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Alcohol monopoly Systembolaget to offer home delivery across Sweden

The Swedish alcohol chain Systembolaget has trialled home delivery in select areas since 2019, but soon the service will be available for all Swedish regions.

Published: 20 October 2021 12:25 CEST

home delivery of a package at systembolaget

From October 25th, everyone in Sweden will be able to order home delivery from Systembolaget. Just make sure you have ID ready. Photo: Systembolaget

From October 25th, residents of Gotland, Jämtland and Norrbotten will be also able to order alcohol from Systembolaget. Although these regions have been able to order alcohol to an ombud – a local delivery point such as a supermarket or post office – residents will now be able to order alcohol for home delivery.

Tobias Frohm, director of e-commerce at Systembolaget, described the news as a “milestone”.

“Home delivery is an important part of our service, and demand has increased in line with people’s changing buying habits,” he said.

However, there are still strict rules in line with Sweden’s tough alcohol laws – delivery couriers are unable to deliver outside of Systembolaget’s opening hours, meaning no alcohol delivered after 8pm on a weekday or 3pm on a Saturday (even if your driver is running late).

Why Swedes love and hate state-owned alcohol monopoly ‘Systemet’

Drivers also have to undergo a course to ensure that they follow Systembolaget’s sales rules – meaning drivers will check ID to ensure no deliveries to people under 20, no deliveries if they suspect you’re buying on behalf of somebody underage, and no deliveries to those under the influence of alcohol.

Those wanting to order home delivery must also plan well in advance – deliveries take between four to six working days for items in Systembolaget’s central warehouse, or between eight to twelve working days for items that must be ordered externally.

The lowest delivery charge is 120 kronor for one package (holding up to 12 bottles of wine, 6 boxes of wine or 24 cans), increasing by 80 kronor for each extra package.

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OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits.

SEE ALSO: What’s the tipping etiquette in Sweden?

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user).

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

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