States in the liquor business -does it make sense?

[whitehall]

I guess it's mostly in the South and either a hold-over from the prohibition era or the old religious affiliated "blue law" days. I have no axe to grind on the matter but I wonder why the state of Virginia thinks that the private sector is unwilling or unable to lawfully sell bottled spirits. It's seems rather inconvenient for the state to rent property, maintain inventory and security when the private sector could do it at half the cost. Liquor stores are well regulated by federal, state and local laws in most of the Country and there doesn't seem to be a problem. In Arizona they sell hard liquor in grocery stores.

 

[whitehall]

The dirty little secret is that government does not operate efficiently in a capitalist environment because they don't have to. ABC employees are paid by the taxpayers and any retail shop can employ thirty people in a single store while the private sector can get by with a handfull. The question is whether ABC stores generate more or less revenue to the state than private enterprise.

 

[auditor0007]

Liquor stores run by the state make no sense financially. States that operate in this manner end up losing tax revenue because they do not know how to run a liquor store. I live in Ohio and you generally have to go to a separate liquor store for your hard liquor. That is just stupid to begin with. The worst part about it is that the state just has way too much control and this limits the selection of product available. When I lived in Colorado, they had a very interesting set up. Grocery stores were not permitted to sell anything other than 3.2% beer and wine. This may have changed since I moved, but what it did was to help create some massive liquor stores that sold everything under the sun.

If you want to know what a real liquor store looks like, check out the video.

[ame=http://youtu.be/mSEoA_tCCNo]Daveco Liquors The World's Largest Liquor Store - YouTube[/ame]

Here's another larger liquor store in Colorado.



And another;

 

[DGS49]

In Pennsyvania the State has a monopoly on sales of wine and "spirits." They have opened the door a bit on wine, but it remains a monopoly.

In a state of about 11 million people, there are approximately 6 thousand who think this is a "good" system; everyone else wants change. Not surprisingly, the 6,000 zealots are the unionized employees of the Liquor Control Board and the “state stores” themselves. All of the arguments in favor of keeping the state stores are hogwash, and are easily disproven by looking at the surrounding states, where none of the irrational fears is borne out.

We have a “Republican” governor and both houses of the state legislature, all of whom had run on a promise to get rid of the State Stores, and yet it does not happen. Blame is placed at the hands of a couple of “RINO’s” north of Philadelphia, but the fact remains that the entire state is held hostage by a couple thousand worthless government-teat-suckers.

It ain’t pretty.

 

[martybegan]

To get prohibition repealed the sponsors of the repeal had to agree to state/local control of liquor laws. State monopolies on liquor sales are the result of that.

 

[Borillar]

We have state controlled liquor sales here in Oregon too. You can buy wine and beer at the local grocery store, but if you want anything stronger, you have to go to a state licensed liquor store. Pain in the ass, IMHO. Should be able to buy it at any grocery or convenience store.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

In Pennsyvania the State has a monopoly on sales of wine and "spirits." They have opened the door a bit on wine, but it remains a monopoly.

In a state of about 11 million people, there are approximately 6 thousand who think this is a "good" system; everyone else wants change. Not surprisingly, the 6,000 zealots are the unionized employees of the Liquor Control Board and the “state stores” themselves. All of the arguments in favor of keeping the state stores are hogwash, and are easily disproven by looking at the surrounding states, where none of the irrational fears is borne out.

We have a “Republican” governor and both houses of the state legislature, all of whom had run on a promise to get rid of the State Stores, and yet it does not happen. Blame is placed at the hands of a couple of “RINO’s” north of Philadelphia, but the fact remains that the entire state is held hostage by a couple thousand worthless government-teat-suckers.

It ain’t pretty.

My friend is a lawyer for the PA Liquor control board, and he thinks it's a fucking moronic system.

 

[whitehall]

The well established axiom regarding government run systems is that they are notoriously inefficient simply because they don't have to give a shit or make money. Government employee salaries and the cost of goods and services are paid by the taxpayers. They have a guaranteed monopoly so they don't have to worry about rent or transportation or red tape and taxes. They are the red tape and taxes. I'd be surprised if ABC stores even broke even.