Why is this? There is an image of the drunk who staggers around in public drinking from a bottle conveniently obscured by a brown paper bag, thus technically concealing what they are drinking, though it is painfully obvious to most that they are not drinking Coca Cola. I know that it is illegal to have an “open” container of alcohol in public in many places here, so maybe it serves to allow cops to ignore the town drunks since the cop can’t physically see what the bottle says, so there is technically no probable cause to divert the cop’s attention from “real” crime.
Some liquor stores seem to use opaque black plastic bags, something that one rarely sees elsewhere.
Or is there a legal reason that I can’t be obviously seen in public with even a distillery/brewery sealed bottle?
This is the case with Virginia state-run ABC stores. On the other hand, I can walk out of a gas station convenience store or grocery with beer and wine in plain view, no bag at all.
Actually, it seems that most retail establishments of any kind - grocery store, hardware store, clothing store - put their product in opaque shopping bags. Even the plastic bags at the grocery store are opaque or nearly so.
So why is it a surprise that liquor stores do the same thing?
My cousin told me once that when he was underage for drinking, he went into a liquor store. He noticed a policeman standing not too far outside the entrance. My cousin looked rather old for his age back then, so he bought a bottle of Coke and had the clerk put it into the sort of paper bag that they used for all liquor purchases. He walked outside and started to drink the Coke from the bottle. He noticed, as he expected, that the policeman looked at him funny. He figured that the cop was thinking, “This guy might think that he can get away with it because he looks old enough, but I’m guessing that he isn’t.” As the cop started to walk toward him, my cousin flicked the bag away so that the cop could see that it was just Coke.
I expected this story to end with the policeman grabbing him, hauling him to a nearby alley, and beating him to a pulp before saying, “And don’t ever screw with the police again,” but in fact that was the end of the story.
It’s the same way here in Pennsylvania with our state-run “Wine & Spirits Shoppes”. And both types of bages have large logos that say “PA Wine & Spirits” so it’s not like it isn’t obvious they’re from a liquor store. Supermarkets here are just starting to sell beer (under some odd restrictions) and they’ll either just put it in a normal plastic or paper grocery bag, a customer’s reusable cloth bag, or put a paid stick on it; no different from any other product.
The local chain grocery store (they have three stores) usually puts wine in a paper bag, then inside whatever other bag I have.
I think Idaho must mandate paper bags for actual liquor; I think they might supply them as well, I should ask. But on the few occasions I’ve been in the local one the bags I get tell me not to do stupid stuff like drink and drive and seem fairly officialish.
And I always feel like such a bum walking to my car with a brown paper bag that screams that I bought booze. If it were only Idaho I’d wonder if it wasn’t some religion-related “You shouldn’t drink that stuff anyway, let’s embarass you!” thing.
Even here in Utah, which like Idaho has only state owned and operated liquor stores, there is no legal requirement to take out your liquor store purchaces in a bag, although it is the norm for most patrons…
Come to think of it - it must actually be a requirement here in South Carolina, because I bought a bottle of something that came in a handled bottle once and tried to tell them not to bag it, and they told me they had to by law. That was a long time ago, though.
Yeah, it’s not too unusual for me to get the black plastic bags here in Chicago, too. Always makes me feel a bit dirty, that black bag. I always wonder if my neighbors think I’m coming home with a sack full of porno.
In addition to the fiction that, gosh, I’m not buying liquorhalo, it also seems to serve a more practical purpose when buying multiple bottles in that it provides a small modicum of padding rather than having a bunch of glass bottles knocking together.
Most plastic bags aren’t opaque, just translucent. If the plastic is pulled tight against the bottle, especially if it’s a cheap plastic bag, you can see right through it.
Hey, MBP, guess what time said store closes? 7PM! I’ve never seen that. Blew my mind. And where I live is from all reports the oddest least Idaho-like bit of the state, culturally speaking. You’d think they’d be open later. It’s a liquor store! I don’t know if it’s just a local thing – everything closes early up here, you need to grab groceries if you work until 9? You’re screwed, forget it! – or some weird law. I must remember to ask them sometime.
The better liquor stores will either grab an empty wine shipping box (cardboard with an inset cardboard matrix) to place your bottles in to prevent breakage or slip a firm plastic netting over them to prevent glass-on-glass bumping and breakage.
That said, I was a bit surprised a few years back when my dad and I were at a liquor store. We bought a nice bottle of vodka. The clerk asked if we wanted a bag for it and my dad got angry - “Oh, like we’re just gonna walk back to our car with a bottle of vodka?!”
Clerk and I were both puzzled. Clerk did give us a paper bag, but on the way out I asked my dad why he cared. Repeated the above line. So it’s at least partially a social custom - my dad has no problems drinking vodka at home, but carrying it in public? Scandalous!
I have no idea if it’s a law or not, but I certainly don’t ask for it. They nearly always put it in an opaque bag (usually in a paper bag as well) without me asking. However, when I don’t buy alcohol but I buy 1-2 items, they nearly always ask me if I need a bag.
