Thailand’s liquor vendors want 2-5pm alcohol sales ban revoked

[snoop1130]

 

Sixteen entertainment establishments are calling on the government to scrap a law, introduced by a military junta in 1972, which bans the sale of alcoholic beverages between 2pm and 5pm.

 

Former president of the Thai Alcohol Beverage Business Association and an executive of a liquor company, Thanakorn Kuptajit, said today (Thursday) that the 50-year-0ld law is irrelevant in the present circumstances and does not help to discourage Thais from drinking because, while prohibiting the sale of alcohol, the law does not ban drinking during those hours.

 

To circumvent the draconian law, he said, drinkers will simply buy the beverages before 2pm and then drink all afternoon with impunity.

 

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Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-liquor-vendors-want-2-5pm-alcohol-sales-ban-revoked/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-03-17

 

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[ThailandRyan]

It is a strange law especially when folks take Lao Khao shots before they head out to work or drive the kids to school.  Using the "Kids are getting out of school and we do not want them injured" is farcical at best.

[blackshadow]

ware houses sell at anytime of the day when they are open I often buy in the afternoon at 3 ish!!!!!

[Whale]

By the will of God and the Lord Buddha NOoooooooo. You drunken lecherous prai and farangs cannot be trusted to not become drunks and commit all kinds of sins.

[howlee101]

16 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

It is a strange law especially when folks take Lao Khao shots before they head out to work or drive the kids to school.  Using the "Kids are getting out of school and we do not want them injured" is farcical at best.

Agree on being a strange law.  Growing up in middle Georgia, our town was beer only but not on Sunday (can't fight the Southern ????).  I lived in NW Florida during my military days....couldn't buy alcohol until noon on Sunday (the church thing again).  The restricted hours are a joke.

[Mac Mickmanus]

21 minutes ago, ThailandRyan said:

.  Using the "Kids are getting out of school and we do not want them injured" is farcical at best.

That was never the reason anyway , its just something that's often stated on forums and it seems to have become a fact on forums .

   Think about it ; Kids are in school at 2 PM and its illegal for them to buy alcohol anyway .

  Why would there need to be a law forbidding kids from buying alcohol at certain times, when there's already a law stating kids  cannot buy alcohol at anytime ?

[SAFETY FIRST]

When shopping at Big C, Tesco etc. Its really annoying when you get to the checkout at 2.05pm and they remove it from the belt and say NO ALCOHOL (with a smile).

 

I reckon, sometimes they enjoy saying that to foreigners.

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

3 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

When shopping at Big C, Tesco etc. Its really annoying when you get to the checkout at 2.05pm and they remove it from the belt and say NO ALCOHOL (with a smile).

 

I reckon, sometimes they enjoy saying that to foreigners.

 

It must be annoying for the cashier , to keep telling you that you cannot buy alcohol after 2 PM , she must be thinking "How many times do I need to tell him before he remembers"

[darksidedog]

It's a ridiculous law, totally outdated and utterly ignored by millions, and policed negligibly.

Common sense says to drop it by the wayside, especially when you want tourists, but Thailand is Thailand, so don't expect common sense to prevail.

It will go one day and those with an active mind, as the article itself says buy it in quantity early, which enables the law to be ineffective, so pointless.

Getting a Thai career bureaucrat with barely a handful of connected and functioning brain cells to work that out is going to take time though. Then more time for the even more brainless above them to vote it through, while they try to work out if there is more or less money, or popularity in it for them.

 

[Moonlover]

42 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

When shopping at Big C, Tesco etc. Its really annoying when you get to the checkout at 2.05pm and they remove it from the belt and say NO ALCOHOL (with a smile).

 

I reckon, sometimes they enjoy saying that to foreigners.

 

They remove the offending items because the register will reject them anyway. If it happens to you often maybe you should check the time before you approach the checkout.

 

Or just buy local at a time of your choosing as I do. When you've spent a lot of time, as I have, working in the middle east you would find minor inconveniences like this much less irritating.

[sammieuk1]

Good news for monks cheers brothers ????

[Captain Monday]

I saw a younger European woman selecting alcohol drinks at Rimping market around 15:00.

I was going to say something to her but I did not want to be thought of as some kind of weirdo. So I decided to let her encounter  true weirdness of Thailand on her own terms. 

[Mac Mickmanus]

14 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

I saw a younger European woman selecting alcohol drinks at Rimping market around 15:00.

I was going to say something to her but I did not want to be thought of as some kind of weirdo. So I decided to let her encounter  true weirdness of Thailand on her own terms. 

Informing someone that they couldn't purchase alcohol at 3 PM really isn't a "weird" thing to do, its actually being quite helpful to the person .

  What made you think that it would be a weird thing to do . 

Although it my have been weird if you  were lustfully leering at her whilst she was shopping  

[soi3eddie]

5 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Think about it ; Kids are in school at 2 PM and its illegal for them to buy alcohol anyway .

  Why would there need to be a law forbidding kids from buying alcohol at certain times, when there's already a law stating kids  cannot buy alcohol at anytime ?

Did you know that stores (in my experience 7-11s) near to schools are not allowed to sell alcohol? Not sure what the proximity limit is but there is a 7-11 in Soi 88, Hua Hin opposite a school that does not sell alcohol.

 

[Mac Mickmanus]

7 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Did you know that stores (in my experience 7-11s) near to schools are not allowed to sell alcohol? Not sure what the proximity limit is but there is a 7-11 in Soi 88, Hua Hin opposite a school that does not sell alcohol.

