Why have plans for PLCB privatization failed? (not once, not twice, but three times) (Pittsburgh: 2014, new house)

[Avalon08]

Originally Posted by Pahn

This has not been my experience. It's not like you can get liquor at the corner store. You have to go to 10,000+ sqft stores. Where were the state stores located? Right next to the grocery stores.

Selection, overall, may be larger. But selection at each individual store? Very hit or miss. So now I find I have to travel to multiple stores to find something that I could previously find at any store.

Prices? Top shelf stuff costs WAY more. My go-to example is Patron. Used to be $55 for a bottle, including taxes. Now it's that much BEFORE tax, and there are two taxes: 20.5% sales tax and $3.77/liter tax. There's more cheap stuff available now, however. Granted, prices are slowly coming down as the tax rates decrease.

I'm not saying that privatization is bad, I'm just saying that you should be sure that the legislation ending the government monopoly is well-written.

Also, chalk me up as a person that preferred knowledgeable liquor store employees earning a fair wage to a minimum wager that knows nothing.

In balance, I'd be happy if we ended up with California-like prices and the ability to purchase online. We didn't get that here in WA. Maybe you will in PA.

You're talking about the employees in WA liquor stores, right? Because you can't possibly mean the PA employees are knowledgeable about the product.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Probably if you let beer dispensers sell 12 packs, and at the same time drop this fake restaurant scheme attached to supermarkets, and let supermarkets above a certain square footage sell six packs, you would make 80% of the unhappy people satisfied.

.

Its a big state, with a lot of small towns.

Why ban grocers in Coudersport, Towanda or Laporte from selling booze, just because those towns don't have the population to support a large store?

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam

Its a big state, with a lot of small towns.

Why ban grocers in Coudersport, Towanda or Laporte from selling booze, just because those towns don't have the population to support a large store?

These are the smallest most rural counties in the state, and they all have 1 or 2 liquor stores.
2 Potter County
2 Forest County
1 Fulton County
1 Sullivan County
1 Cameron County

So I am assuming they have at least as many beer distributors. So if Cameron county only has 5000 people of which 40% live in one town, they may not have a grocery store that qualifies. But they can continue on buying beer at beer franchise, and there are already 21 liquor licenses issued in the state.

It is better not to qualify some small towns, than to let large cities sell beer at every corner convenience store.

[Pahn]

Originally Posted by Avalon08

You're talking about the employees in WA liquor stores, right? Because you can't possibly mean the PA employees are knowledgeable about the product.

Yes, WA state employees.

I had forgotten how stupid beer sales are in PA. It's sold everywhere here until 2 am. You can buy single bottles/cans too. THAT is convenience that we still lack with liquor sales. The 10,000 sqft rule saw to that and acted as a big handout to big corporations at the expense of small business.

[greg42]

You bring that up every time in these threads about the knowledgable employees, even after we tell you over and over again that PA doesn't have knowledgable employees.

Also remember we have to buy WINE in these stores too, not just hard liquor. If anything needs knowledgable employees, it's wine, and you don't have the option of choosing a store that actually knows what they're doing. You're stuck with what the bureaucracy does.

Then maybe you'll understand why we're fed up with this system. Personally I want it to change even if the prices do go up.

[Albert Brooks]

If you want privatized sales in PA you should read these.

Why The PLCB Should Be Abolished

https://www.facebook.com/groups/3552...group_activity

[pman]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

These are the smallest most rural counties in the state, and they all have 1 or 2 liquor stores.
2 Potter County
2 Forest County
1 Fulton County
1 Sullivan County
1 Cameron County

So I am assuming they have at least as many beer distributors. So if Cameron county only has 5000 people of which 40% live in one town, they may not have a grocery store that qualifies. But they can continue on buying beer at beer franchise, and there are already 21 liquor licenses issued in the state.

It is better not to qualify some small towns, than to let large cities sell beer at every corner convenience store.

a square foot minimum is an awful way to prevent corner stores from selling beer and wine. it would be wonderful if my corner store sold beer and wine. why should the supermarket have a monopoly on my neighborhood? there are alots of smaller storefronts in PA's older towns and cities. maybe if the minimum were 800 sq feet or something

[Avalon08]

I've mentioned this before, but one of my big gripes about the PA State Stores is their lousy inventory control. Several times, I've gone in right before a holiday to try to get a bottle of white zinfandel and they're OUT, except for a few no-name brands. I mean, really -- they know a holiday is coming, they know white zinfandel is (or was) very popular, and they should stock accordingly for the demand. (And it was not the same store in each instance.)

PA residents might be able to put up with the State Stores if they didn't have problems like these. They are actually forcing us to go outside the state borders just to get a basic bottle of wine for a holiday dinner.

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by Avalon08

I've mentioned this before, but one of my big gripes about the PA State Stores is their lousy inventory control. Several times, I've gone in right before a holiday to try to get a bottle of white zinfandel and they're OUT, except for a few no-name brands. I mean, really -- they know a holiday is coming, they know white zinfandel is (or was) very popular, and they should stock accordingly for the demand. (And it was not the same store in each instance.)

Did you know you can actually check their inventory? Go to Fine Wine & Good Spirits: Shop Online for Wine and Spirits in Pennsylvania use search box in upper right, then click in the tab for "in-store" and you can search all of the stores in the county for stock.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by ki0eh

Did you know you can actually check their inventory? Go to Fine Wine & Good Spirits: Shop Online for Wine and Spirits in Pennsylvania use search box in upper right, then click in the tab for "in-store" and you can search all of the stores in the county for stock.

AFAIK it's only accurate once a day, as in it doesn't update in real time. Plus, sometimes it'll say something is in the store but they can't find it.

Far from perfect and suffers from the usual shortcomings of indifferent, inefficient store staff and stocking choices made by bureaucracy. I do sometimes check it when I hear about something I want to try, often to find it's only available special order at 6-bottle minimum if at all.