>>715522780
I was very extremely impressed by the vending machine culture in Japan. The machines are everywhere, and there are all kinds of drinks available. I can brew ginger tea at home, I can buy a heated vending machine etc, but what I can't plausibly work around is the taxes.
If you sell a canned alcohol product (3% abv), the taxes, excises and duties run up to 1€ for a can of drink without the drink or the can being included in the price. The government demands 1€ for the concept of a canned alcoholic beverage. This is the excise on the drink container, plus the alcohol and sugar taxes and VAT. The market price for the containers, the cost of producing a drink, and the cost of bottling it are not included yet, and the price is already 1€ purely because of government.
1€ is roughly twice what you would pay for a 3% canned alcoholic drink in Japan. If Japan implemented a tax policy like the one Finland has, the government would totally and completely consume the entire cash flow of the Japanese beverage industry twice over. Even if all the costs were transferred to the consumers, most of the consumers would stop buying. Revenue would tank unless the profit margin was raised in line with the loss of consumption. Operations relying on scale - large volume with thin margins - would completely collapse. And the vending machine culture is exactly and precisely impressive and convenient because of its scale and thin margins.
As someone who has some real money in the bank and looking for opportunities to develop it, I see absolutely zero reason to do anything in Finland if it isn't completely on the grey market. The ethos of this country is that you are not allowed.
