One of my social media fans emailed me yesterday to remind me - or maybe just to cheer me up - that the coronavirus managed to do something I have been trying to accomplish for years.
That would be get Pennsylvania out of the booze business.
The commonwealth's Fine Wine & Good Spirits outlets - what we used to call state stores - were one of the early targets of Gov. Tom Wolf's crackdown in locking down much of the state.
When Wolf announced his order - late on a Saturday afternoon - it sparked a rush on the stores, which were due to be shuttered the following Tuesday night.
While its brick and mortar locations were locked down, the state has tried to continue online sales - with spotty success.
The Commonwealth again opened online sales Wednesday afternoon, only to have the site crash after being deluged by orders.
This was the message most customers faced when they tried to go online to buy some booze Wednesday:
“Due to overwhelming demand, the online store is not available at this time. Please try again tomorrow or in the coming days.”
Now the state is revising their plans. They now will offer online sales, but will stagger them throughout the day.
Customers will be limited to one transaction per address per day, with a limit of six bottles per transaction from a reduced catalogue.
Of course, they could just blow up the entire system and privatize the sale of alcohol in the state, but I think I may have made that argument before.
I'm thinking all those people standing in the line to get into Total Wine just a stone's throw over the border in Claymont Delaware, might agree with me.
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