Thursday, January 23, 2014

I’m a hater


Or at least that is what one pro-PLCB representative called me and he is right: I hate a lot of things about the PLCB. I’ll start off with these two dozen or so and you can add your own in the comments.

Oh PLCB, how do I hate thee, let me count the ways.
  • I hate going to the state stores.
  • I hate that they don't have what I want.
  • I hate that most of the time I can't order it.
  • I hate that if they do have something it is usually more expensive.
  • I hate that Philadelphians (or any Pennsylvanian, for that matter) don't have legal access to anything approaching the selection of Joe Canal's, Moore Brothers, Total Wine, BevMo, and a host of others.
  • I hate that even the PLCB's buyers know so little about brown spirits.
  • I hate that the so called 'wine specialists' don’t work standard hours; say noon to eight when most customers could use them.
  • I hate that the state cheats its own citizens by not allowing liter size bottles to be sold everywhere.
  • I hate that the alcoholic's best friends -- the mini, the half pint and the pint bottle -- are cheap in PA, but the 1.75L bottles are 99% of the time more expensive.
  • I hate that a manager can’t even set up the stores they manage to best suit their customer base, but have to follow the forms sent by Harrisburg that tell them where every bottle has to be placed.
  • I hate that the PLCB doesn’t even figure that out themselves, they hire an out of state firm to do that for them. 
  • I hate it when the union says that five West Virginia counties lost all service when they privatized...but don’t tell you people in those counties still don’t have to drive as far as residents of the 20 PA counties that have only one or two State Stores.
  • I hate that while Gross From Sales  has increased 75% since 2000, contribution to the PSB only went up 49%, contribution to Drug and Alcohol education only went up 60%, and that in this "record year" the total contribution from sales is less than the average of the past 14 years.
  • I hate wine kiosks and the very idea of wine kiosks; anybody who had a hand in insulting the consumer in that way should have been fired.  
  • I hate that the three members of the actual liquor control board worked only 21 days last year.
  • I hate that they need a $150,000 babysitter because the board can’t manage to work more than 22 days this year.
  • I hate that somehow the PLCB thinks that the alcohol in beer is different than the alcohol in wine or whiskey.
  • I hate that I can’t get a case discount to try and mitigate the usually crappy prices.
  • I hate that people think the state stores are a cash cow when in reality the non-tax contribution is under 3/10ths of 1 percent of the budget.
  • I hate it when we are told that PA has the lowest incidence of underage buying when the state stores are never checked for compliance.
  • I hate that the PLCB spends more on advertising than education. Just what are they actually trying to do?  Make sure young people know what to buy once they are 21?
  • I hate it that the union thinks one poll counters four decades of polling that show the citizens want to be rid of the state stores.
  • I hate that the PLCB thinks convenience has gone up after closing 20% of its stores.
  • I hate that the PLCB keeps spending money to rename the State Stores.  No matter what they call them they are still going to be State Stores.
  • I hate that some cube rat or committee in Harrisburg decides what an entire state is allowed to buy.
  • I hate that the PLCB online inventory has hundreds, if not thousands, of mistakes in spelling or placement making it far more difficult for the consumer than other online retailers.
  • I hate that I live as far away from New Jersey and Delaware as I do.
  • I hate that after 80 years we are still discussing what the majority of the states have already figured out.
To show I’m not all bad I loved Joe Conti.  He was so incompetent that I wondered if he was secretly working for privatization.

Privatization IS Modernization and government control of retail is Socialism.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you in what you had said, and joe was put in there to loosen things up and the new ceo is a hit man, just like what happen to scott paper. just sit back and see what happens, it might be slow but things will change..

Anonymous said...

I hate that the PLCB is helping to maintain the status quo for government in Pennsylvania by standing as an institution for corruption and cronyism.

sam k said...

In regard to liquor only, I hate that I live in the dead center of the state, with no options whatever for relief from the incredibly limited bourbon and American whiskey selection offered by the PLCB.

They, on the other hand, love it.

Albert Brooks said...

Sam - there are places that will ship to PA bypassing the state store system completely. A number of times you can get things cheaper even after paying shipping and for things the PLCB doesn't carry at all price comparison doesn't even enter it at all.

Do some digging, you'll find them.

Anonymous said...

I hate the cronyism, nepotism and old boys club that is alive and well in the PLCB. I also hate the abusive managers that are going to cost the state millions in lawsuits when somebody finally gets the guts to file a class action lawsuit against them for creating a hostile work environment.