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.
There may be a resurgence in bootlegging but in today’s world, I suspect many residents of PA will just order their alcohol online from out of state sources for even less than they’ve been paying. This governor may just put the PA state stores out of business which will only hurt state revenues that much more.
It does show you that the governor didn’t want to close the beer distributors while had no problem whatsoever closing the Wine & Spirit Shops. The only difference that I can see is that one is private and the other is 100% state owned. I guess we’re free to draw our own conclusions about that.
Pennsylvania strictly controls who can ship alcohol into the commonwealth. Some wineries are allowed to ship, most cannot. I’m not aware of any out-of-state distilleries that can ship hard liquor to Pennsylvania residents. I think that is why the in-state distilleries rapidly sold-out of product — there is no viable alternative.
Don’t hold your breath on privatization. Particularly under the current administration... but honestly even if it were a GOP Governor I wouldn’t hold my breath on it happening.
We live in PA just about 25 miles from the NY/NJ border. Makes absolutely no sense to induce people to travel to Orange County,NY with around 4,000 cases of Covid 19 to pick up spirits.
If the gov’t got out of the liquor store biz, they would not have to make tax payers fund pensions for all those folks.
Occam’s Razor Answer: Yeah, but they’re so deep in the red that they can’t possibly bear to part with the revenue.
I am sure, given the Commonwealth state’s use of control to restrict it’s resident’s freedom, there are some restrictions on shipments of alcohol from out of state.
However, I know that my brother who lives in PA has his vodka shipped in by the case. I don’t recall where he buys it from though.
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