Alcon – Rockin d nation

By now, all drinkers know the news – alcohol tax has remained unchanged for another year.

I guess it’s good news, altho Alcon‘s ultimate aim is a restructuring followed by a reduction of taxes.

For a non-registered organization, the media coverage of Alcon has been massive.

Big-up to those who have actively contributed to the fight. Here’s a quick round-up of the last one year, with majority of publicity occurring in the last three months.

 

The Sun

 

The Sarawak Tribune

 

TimeOut KL

 

NewMan

 

The New Straits Times

 

Kwong Wah

 

Malaysiakini

 

Nanyang, i think

 

AsiaOne News

 

The Malaysian Insider

 

The Star

 

The Star, post-Budget reaction

 

The Star, random article in June

Phew.

Hidup, hidup! Hidup Alcon! (sorry to steal your battle cry, Bersih)

Believe it or not, not all are listed here. I left some of the Chinese papers out. Also, there’s a piece about it in my drinking column in Esquire’s October issue. There’s another piece i did for JUICE.

The most recent is the two-page spread in The Star last Saturday, and the BFM interview a week before. There were also our letter(s) just before the Budget in The Star.

Ambik kau!

There’s talk of doing an Alcon launch in KK and Kuching too.

So, Stage 2 (Publicity) is complete. What’s next? Alcon will continue with consumer awareness, and also encourage reasonably-priced outlets, as not all but definitely most over-charge for drinks, tho they wont admit it. Maybe they assume people blame only the government for the prices. Most people still do.

To be frank, the government is only partly to blame. People tend to always fault the government for all their problems! Haha

But the biggest cause of our expensive booze at outlets is very high mark-ups, often 200-300% for beers, and up to 350% for spirits! These are bars, not clubs. It’s unheard of anywhere in the world, and is at the least, unethical.

We’d accept 75% mark-ups, hell even 100%, but more than that is too much. There needs to be a balance, give-and-take. This would translate to less profit initially, but higher turnover, so profit might even increase. Higher turnover also means better incentives from suppliers.

Problem is, they aint in the industry for the passion, that’s for sure. It’s run mostly by quick-buck hunters. Whatever industry they make money from makes no difference to them. As long as it’s lots of money.

I’ll write soon about how many percent of your $$ per drink goes where, and you can decide for yourself if the alcohol industry here is being fair. Maybe i’ll do pie chart. The government and the actual producers receive the least.

I have a feelin even if the government reduces the taxes, consumers aren’t gonna benefit in terms of price reduction, knowing how Malaysian outlets are. Whats the point of all this work then??

Dammit.

The breweries and the spirits companies need to be more responsible. They’re big and influential, but have done virtually nothing to address this situation.

Maybe it’s time they be more responsible and step-up. They tell us to “Drink Responsibly”. How about they “Sell Responsibly”?

At the least, they can create and publicize Recommended Retail Pricing,  so consumers know what’s the deal.

To their credit, Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB) did give the RRP at outlets for their new German beers. However, this was only after i requested.

Well, at least it’s a start.

When the Euro and US$ dropped very significantly against the ringgit (up to 20%), did consumers benefit at all? Nope! Even tho most of the booze comes from there. Wait if the Euro & US$ rise? They’re sure to make us know it and feel it.

Where’s the basic business ethics in our alcohol industry? Non-existent?

An Alcon member decided to do sumtin about it – he suggested this – get responsible outlets to participate in a win-win partnership with Alcon. If an outlet is determined to be reasonably-priced, they will receive a large, bright badge certified by Alcon that they can display outside their premises, saying Fair Price Outlet.

Consumers who see this will know that outlet has been vouched for by an independent party. And all Alcon members will be notified of the outlet online via direct mail. Great idea.

My buddy is designing the badge now. I can already identify a couple of outlets that qualify. Alcon will work on this next.

Fairness is a simple concept that most short-sighted and money-minded Malaysian businessmen don’t seem to understand. These days, it’s not about win-lose-screw u, but win-win.

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Alcohol-tax time??

Budget 2012 will be tabled next week by the government.

Will the tax on alcohol be raised further, although it’s already one of the world’s highest?

I dont know. An outlet owner told me this – “my supplier advised me to order extra stock  now as the tax is going up.”

Malaysian drinkers - screwed for years by the govt and the outlets

Maybe its a rumuor. Either way, that’s why Alcon exists – to fight for fair prices for us from the government and outlets.

Alcon has gotten a lot of media and publicity lately. Hopefully there’s an impact.

We plan a submit a memo to the Ministry of Finance in a few days, so please dont just sign it, but publicize and get your friends to sign too. If we dont hit at least 1.000 signatures, there’s no point handing it over.

Click here.

Do it!

 

PS: Catch the live interview with Alcon reps on BFM (89.9) this Friday at about 6.30pm with me and Ben Ng. Yea!

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Launch of Alcon is here

Yea, the official launch of the Alcohol Consumer-Rights Group is happening this Saturday! Drinks are complimentary.

Who da group

The group was formed last year to, among others, counter the crazy taxes we face in this country. Highest in Asia. And for beer, second highest in the world! Why??

It’s ridiculous, considering how much we earn. A couple of our points were raised in this article.

Anyway, some of us decided we’re not gonna take this shit, and launched a successful campaign last year. You can read the background here.

Our aim is also to start giving free promotion and publicity to reasonably-priced outlets.

Alcon press conference

Now we’re takin it a step further, and some have plans for the year. But next step is the launch party on Saturday afternoon, in Desa Sri Hartamas.

Handing our demands to the Ministry of Finance

Places are limited; first-come-first-serve, but all are welcome to attend the festivities, so long as ur a member of Alcon. Join Alcon here. (Our Group page has 5,000+ members, but we have just created a new Fan page). And get your friends.

Media and blogs are welcome too.

Event page here. If u cant view, you might have to join Alcon first.

Need media

The more members we have, the more we can do, and the better our chances of at least freezing alcohol taxes for a few years.

Latest I hear is the government needs money, and are targeting to whack booze this year. We need to object. We should not be targets for easy government cash anymore.

Will probably need volunteers to help in photography and publicity for the event. Pls let us know on the group’s wall page if you can help the cause in any way.

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