Question 3... I'm confused (buy, live, prices)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by lrfox

While this certainly isn't big enough of an issue to sway my vote, I don't have any problem with this stipulation. The self checkouts are (theoretically) supposed to speed up the checkout process. Each time someone scans a bottle or case of booze, the checkout kiosk's help light flashes and a store employee has to come over and enter a code saying they verified the customer's age before the person can scan again. This happens for each alcoholic item scanned. When someone has a couple of 12 packs and a few bottles of wine, it can really slow things down and pull the self-checkout monitor away from helping other people (or they stand there like an idiot if the employee is helping someone else). Whenever I'm at Wegmans and buying booze, I always go to the normal checkout line (the lines tend to be shorter over towards the booze anyway). It's easier for me and it causes less of a logjam in the self checkout.

The self checkout is often like an episode of Boiling Points between the people who try to scan 3 cart's worth of groceries and/or the people who struggle with technology and need assistance every two seconds. So anything that can reduce the chances of a slowdown is going to be a positive in my book.

The answer is to just follow Market Basket's lead and staff their damn registers. S&S can cry me a river. Yes all the way.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

The whole bourbon hunting game is F'ed. I'm not too keen on what your friends are doing either and the people who collect bourbon like baseball cards are on my s-list too. I just want to buy some good spirits to take home and enjoy or share with friends. People like me who are in this to just get a beverage they enjoy are the ones who are getting the short end of the stick. I'm not one of these guys hoarding 500 bottles 400 of which will probably be on the shelf after they're dead.

I totally agree with you that it's not illegal for a store to mark up prices (at least not here in MA). However, it is illegal to do what your friends are doing (reselling alcohol) unless they're doing it through an authorized reseller like Unicorn Auctions for example. However, my guess is they're not doing that.

Alcohol was meant to be enjoyed. It's incredibly annoying how so many things in life have been turned into an asset to make money off of.

I'm with you. I'm not into bourbon hunting (though I do like a good bourbon), but this sounds very similar to the craft beer scene. There's a whole market of people ("mules") who target special/limited releases and then sell the stuff online for triple the cost. Some stores do it too. There's a liquor store somewhere along the 495 belt that has someone go pickup a couple of cases at Tree House and then sells the stuff for like $15 per can. It's these folks walking out with 10 cases of beer (well over $1k out of pocket for them) that make me feel kind of silly when I walk up and ask for 12 cans to bring home.

Originally Posted by massnative71

The answer is to just follow Market Basket's lead and staff their damn registers. S&S can cry me a river. Yes all the way.

I'm a big fan of self checkout since I do a bunch of small stops at the store rather than a big weekly or biweekly grocery run and never have a ton of stuff. It's usually the quickest way to get in/out. But there are frustrating moments and it does seem like some stores are understaffing registers to save money in hopes that most people will use the self-checkout. But yes, "Yes" on 3 is a pretty easy choice for me at this point.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I'm a big fan of self checkout since I do a bunch of small stops at the store rather than a big weekly or biweekly grocery run and never have a ton of stuff. It's usually the quickest way to get in/out. But there are frustrating moments and it does seem like some stores are understaffing registers to save money in hopes that most people will use the self-checkout. But yes, "Yes" on 3 is a pretty easy choice for me at this point.

The reason it's that much faster is due to ****holes like S&S and Walmart deliberately understaffing their checkouts. I unfortunately don't live near a MB, but everything I go in one the checkout process is seamless and they manage to do it without any self checkouts.

[WestieWhitie]

Originally Posted by massnative71

The reason it's that much faster is due to ****holes like S&S and Walmart deliberately understaffing their checkouts. I unfortunately don't live near a MB, but everything I go in one the checkout process is seamless and they manage to do it without any self checkouts.

"Understaffing" and self-checkouts is what happens at places with razor-thin margins when politburo mandates bag stuffers must be paid $15/hour.

[BostonBornMassMade]

It allows for 18 beer and wine licenses for a single company, up from 9- good for supermarkets. Places like Wegmans and Publix make a killing there.

it decreases the hard liquor cap from 9 to 7 which some small businesses actually like because it makes hard liquor (more profitable) ess appealing to the Total Wines of the world. Most of the mom-and-pops cant get to 9 locations anyway.

Contrary to what WW said some of the moms and pops are very much in favor of this.

This should be a hard yes all around but its written in a way that's confusing to people.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

It allows for 18 beer and wine licenses for a single company, up from 9- good for supermarkets. Places like Wegmans and Publix make a killing there.

it decreases the hard liquor cap from 9 to 7 which some small businesses actually like because it makes hard liquor (more profitable) ess appealing to the Total Wines of the world. Most of the mom-and-pops cant get to 9 locations anyway.

Contrary to what WW said some of the moms and pops are very much in favor of this.

This should be a hard yes all around but its written in a way that's confusing to people.

