(Russian Vodka Drinkers get New Year Headache)
Russians took a huge hit as the price of their booze doubled in an attempt by the government to lessen the alcohol dependence by its citizens. The question posed within the class regarding this situation was the following : Will this have a negative effect on the companies, or could it be an opportunity for the vodka companies?
Of course, the vodka industry will take a hit; it is without doubt that as an elastic good that is not a necessity, the more expansive the vodka gets, the less people will buy it. This however, could pose as an opportunity, even with its unfortunate circumstances, for the Vodka companies as they could update their status to differentiate themselves from the others with some careful marketing as a premium alcohol, not some cheap alcohol that anyone may drink at anytime. It is ,of course, a long shot, but an opportunity is there for the taking
Vodka sales prevented at night in Russia
http://rbth.ru/articles/2011/10/26/nation_prepares_for_double_vodka_13643.html
A new rule, allowing customers to Bring their own booze to the restaurant and drink it there with the payment of a corkage fee was introduced. We considered within class; if we were restaurant owners, would this be a good rule, or a bad rule??
I personally thought the BYOB was a good rule if I was a restaurant owner as there is nothing to lose. When providing alcohol to the customers, the provider was getting the price of the alcohol and the corkage fee. Now, if the customers were to bring the alcohol, the provider doesn’t need to pay for the alcohol in the first place, and whereas they might be earning a little less money, that, I believe, could certainly be covered through the increased amount of people taking on the corkage fee by bringing their own alcohol, due to the relief in price. The rule is also flexible as it is said that those of the higher quality restaurants can charge a higher corkage fee to maintain the luxurious atmosphere while those of the cheaper variety may charge as small a fee as 5 dollars.
Now, the only thing that was a question mark was, would the restaurants be held accountable for the alcohols that they corkaged? If that is the case than surely this BYOB rule cannot be a positive one for the restaurant owners; there would be too much things to take care of. It might also be that this rule would encourage drinking for the people that might have otherwise just had a glass or two.