Alcohol duty free concession

[justinbrett]

Haha, fair point. I am more thinking along the lines of Vodka. You can get quite reasonable Vodka at a very low price overseas. For example I wouldn't mind drinking Kirklands Vodka purchased from US Costco.

You are right though that buying a cheap whisky in a plastic bottle is asking for trouble...

You can get Kirklands Vodka (and other types) at Australian Costcos (other than the oppressive states that ban in-supermarket liquor stores). But it's not as cheap - because most of the sticker price in Australia is tax.

When you see a bottle of 40% booze selling for $40, nearly $30 of that is tax, meaning the booze itself is only $10.

Alcohol itself is sold fairly cheap here - which just goes to show how much of a rip off Duty Free is.

 

[Forg]

Yeah I think Kirkland vodka is about $70 for a litre bottle? Or maybe it’s a 1.5L bottle. Even if that’s 10x the cost c/f when you buy it in the USA (due to US employees not being paid enough & alcohol excise here), ain’t worth the hassle of bringing a bottle in.

IMHO enjoy the cheap boozle OS and accept we pay a bit more here … an extra amount that’s more than made-up for by our overall standard of living. And if something you can’t buy here catches your eye while OS, then grab that to bring back!

 

[SYD]

When you see a bottle of 40% booze selling for $40, nearly $30 of that is tax, meaning the booze itself is only $10.

Alcohol itself is sold fairly cheap here - which just goes to show how much of a rip off Duty Free is.

In so much as you don’t get it fully “tax free”…

 

[justinbrett]

(due to US employees not being paid enough & alcohol excise here)

Wild accusation there...

Hard to compare as Australia doesn't really sell the large bottles (1L is generally the max - US sell 1.75L)

But let's compare a 700ml Smirnoff Red - the most basic Vodka available in both countries.

US$9.99 at Total Wine (Smirnoff)

Australia
A$41.95 at Dan Murphys (https://www.danmurphys.com.au/produ...zomlUdwm0d67r7P2wBgaAjHSEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)

700ml @ 37.5%. 0.262LAL (x $94.41 excise)= $24.73. GST $3.81.
Bottle is $13.41 without excise & GST = US$9.13.

Now the US bottle is 40% instead of 37.5%, and 50ml larger, so that brings the Australian equivalent to about US$10.49.

Pretty much the same price. And the US product does include some alcohol tax, just a lot less than ours (sales tax isn't included, which is why I removed GST for comparison)

 

[The man with no name]

Grog is a waste of time unless it’s something rare or exotic.

It baffles me why people lug around large bottles of generic stuff like Jim Beam across the world to save maybe $10 against the Dan Murphys price.

You may be surprised to know the savings that can be made by bringing select products back duty free. A few months back I returned with 3 bottles of Italian Barolo and saved several hundred dollars by purchasing in Italy. I'll do the same again next month.

Not everyone is lugging Jim Beam.

 

[Forg]

You may be surprised to know the savings that can be made by bringing select products back duty free. A few months back I returned with 3 bottles of Italian Barolo and saved several hundred dollars by purchasing in Italy. I'll do the same again next month.

Not everyone is lugging Jim Beam.

To be fair … while the way you’ve quoted & responded sounds like you’re disagreeing with offshore171, what you’ve said agrees.

3 bottles which cost more than several hundred bucks here are exactly the sort of “exotic” thing he said was worth bringing back!

 

[offshore171]

You may be surprised to know the savings that can be made by bringing select products back duty free. A few months back I returned with 3 bottles of Italian Barolo and saved several hundred dollars by purchasing in Italy. I'll do the same again next month.

This is exactly the point I was making. By all means bring back something exotic, particularly if it’s from a region that you visited on your travels. Barolo is an absolute winner. Some of the best wines on earth.

But this doesn’t fit the bill:

lugging Jim Beam

 

[serfty]

But this doesn’t fit the bill.

lugging Jim Beam.

Sometimes on arrival back into into Oz, you can check the DF before immigration for specials.

Last time on returning from SIN, I was able to get two 37½% 47% bottles of Bombay Sapphire for $59 ... only had to lug them home ...

A lot of the time there is nothing worthwhile, so I just walk on ...

 

[SYD]

Sometimes on arrival back into into Oz, you can check the DF before immigration for specials.

Last time on returning from SIN, I was able to get two 37½% litre bottles of Bombay Sapphire for $59 ... only had to lug them home ...

A lot of the time there is nothing worthwhile, so I just walk on ...

You don’t even need to check the physical store. Go online and see what’s on special, peek at DM etc online to compare prices and then preorder for arrivals pickup. Easy as.

 

[serfty]

You don’t even need to check the physical store. Go online and see what’s on special, peek at DM etc online to compare prices and then preorder for arrivals pickup. Easy as.

MEL T2 used to have a 2 for $40 stack as you walked up - often these were not showing online. It was there pre-covid and also I profited back in January, but seems to have gone the way of the dodo since.

 

[justinbrett]

I was able to get two 37½% litre bottles of Bombay Sapphire for $59

Did they water them down for you? Should be 40% in Australia. 47% in the US.

 

[SYD]

MEL T2 used to have a 2 for $40 stack as you walked up - often these were not showing online. It was there pre-covid and also I profited back in January, but seems to have gone the way of the dodo since.

For those who don’t want to cart Jim Beam around you can preorder 2.25L for $59….

Shop Buy 2 for $59 Online | Heinemann Duty Free

Shop Buy 2 for $59 online at Heinemann Oceania. Discover our wide range of products at amazing prices. Pre-order with Click & Collect or get your order delivered to your home.

www.heinemanndutyfree.com.au

Same at DMs for $132. Or $110 for 2x 1L DM member’s special…

 

[SYD]

Did they water them down for you? Should be 40% in Australia. 47% in the US.

Standard BS is 47% at Heinemann DF SYD. But they also have “English Estate” that’s 41%.

 

[Forg]

Is Bombay Sapphire brewed by Fosters for the Australian market?
/GinSnobsRUs

 

[serfty]

Did they water them down for you? Should be 40% in Australia. 47% in the US.

47%...

 

[serfty]

Is Bombay Sapphire brewed by Fosters for the Australian market?
/GinSnobsRUs

In the case of such, its all about the tonic.

 

[justinbrett]

47%...

Nice, didn't know that duty free stocked the 47% version - the only country where that's available retail is the US.

Almost a reason to get it duty free

 

[mthucs]

Do you guys know if we can combine alcohol limits on flights? Wanting to bring back a 4L bottle of whisky from Japan while travelling with my sister. It's much cheaper than getting 6x750ml bottles.

 

[justinbrett]

Do you guys know if we can combine alcohol limits on flights? Wanting to bring back a 4L bottle of whisky from Japan while travelling with my sister. It's much cheaper than getting 6x750ml bottles.

Yep, Australia allows family pooling.

 

[mthucs]

Yep, Australia allows family pooling.

Thanks mate.

Do you know if a half empty bottle counts as a full bottle for allowances? Ie would a mostly empty 750 count as a whole 750?