 

The alcohol ban is for Universities and higher educational sites , alcohol cannot be sold within 300 meters of a Uni or college , that ban doesn't apply to lower schools  

[Meat Pie 47]

14 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Did you know that stores (in my experience 7-11s) near to schools are not allowed to sell alcohol? Not sure what the proximity limit is but there is a 7-11 in Soi 88, Hua Hin opposite a school that does not sell alcohol.

 

Well I have news for you try any normal shop or 7/11 in Oz to buy alcohol is a no no you can only buy alcohol in bottleshops but they are open all day not in supermarkets but some have a bottleshop attached but not in a supermarket or 7/11

Edited March 17, 2022 by Meat Pie 47

[soi3eddie]

10 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

The alcohol ban is for Universities and higher educational sites , alcohol cannot be sold within 300 meters of a Uni or college , that ban doesn't apply to lower schools  

Here's a street view of the 7-11 and school in Hua Hin. Don't think it's higher-ed. Maybe rules interpreted differently by certain juristictions? I asked staff and they told me because of the school. That's what they said (and they definitely did not have any alcohol displays).

[SAFETY FIRST]

6 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

It must be annoying for the cashier , to keep telling you that you cannot buy alcohol after 2 PM , she must be thinking "How many times do I need to tell him before he remembers"

Yep, I'm a slow learner, it's happened to me twice, never again. 

 

The point I was making for those of you that don't understand was, the strict 2pm cutoff is rediculous. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by SAFETY FIRST

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

10 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

when folks take Lao Khao shots before they head out to work or drive the kids to school

The worst drivers on the road are those in the รถรับส่งนักเรียน minivans (car to get and send students), packed full of kids, before and after school. Driving too fast, swerving around the other cars. Wife and I say they're definitely on the lao khao. I'd say they're a far greater danger to the kids than them drinking alcohol directly.

[Scott]

Inflammatory post and reply reported and removed.  

[sumongkhwai]

Well, whenever we do a Tesco run we make sure to get there before 2:00. Occasionally, we'll get there close to 2:00 so, I just make my purchase and catch up to the wife to finish up our shopping. It's really not that hard....

[2long]

Growing up in the UK this was normal, but about 30 years ago the UK dropped the law, quite rightly. I have heard (I'm not saying it's a fact) that the law in the UK was implemented to prevent bomb makers in WWII from taking their eye off the job at hand that might result in horrific results. And that Thailand just copied the UK... but of course the UK saw sense after a while, which Thailand hasn't yet.

 

The OP says it's 50 years old here, but I remember the Interior Minister under Thaksin bringing it (back) in, or at least enforcing it. Because for sure 18-23 years ago it was never an issue in any shops.

[Cleareye]

Was that law really introduced in 1972? I thought it was implemented in 2006 after the first coup.  I remember them shutting down morning sales at the grocery store anyway.

[4MyEgo]

10 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

When shopping at Big C, Tesco etc. Its really annoying when you get to the checkout at 2.05pm and they remove it from the belt and say NO ALCOHOL (with a smile).

 

I reckon, sometimes they enjoy saying that to foreigners.

 

If I get to Makro or any other place to buy my cases just before the 2pm cut off, I will grab the cases, go to the less than 10 items, get the to scan it, pay for it with 2 minutes to spare usually, and then go back in and do me shopping, too easy.

 

Truth be told, took me a while to get around the time restrictions as I used to mix them up, e.g. I would think the alcohol sales were between 2-5 instead of 11-2, how many times was I told, no can sell, come back after 5pm, how embarrassment.

[jacko45k]

How about the pre-11 am limit? Would like to pick up the odd cans or case doing my early morning shop!

Edited March 17, 2022 by jacko45k

[Skeptic7]

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

introduced by a military junta in 1972, which bans the sale of alcoholic beverages between 2pm and 5pm.

But didn't seriously start being enforced until sometime in past decade. Absolutely the most inane and vacuous law in a country which excels in both attributes. 

[inThailand]

If it makes sense they won't do it?

How long have you been here, not to know Thai ways? 

[SAFETY FIRST]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

If I get to Makro or any other place to buy my cases just before the 2pm cut off, I will grab the cases, go to the less than 10 items, get the to scan it, pay for it with 2 minutes to spare usually, and then go back in and do me shopping, too easy.

 

Truth be told, took me a while to get around the time restrictions as I used to mix them up, e.g. I would think the alcohol sales were between 2-5 instead of 11-2, how many times was I told, no can sell, come back after 5pm, how embarrassment.

Agree 

 

Like a few of the members are saying, you've got to schedule your shopping around the alcohol sale times. Weird law 

 

At times after my shopping I've stopped of at the Thai bottle shop to buy my alcohol, they're everywhere (they've done well during covid) and sell all the time.

Only problem I've found they don't take credit cards. 

 

[4MyEgo]

5 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

At times after my shopping I've stopped of at the Thai bottle shop to buy my alcohol, they're everywhere (they've done well during covid) and sell all the time.

Only problem I've found they don't take credit cards. 

I don't own a credit card, personal choice for what's it's worth, that said, the particular beer that I buy is about 2 x 330ml bottles cheaper at Makro than the local bottle shop, so I figure why pay for example 680 baht, when I can buy it for 600 baht, 2 free 330ml bottles for me.

 

The above said, I will buy 2 cases at a time as Makro is an hours drive for me and those 2 cases will last me 6 weeks, believe it or not, yes I am a slow drinker as I respect my liver, laugh if you like, but have seen a few too many go by the waste side from that thing we all enjoy too much, for me, its enjoyment by moderation. 

[IAMHERE]

That alcohol sales law doesn't do what it is designed to do. Why keep a law that is flawed? TiT, where progress is in your future.