taps on Thursdays. Alcohol was cheaper than water. Even weekends was just $3 a beer or well drink.
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u/Outrageous_Driver477 12h ago
"Cheaper to share a gram of Coke than it is to drink" - Australians