The LCB is apparently feeling the heat.
Good.
A lot of people, including several state reps as well as new Gov. Tom Corbett, are at least considering the idea of selling off the state stores to private entities and getting Pennsylvania out of the booze business.
It’s my own personal mission. As I’ve said many times, I want beer, wine and liquor available in my supermarket so I can pick them up at the same time I’m getting groceries.
I don’t want to have to go one place for beer, another if I only want a six-pack, and somewhere else if I want a bottle of wine or booze.
The head of the state Liquor Control Board apparently has heard our pleas.
The LCB brass want to change the rules to give them more flexibility to meet consumer needs.
They want additional Sunday hours and let Pennsylvanians have wine shipped directly to their homes.
The head of the union representing state store workers also is on the defensive. Wendell Young IV spoke to the Pennsylvania Press Club. He trotted out the old arguments of how state-owned wine stores do a better job collecting taxes, enforcing the drinking age and offering a broad selection of products at competitive prices. I am assuming he said that with a straight face.
I’m not buying.
I am willing to concede that my beliefs on this issue have nothing to do with the state’s budget crisis and whether or not selling off the state stores could be part of the solution, or just one more factor in the problem.
I just want to be able to do what I did while I lived in Colorado. I could grab a cold six-pack at the checkout line in the 7-Eleven. I could grab a case of beer and put it in my car along with the rest of the groceries in the supermarket. I could peruse full aisles of wine in the same supermarket.
And I did it all in one spot.
I don’t think Pennsylvania should be in the booze business. It’s a dinosaur left over from Prohibition.
It’s time to blow this thing up and start over.
In the meantime the bureaucrats at the LCB are preaching that we should modernize, not privatize.
I’m not going to drink to that.
Good.
A lot of people, including several state reps as well as new Gov. Tom Corbett, are at least considering the idea of selling off the state stores to private entities and getting Pennsylvania out of the booze business.
It’s my own personal mission. As I’ve said many times, I want beer, wine and liquor available in my supermarket so I can pick them up at the same time I’m getting groceries.
I don’t want to have to go one place for beer, another if I only want a six-pack, and somewhere else if I want a bottle of wine or booze.
The head of the state Liquor Control Board apparently has heard our pleas.
The LCB brass want to change the rules to give them more flexibility to meet consumer needs.
They want additional Sunday hours and let Pennsylvanians have wine shipped directly to their homes.
The head of the union representing state store workers also is on the defensive. Wendell Young IV spoke to the Pennsylvania Press Club. He trotted out the old arguments of how state-owned wine stores do a better job collecting taxes, enforcing the drinking age and offering a broad selection of products at competitive prices. I am assuming he said that with a straight face.
I’m not buying.
I am willing to concede that my beliefs on this issue have nothing to do with the state’s budget crisis and whether or not selling off the state stores could be part of the solution, or just one more factor in the problem.
I just want to be able to do what I did while I lived in Colorado. I could grab a cold six-pack at the checkout line in the 7-Eleven. I could grab a case of beer and put it in my car along with the rest of the groceries in the supermarket. I could peruse full aisles of wine in the same supermarket.
And I did it all in one spot.
I don’t think Pennsylvania should be in the booze business. It’s a dinosaur left over from Prohibition.
It’s time to blow this thing up and start over.
In the meantime the bureaucrats at the LCB are preaching that we should modernize, not privatize.
I’m not going to drink to that.
Comments
You know I agree with you 100% as do about 70% of the people in the Commonwealth. Other than writing our State reps, Senators and the Governor, what else can we do to keep this moving forward. I believe the LCB is dragging it out to let time pass and something else take away our interest.
Like you, I want one stop shopping, and none of their arguments hold water. The Unions are starting to work the MADD to use the dreaded, "What about the children," defense.
Please keep the pressure on and use the power of your keyboard to help!