Former PA Gov puts Leslie Stahl in her place
I'm stationed 40 minutes away from Mohegan Sun, and I'd be going there alot less than if I were 2 hours away. I'm 10 minutes away from the local casinos in Niagara Falls, and I wouldn't step foot in Seneca Niagara as the border crossing is enough of a deterrent (plus the smoke).
But its those stupid questions that get ratings. Just as its those stupid selfish vixen at the Jersey Shore that get ratings and those catty Gold Diggers of California that get ratings as "housewives". Reality TV has no relationship to reality. Nor does reality journalism.Quote: AZDuffmanI have to say it is about time someone told the media to quit asking stupid questions.
While distilled spirits are controlled by about 20 different states. There are only four states that also control the sale of wine and beer: Pennsylvania, Wyoming, New Hampshire control wine, and Utah controls wine and beer. State stores hours in PA vary from 9a.m. to 10p.m. Mon–Sat and always noon until 5pm on Sunday.
The PA state owned stores makes a lot of money by controlling the sale of wine, and keeping prices artificially high. Supposedly they dump $0.5 billion into the state treasury every year.
I don't care that they have a monopoly on gaming, but I wish it was legal to purchase wine in a supermarket.
Quote: pacomartinProbably the most ridiciulous thing in PA is that wine must be purchased from a state owned store. Prices are extremely high. A Blackstone Cabernet Sauvignon is $12, in PA while it was frequently $8 in Las Vegas. They are experimenting with wine kiosks so you can purchase a limited selection of wines in grocery stores, but they are charging and additional $1.
While distilled spirits are controlled by about 20 different states. There are only four states that also control the sale of wine and beer: Pennsylvania, Wyoming, New Hampshire control wine, and Utah controls wine and beer. State stores hours in PA vary from 9a.m. to 10p.m. Mon–Sat and always noon until 5pm on Sunday.
The PA state owned stores makes a lot of money by controlling the sale of wine, and keeping prices artificially high. Supposedly they dump $0.5 billion into the state treasury every year.
I don't care that they have a monopoly on gaming, but I wish it was legal to purchase wine in a supermarket.
The "state stores" have come a long way. When I was a kid you had to place your order at a counter and the clerk got the product for you, USSR-style. At the holidays lines went out the door. The first self-serve ones were maybe 1980ish and amazed people.
I will give credit that today the state-stores are well-merchandised and the clerks know what they are selling. If you sell on eBay there is not a better source of free boxes. Once they even asked me if I wanted to take more. The stores never seem rundown as liquor stores in other places can.
This all being said, PA needs to get out of the retail business. Government does not need to be in retail.
Quote: boymimboI think her point (and studies back it up) was that legalizing gaming close to home creates new gamblers and new addicts, which the governor disagreed with. The Governer's attitude was that they were going to spend it anyway (in Atlantic City, Delaware, and other adjacent states), which I disagree with.
I'm stationed 40 minutes away from Mohegan Sun, and I'd be going there alot less than if I were 2 hours away. I'm 10 minutes away from the local casinos in Niagara Falls, and I wouldn't step foot in Seneca Niagara as the border crossing is enough of a deterrent (plus the smoke).
What do you have, an F-15 for transportation? 40 minutes from the middle of nowhere in Conn., and only 10 minutes from Niagara Falls?
Quote: JerryLoganWhat do you have, an F-15 for transportation? 40 minutes from the middle of nowhere in Conn., and only 10 minutes from Niagara Falls?
I think that's MS @ Pocono Downs, which is in the middle of nowhere in PA;-)
Quote: rdw4potusI think that's MS @ Pocono Downs, which is in the middle of nowhere in PA;-)
Hey, wait a minute, I live 5 miles from Pocono Downs and I'm not in the... um...
Never mind.
Quote: pacomartinProbably the most ridiciulous thing in PA is that wine must be purchased from a state owned store. Prices are extremely high. A Blackstone Cabernet Sauvignon is $12, in PA while it was frequently $8 in Las Vegas. They are experimenting with wine kiosks so you can purchase a limited selection of wines in grocery stores, but they are charging and additional $1.
While distilled spirits are controlled by about 20 different states. There are only four states that also control the sale of wine and beer: Pennsylvania, Wyoming, New Hampshire control wine, and Utah controls wine and beer. State stores hours in PA vary from 9a.m. to 10p.m. Mon–Sat and always noon until 5pm on Sunday.
The PA state owned stores makes a lot of money by controlling the sale of wine, and keeping prices artificially high. Supposedly they dump $0.5 billion into the state treasury every year.
I don't care that they have a monopoly on gaming, but I wish it was legal to purchase wine in a supermarket.
We have the same issue where all beer and wine sales are controlled by the Province... except home brew (not home distilled... that's illegal). It limits the selection, increases the price and in some cases limits the quality. I brew a lot of my own beer now. That limits the selection, and in some cases the quality... but mostly it keeps the price down.
If I was king, the state liquor board would be abolished.
Quote: pacomartinProbably the most ridiciulous thing in PA is that wine must be purchased from a state owned store.
That is based on the history of Pennsylvania's being founded as a Quaker colony and then state. For many years, Sunday baseball games had to be stopped by 5 or 6 o'clock, aborting many doubleheaders.
Beer and Wine are regulated here in Ontario. You can buy beer only at "the Beer Store" and the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario). You can buy wine at the various wineries, in grocery stores (in a special section), and at "wine outlets". You can only buy liquor at the LCBO stores. Prices are greatly inflated (our Sin Taxes) over our neighbors to the south by about 40 percent.
