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Chelsea liquor stores battle nip ban
By adamg on Wed, 10/24/2018 - 9:19am
The Chelsea Record reports nine local liquor stores want the state to overturn a city ban on the sale of nips and any alcoholic beverages that cost less than $3 a shot.
The stores are appealing to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, so any ruling there could have statewide implications.
Boston currently lets existing liquor stores that were initially allowed to sell nips to keep on selling them, but requires new stores to agree not to sell the tiny bottles on the theory they lead to public drinking and littering.
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Comments
I wish
I wish the city of Boston would take a strong stance on this as Chelsea has done.
It certainly wont solve all problems but particularly around Andrew square I think this could help clean up the area a bit. Currently folks in the intersection collect change from passing cars and head straight into the liquor store to purchase small nips or single beers which the containers then end up on the street.
Theory?
It's a fact they lead to littering, isn't it?
Or is the argument that instead of nips we'd just have more pint bottles in our yards, albeit in smaller quantities?
Yes. Fact
It is a fact that nips are litter with alchahol inside. It is very hard to sympathize with liquor store owners who oppose measures like this. They aren’t going to loose customers to the competition because no one will be able to sell them. They just like selling nips, which somewhat acknowledges that their profits come from drunks.
They should be added to the bottle-deposit law
and so should water and juice bottles. That would at least largely end the litter problem. How long do Coke and beer bottles tend to last outdoors as litter?
Genius!
Adding a deposit solves the litter problem and lets the stores sell their legal product in the way their customers want to buy it.
Only in Massachusetts
would a container deposit law be dependent on the contents of the container, instead of the container itself. And only in Massachusetts could the electorate be so easily brainwashed into believing that requiring deposits on ALL beverage containers is somehow a bad thing.
Not only in Massachusetts
I think many of not most other states with deposit laws also limit them to carbonated beverages, which includes beer and soda and seltzer, but excludes water and juice and wine.
Not a Fan
Not a fan of the city doing this..
HOWEVER..
We have noticed a significant drop in trash around liquor stores so it is working.
But I see a rise in pint size bottle trash...
(a chelsea resident)
Childish and condescending
Alcohol is legal for emancipated adults (except for 28-21 year olds babied by our nanny state.); they should be able to buy nips for whatever reason. We have a serious problem with mentally ill and/or dysfunctional people. This needs to be properly addressed. The mentally ill homeless need to be taken off the streets and treated humanely. Currently, they are not and it's scandalous. Also scandalous are the system of privately operated and publicly subsidized sober group homes. Why is this not being addressed by responsable public officials?
Counterpoint
Literally no-one is talking about getting rid of the sale of alcohol just the format being sold, a format which directly leads to littering. Go to any packie in the city and you'll find an increased density of empty nip bottles littering the streets all around that store.
It's very easy to solve this littering problem without getting on your soapbox about mental health.
When I used to live in
When I used to live in Medford right by Woody’s, we’d walk down my street and admire all the nips that would built up around sidewalk trees like Christmas present packaging that nobody wanted
To throw away. Lucky for me I lived at the top of the hill. When you live on the hill you got a better perspective of everything else
Agree with Ron Newman and Gary C.
In most cases, I don't favor new regulations or laws but the "bottle bill" has worked well and could be improved.
I would add nips. Also add cider, Angry Orchard, Magners etc. that weren't around at the time the law was enacted, thus empty cider bottles (exact same as beer) are not redeemable which is ridiculous.
With a multi-billion dollar operation, the Massachusetts State Lottery should also be held accountable for losing scratch tickets that litter everywhere. I recall a program years ago where a certain number of losing tickets could be redeemed for a free ticket. Very easy to implement with the bar codes on the losing tickets like the UPC codes on the bottles and cans.
The sides of some of our highways are embarrassing with the litter.
Cider
Alcoholic cider is a carbonated beverage, so isn't it already covered by the bottle deposit law?
Nip bottle bill
This references a bottle bill from last year. I've heard that there is one in consideration this year. Assume the liquor store owners have a better lobby then people picking up the empties.
It is also a bit of a myth that it is homeless drunks that buy these. It is more likely well dressed working people looking for a little hit to help them through the day. Homeless drunks look for larger quantities. I think nip drinkers think of them as similar to a cig. You drop it right were you finished it.
Why just nip bottles?
Seems a container law should cover ALL beverage containers, and not be based on the contents therein. And it shouldn't require action by the Legislature, or an initiative petition on the ballot, to implement it.