The PA Liquor Control Board is desperate to keep their monopoly. For those of you in more liberal states here’s a brief summary of how booze sales in Pennsylvania work. Ever since Prohibition ended every liquor store in the state has been owned & operated by the government and staffed with civil servants. They are the only place one can buy wine* or spirits (hence Wine & Spirits Shoppe). Beer sales are private but only bars, delis, & restaurants may sell 6-packs (limit of 2 per customer) and beer distributors may sell cases only (some are drive-thru). The LCB has been under much pressure to modernize their operations and improve selection. They’ve gone so far as to open a handful of tiny liquor stores inside supermarkets. Rather than simply allowing supermarkets and grocery stores to sell wine themselves they’re considering putting wine vending machines in supermarkets and shopping malls! Age verfication to be conducted via remote control from a central customer service center. I think the whole idea is absurd and it’s time for this anachronism to end. Let grocery stores sell beer & wine (like in most states) and privatize the liquor stores! The only function the LCB should have is granting/revoking licences and ensuring liquor laws are followed. Who’s with
me?
I find it fascinating that some of the most conservative states out there, that would never consider “socialized medicine”, are perfectly happy to socialize their alcohol sales.
When I was in the Navy in Norfolk there was a beer vending machine in the barracks. Beers were 85 cents. No pesky ID check! To think, I used to bitch that I had to walk down and up 3 flights to buy beer underage . Times sure were tough.
The people never had a choice. It’s been this way for 75 years.
The thing that sucks the most about this is that the profits offset other costs, so to destroy this anachronism would be to cause taxes to skyrocket. Which is worse, a nanny state or an extortionist one?
Eh, that’s pretty dubious. Every other state does a fine job of taxing Liquor sales to death and getting their cut. By doing away with that idiotic system they’d recover any shortages in the increased volume sold, the new jobs created, and the reduction of overhead to almost zero.
Friends of mine who keep kosher and live in Philly find this very inconvenient, as the state liquor stores don’t have the best kosher wine selection, to put it mildly. They stock up every so often in Jersey.
Those archaic liquor laws would drive me nuts. I doubt California has any more alcoholics or drunk drivers per capita than Pennsylvania. Get rid of the state owned stores and the employees and tax the alcohol. I’ll bet the state ends up making more money.
I had heard they sell beer in vending machines in Japan. I only found one out in the suburbs, but I have had the pleasure of buying a beer out of a vending machine. I guess they’re not as ubiquitous as they once were. Bummer.
This isn’t true on several levels. First off, I can think of at least one other state with a state-owned and run monopoly on liquor and wine sales: New Hampshire.
Secondly, New Hampshire uses the profits from the liquor stores as source of funding for the state. IIRC NH still has no income tax, for example. (Can’t call it major when liquor sales bring in $100,000,000 and the state budget is $4.6 billion, but it’s not small, either.)
I’m not sure whether the savings that you propose would be there, either.
You’re right, I worded that poorly. I wasn’t intending to imply that PA was unique, simply that states with a three-tier system recover their share of revenue to fund the state without any trouble. I would wager that privatizing the distribution is a much more profitable situation for the state than socializing it. State-controlled liquor sales are probably more motivated by puritanical reasons than economic ones.
Nice thing about living in Nevada is you can buy beer and wine at any grocery store, 24 hours a day, every day of the week.
Regarding the vending machines - I have seen beer vending machines everywhere in Germany and was a little surprised.
Then one of my German students came to the US for a business meeting, saw a machine in the hotel lobby and bought several beers to take up to his hotel room.
Imagine his shock at his very first taste of Root Beer.
I think he is still trying to get the taste of that out of his mouth.
Had em in the hotel we stayed in this march for our school trip. It had a little sensor where you put your drivers license or some kind electronic ID, I dunno what, for age verification. Anyway there was a sign taped on it that said “Out of Order,” but it took us maybe three minutes to figure out that while the ID system was out of order, the vending part of the machine was merely unplugged.
Ah, Pennsylvania, where they’ve got an iron grip on the booze sales, but they want to lease out the turnpike to Australians.
I long ago quit trying to make sense of the place. I’m with you, alphaboi867.
I’m just annoyed that it’s hard to buy 1 bottle of beer when I want to make bread. Also, last fall, I tasted Mozart, a wonderful chocolate liqueur. I went to my local liquor store to ask about it and found out it’s $30USD a bottle and the smallest amount I can order is a case. Apparently one of the rationales behind the state store system is it’s one of the few things standing between us and rampant alcoholism. :rolleyes:
By the way, it’s also illegal to bring in alcohol from out of state. This is why, when I visit a friend in West Virginia and I see beer and wine for sale in a grocery store, I’ve been known to think, “Oh yes, civilization!”
I don’t know if it’s still done, but at one time PA State Troopers would sit just on the PA side of the Jersey border and pull over people who had gone across to buy liquor at the less expensive Jersey liquor stores that are just over the border.
. Times sure were tough.