Posted on 04/08/2020 7:08:33 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
Trying to buy wine or liquor from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s online store these days is a lot like playing the lottery.
The odds are against you in being able to buy your favorite wine or spirits from the state’s website.
Gov. Tom Wolf closed the brick-and-mortar retail liquor stores on March 17 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Last week, the state resumed online sales but it’s been an exercise in frustration for many who want to buy booze.
With demand for these products is outstripping the PLCB’s ability to accept and process orders, the talk about privatizing all or a portion of the state-run liquor system is getting new life.
"I think it’s definitely on the table going forward at some point because people will be acutely aware of the inconvenience and by budget time, they’ll be acutely aware of the drop in revenue,” said House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County, during a phone call with reporters on Tuesday.
Sen. Pat Stefano, a Republican from Fayette County, said from what he has seen so far, the PLCB’s online system has proven “inadequate at best.”
Then again, he added that system was never intended to handle the load being put upon it. However, he agrees with Cutler that it is exposing a weakness with the state’s liquor monopoly.
“It definitely creates more heat in the kitchen of privatization," Stefano said. He chairs the Senate Law and Justice Committee, where all the liquor bills start in the state Senate.
Unhappy consumers are frustrated with the lack of access to their favorite spirits in Pennsylvania if they can’t purchase it from a craft distillery that is permitted to operate. Some people have opted to cross state borders in droves to buy their liquor.
A.C. Nielsen data released on Tuesday shows Pennsylvania’s bordering states saw higher increases in distilled spirit sales than the nation average in the first full work after liquor stores closed. Ohio saw a 60% increase; West Virginia, a 32% increase; and Maryland, a 28% increase, all above the national average increase of 27%
For most PLCB employees, the closure of the liquor stores carries with it a personal hardship. About 4,550 of its 5,000 employees will be faced with using their accrued paid leave or go on unpaid leave, while still maintaining their health benefits, as of this Friday.
A petition on Change.org posted a week ago is calling on Gov. Tom Wolf to reopen the stores or privatize the system; it had drawn 375 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon. Others have shown their frustration on social media with comical gifs.
The insane liberal/progressive governor of Pennsylvania
I don’t drink and don’t live in PA but having the state be the only retailer when it’s clear that they have no incentive to provide good service is dumb at best.
Does this go for beer as well?
I live in MD 8 miles from the PA border. The lines of PA buyers at the nearest liquor store start well before it opens.
Western PA was the cradle of the Whisky Rebellion. It may be time to buy stock in tar and feathers.
Beer can be bought by the six pack (limit 2) at the few bars still open for carryout food, or at beer distributors (deemed “essential”), or at some large supermarkets, or at some convenience store/gas stations.
No quantity limits at distributors.
Wine can be bought at some large supermarkets or directly from vineyards and their licensed off-site retailers.
No, they can buy beer and wine in regular stores.
There is a very nice “house” on the Lake Erie beach in Point Albino, Ontario, Canada. In the basement, there is a real bank vault. Inside the vault, there is machinery connected to another house in NYS by a pipeline.
I was at the Canadian house many times for social events. I have been in the vault. My FiL had a less nice house in PA.
Abino!!!!!
We lived in Pt Jervis. Just across the Delaware Rt6 from Matamoras to Milford is lined with tobacco shops selling cheaper smokes, and around May fireworks tents pop up along the road. Most of their customers come from across the state line,many fron the NYC area.
Seven states currently exercise monopoly over liquor sales. I remember being told that my grandfather in Idaho had to have a special permit to buy wine or liquor at the state dispensary. (I don’t know that this is true, many in my family tell tall tales). The story was he’d have a friend who had the permit buy some wine to celebrate Christmas. Idaho & Utah, blame the Mormons, I don’t know who PA needs to blame.
or at beer distributors (deemed “essential”),....The distributors lobbies Must be appeased by the Democrats.
No, they can buy beer and wine in regular stores......Wrong. A couple here and there.
This is ridiculous and maddening. No good reason to close all these stores. Beer and wine are still available from bottle shops, state stores, and some supermarkets. I’m thinking - and maybe hoping - there’ll be a smash & grab soon.
The place was built by one of the owners of the Pierce-Arrow Co.
Total Wine is based in Delaware and they have to be licking their chops. Ohio, too. Both are very backward in their attitudes toward alcoholic beverage retail.
Pennsylvania’s state owned liquor stores are a legacy of Blue Laws. Conservative, religious-based laws that still hold sway in a large part of the state, not liberalism. Although liberals don’t mind because the end result is a state-controlled industry. My family comes from a long line of Pennsylvania Prohibitionist Republicans that goes back well into the 1800s. They were firm supporters of these laws and would have been happy to find any excuse for the state to shut down the liquor stores. Its funny. As conservative as I am and as much as I get the arguments against it, I really don’t mind that this crisis has resulted in shutting down liquor stores in PA.
Yes it was.
Very familiar with that period of history.
“I don’t know who PA needs to blame.”
Themselves for putting up with it.
L
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