In Connecticut, you can buy beer in convenience stores, wine at wine shops and liquor exclusively at liquor stores. Prices are a bargain compared to Canada, but even folks in Connecticut and Massachusetts run to New Hampshire to get their liquor, where the prices are cheaper still.
Its odd that a state-owned Package Store would be linked to Pennsylvania being a Quaker state. When breweries and cooperages were major industries, just who do you think owned and operated them? Non-Quakers? Coopers and wainwrights were skilled craftsmen and it was a perfectly honorable trade for a member of the Society of Friends to engage in. Warehouses for beer and the transport of beer were often the province of Quakers. There was nothing in the history of Pennsylvania that shows Quakers were ever opposed to the manufacture, transport or retail sale of beer or wine.Quote: SanchoPanzaThat is based on the history of Pennsylvania's being founded as a Quaker colony and then state.
Quote: FleaStiffCoopers and wainwrights were skilled craftsmen and it was a perfectly honorable trade for a member of the Society of Friends to engage in. Warehouses for beer and the transport of beer were often the province of Quakers. There was nothing in the history of Pennsylvania that shows Quakers were ever opposed to the manufacture, transport or retail sale of beer or wine.
Sounds analogous to the Mormon role in Nevada.
Quote: FleaStiffIts odd that a state-owned Package Store would be linked to Pennsylvania being a Quaker state.
"Pennsylvania's is a liquor-control system that demands, and expends, massive amounts of money. Its operating costs came to more than $1.2 billion and employee costs continue to mount: The state store at Towne Square Way in Brentwood reported a $36,000 increase in personnel costs last fiscal year; the Hermitage, Mercer County, store saw a $59,000 increase. Store leases, warehousing and transportation costs alone amounted to $284 million last year.
None of this is a real threat to PLCB's self-sufficiency, not when the operation collected $1.69 billion in sales and was able to transfer nearly a half-billion dollars to the state treasury. But all that money masks inefficiencies that no private business would tolerate.
Here's a prime example: In the state-store distribution system, all wine and spirits must go through one of three warehouses, in Pittsburgh, Scranton and Philadelphia.
That means that even though a state store is just a few miles from some Erie County wineries, the winery has to truck its wares all the way to Pittsburgh when the local store needs to be restocked.
Then the wine is loaded on another truck that goes back up I-79 to the store. Liquor Control Board CEO Joe Conti said the board is looking at ways to make the process more efficient. Then there is the sometimes-curious management of the state's 623 stores.
With the board's new emphasis on mirroring a private retail business, 13 stores were closed in 2007 and three were opened. Another three stores were closed this month.
While most of the closed stores were considered poor performers, others that lose even more money, or are located close to other state stores, remain open. In some cases, these stores have connections to, or sit within the district of, influential state politicians. In others, the reason for their continued operation remains a mystery.
And there is the liquor code itself, a statute that 75 years later still declares its intent "to prohibit forever the open saloon" -- even as it allows special operating hours for the Super Bowl and other Sundays, too.
"Some of the wording makes it look like it was written by the Quakers in the 1750s," said Mercer County attorney Jack Cline, who has represented liquor-license holders before the state Supreme Court."--http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08027/852212-85.stm
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"In 1774, Anthony Benezet, a Philadelphia Quaker, published the “first full-scale assault on American drinking habits”—The Mighty Destroyer Displayed. He argued that distilled liquor was unhealthy, degrading, and immoral for individuals and society. It “was widely read, although with undetermined effect.” By 1784, both the Quakers and Methodists had urged their members to abstain from hard liquor and its manufacture and sale."
and
"While drinking was acceptable to most Americans, it had its critics. Methodists had, in the 1780s (along with the Quakers) “denounced” distilled spirits “for religious reasons”. Their tenet of abstinence spread as their sect “experienced an explosive growth in numbers after the Revolution.”
--http://www.hoboes.com/Politics/Prohibition/Notes/Drinking/
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Even adjacent areas with significant Quaker populations were dry for generations. But eventually huge stores selling alcoholic beverages were established in, for example, Jersey towns just east of the Delaware River.
Quote: AZDuffmanThe "state stores" have come a long way. When I was a kid you had to place your order at a counter and the clerk got the product for you, USSR-style. At the holidays lines went out the door. The first self-serve ones were maybe 1980ish and amazed people.
I will give credit that today the state-stores are well-merchandised and the clerks know what they are selling. If you sell on eBay there is not a better source of free boxes. Once they even asked me if I wanted to take more. The stores never seem rundown as liquor stores in other places can.
This all being said, PA needs to get out of the retail business. Government does not need to be in retail.
They are very polite. My problem is the limited hours, limited locations, and high prices. I don't think it needs to be sold in convenience stores or grocery stores necessarily, but the price would go down if beer distributors could sell wine.
If you go online, PA sells 1147 red wines. One full size bottle is $9 and one full size bottle is $10. In California or Nevada you can find dozens of wines for less than $10 at a grocery store.
Quote: pacomartin
In California or Nevada you can find dozens of wines for less than $10 at a grocery store.
When I lived in CA in 1976, you could buy the 4 liter jug of Safeway brand wine on sale for $2.99.. My god, I drank a lot of wine when I lived there. It was bottled by Gallo and if there was difference, you could never prove it by me..