Yeah, the more I've looked into it, the more this seems to be the case. From WBUR:

"Many package stores are proponents of Question 3. They view the measure as a compromise of sorts: It meets some pent-up demand for more licenses, but protects smaller sellers by focusing primarily on permits to sell beer and wine — not hard liquor."

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by WestieWhitie

"Understaffing" and self-checkouts is what happens at places with razor-thin margins when politburo mandates bag stuffers must be paid $15/hour.

That's probably "a" factor, but this is going on in other states without a $15/hour minimum wage. And going back to MB, who somehow manages to staff their checkout and still provide competitive prices.

[jtolpin]

I know down in south carolina, Ive seen self check out for alcohol from supermarkets, but where is there a SCO for alcohol in MA? I havent seen one.

SCO is good for small orders, but large ones? Forget it. I wouldnt do that.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by jtolpin

I know down in south carolina, Ive seen self check out for alcohol from supermarkets, but where is there a SCO for alcohol in MA? I havent seen one.

SCO is good for small orders, but large ones? Forget it. I wouldnt do that.

Everywhere that has both self checkout and alcohol. For me that means Wegmans and Costco.

It’s not entirely.”self” checkout, because one of the employees manning the self-checkout area has to check your ID. If either you or they have any idea what is going on, they can be prepared for that so that it does not cause a big delay.

At Wegmans at least, this saves a lot of time compared to normal checkout, because 80% of the time the checkout person at Wegmans is under 21 and needs to have a manager come over anyway. That is always a slow process. The one person in charge of the self-checkout is always capable of checking IDs.

And SCO isn’t for everyone, but for me the lines tend to be faster, I’m just as fast at scanning items as a teenager or disinterested adult, and I can pack my groceries in a way that makes unloading them more efficient. In other parts of the country ‘discount’ grocery stores always made you bag your own groceries, so that transition to full self checkout wasn’t a huge leap for me.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by massnative71

The answer is to just follow Market Basket's lead and staff their damn registers. S&S can cry me a river. Yes all the way.

I actually like self check out. When I go to Costco or S&S that line often moves faster than the staffed check out lines. If I just have a couple of things i can be in & out much faster (unless some slack jawed idiot gets in the self check out line and acts like they've never seen a barcode scanner and a touch screen in their lives which happens sometimes). Personally, I think the "no self check out" part of this law is silly. In self check out, if you're buying alcohol someone has to check your ID before you can check out. So, I don't know what the issue is.

Originally Posted by lrfox

I'm with you. I'm not into bourbon hunting (though I do like a good bourbon), but this sounds very similar to the craft beer scene. There's a whole market of people ("mules") who target special/limited releases and then sell the stuff online for triple the cost. Some stores do it too. There's a liquor store somewhere along the 495 belt that has someone go pickup a couple of cases at Tree House and then sells the stuff for like $15 per can. It's these folks walking out with 10 cases of beer (well over $1k out of pocket for them) that make me feel kind of silly when I walk up and ask for 12 cans to bring home.

Good analogy. Many years ago, I worked in the craft beer industry and scarcity of product was an issue but it was pretty much intentionally created by the brewers to make a buzz around their brand. There's all kind of selling/trading that happens with beer and this new trend of regional breweries that only sell directly to the public like Tree House and Trillium, etc. has only heightened that activity. In fact, I usually go to Hill Farmstead in VT annually and I walk away with 5+ cases of beer which usually costs me $500+ because i always show up with a shopping list from multiple friends who know I'm going there.

Unfortunately, to get what you want because of the restrictions manufacturers put on themselves trading becomes a necessity to get what you want. Same thing with bourbon.

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

It allows for 18 beer and wine licenses for a single company, up from 9- good for supermarkets. Places like Wegmans and Publix make a killing there.

it decreases the hard liquor cap from 9 to 7 which some small businesses actually like because it makes hard liquor (more profitable) ess appealing to the Total Wines of the world. Most of the mom-and-pops cant get to 9 locations anyway.

Contrary to what WW said some of the moms and pops are very much in favor of this.

This should be a hard yes all around but its written in a way that's confusing to people.

All the independent liquor stores seem to be in favor of question 3. From talking with owners/employees it seems they view this as a compromise and it keeps a cap on the number of licenses one entity can hold. Their fear is that the cap will be removed entirely and chains like Total Wine will take over. Meanwhile, I'm on TW's email list and they've absolutely been sending me "no on 3!" emails.

Originally Posted by jtolpin

I know down in south carolina, Ive seen self check out for alcohol from supermarkets, but where is there a SCO for alcohol in MA? I havent seen one.

SCO is good for small orders, but large ones? Forget it. I wouldnt do that.

Sure! Plenty of supermarkets now have B&W licenses or even some have full alcohol licenses and have self check out lines. Most dedicated liquor stores do not have SCO lines at least none that I've seen.