Posted on 07/13/2011 3:31:11 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes -- a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.
In the days leading up to the shutdown, thousands of outlets scrambled to renew their state-issued liquor purchasing cards. Many of them did not make it.
Now, with no end in sight to the shutdown, they face a summer of fast-dwindling alcohol supplies and a bottom line that looks increasingly bleak.
The Ugly Mug doesn't have enough beer to get through the baseball season. "Our inventories are diminishing rapidly over the next month," owner Erik Forsberg said. He was among a cluster of bar and restaurant owners who appealed Tuesday to a court-appointed special master to be allowed to continue buying alcohol during the shutdown.
Come Labor Day, cigarette smokers will be in the same bind.
The state has stopped issuing the tax stamps that distributors must glue to the bottom of every pack before it's sold for retail.
When Ross Amundson saw the shutdown coming, he shelled out more than $2 million to buy tax stamps that he hopes will last until mid-August. But with no legislative agreement in sight, he's worried about what comes next.
"We've been in business for 70 years," Amundson said. "My family started it. And all of a sudden this whole thing is going to screw us over? What happens to these retailers that we cover?"
Of the roughly 10,000 establishments that sell liquor in Minnesota, most managed to do so before the July 1 shutdown started. About 300 were caught with cards that expired on June 30 and no way to renew the permits. That number will grow to 425 by the end of the month.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Check with Wesley Mouch.
That's what - October? Someone can't figure out a way around things by then?
Baseball season may come to an end in September for Minnesota this year...the Twins are struggling.
Good grief! This morning there was the harrowing report that campers couldn’t find a place to pee in the state parks. Truly, an easy problem to solve on anybody’s IQ tests but apparently a tough nut to crack for Minnesota statists and lefty newspapers.
Now there’s this problem with a state run monopoly on alcohol and tobacco. I can’t believe this is a real problem
Look on the bright side. The unemployed can now go into the smuggling business, bringing in cigarettes, beer, whiskey and more from adjacent states. Years ago, Minnesota banned the sale of oleomargarine and my relatives in Duluth used to stock up whenever they visited us in Illinois. I’m sure what worked then works now.
I’ll bet the folks in the Dakotas, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ontario and Manitoba would be happy to do business and meet the demand. Some might even be willing to truck in supplies and demonstrate how little Minnesota’s citizens truly need all those high paid state employees*.
I wonder what happens if the Strib runs out of newsprint or ink.
*I stopped using the word “workers” to describe union employees of government. I’m open to an alternative to “employees” if anyone has any suggestions.
Look at the bright side. Maybe the new era of bootleggers smuggling alcohol into Minnesota state will create a new auto racing series. That’s how stock car racing got it’s start. Maybe we will see Ford Lightning’s running at midnight without headlights at 130 mph.
It’s not the selling, it’s the purchasing. They can’t buy new stock because they don’t have their purchasing cards. Whatever those are.
If people start bootlegging smokes, beer, liquor, wine and other fine, ingestible substances I bet the MN governor and Nappy at DHS will label the bootleggers as “domestic terrorists.”
B - double E - double R - U - N
B-double-double e- double r u-n — Beerrun....
Funny, when I started reading these comments, I started remembering a song that I had heard only once in my life. About 6 years ago, the husband and I went to visit a son and his who were living in WI at the time.
A song came on in our rented car as we were driving from the airport to their town. It was called “Beerrun”. I have since searched for it on the Web, but I have never been able to find that version of it. Interesting.
Shovel-leaners and chair-warmers?
Does anyone remember the Stroh's Beer poster entitled "Beer Run"? It showed the Stroh's mascot, Alex the Dog, riding a motorcycle wearing goggles, a leather jacket and the motorcycle's compartments were overflowing with Stroh's beer. Minnesotans need to train their dogs to make beer runs to IA & WI.
Road trip!
“Shovel-leaners and chair-warmers?”
Not bad. I’m also considering organic themes like parasites, tumors, leeches, etc.
In Wisconsin now, you can have a beer AND a gun!
Yeah!
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