In fact, even their peers in other control states say they aren't doing anything special or innovative. In December StateWays Magazine* gave out their first ever "Control States Best Practices Awards" and the winner of the "Best of the Best" was not the PLCB, It was the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The winner for "Best Technological Innovation" wasn't Pennsylvania either even after the millions spent in cost overruns; it went to New Hampshire and Iowa. Iowa won for their web portal ordering system, which is sorta like the one that the PLCB is working on rolling out, only theirs is in place and working. Kind of like the way SEPTA keeps promising a farecard system (like the ones other transit systems have had for decades); maybe it's a Pennsylvania problem.
The PLCB pretty much got smoked. They didn't win "Best Retail Innovation," that was Idaho who didn't spend over $4 million to come up with "TableLeaf" like PA did; or "Best Enforcement Program," which went to little Montgomery County, Maryland. Probably never having your state stores checked for underage compliance by the police had something to do with that one. The PLCB did tie for "Best Responsible Consumption Program" with North Carolina, but hasn't achieved the results that NC has so far. That could be because North Carolina spends a lot less on advertising and more on education than PA for their size.
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| Want the best wines? Better figure on taking a trip. |
- Don't have the top 2 Malbecs
- Don't have the top 2 Sauvignon Blancs
- Do have the #1 Rose, but only SLO (minimum quantity 12) and priced 7% higher than the magazine lists.
- Do have the #2 Rose...in five of the 603 stores at only 9% higher than the magazine lists.
- Don't have the top 2 American Cabernet Sauvignons
- Does have the #1 Merlot, but as SLO only (minimum quantity 12) at 71% higher ($50 ea) than the magazine price.
- Doesn't have the #2 Merlot
Of course, the free market doesn't think PA is up to snuff either. The The American Wine Consumer Coalition ratings show PA ranked 47th with an "F" grade for Consumer Access To Wine, joining the large group of control states at the bottom of the ranking. All our border states rate higher, though, including the two bordering control states, Ohio and West Virginia. Who would have thought getting wine is easier in West Virginia?
Simply, we deserve better, and to be clear: better is not more PLCB, or a different flavor of PLCB, or a "modernized" PLCB. Better is NO PLCB. Tell your legislators: full privatization, no half-measures.
*StateWays is written for commissioners, board members, headquarters personnel, and retail store managers responsible for buying beverage alcohol in the control states, according to themselves.
13 comments:
Here's an LCBO (Ontario) store locator: http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo/store-locator
Hard to imagine the PLCB ever dreaming up such a good one (sarcasm, that LCBO store locator tells us pretty darn basic info that the PLCB really ought to share with us)
Since you guys (Lew and Al) know so much about the PLCB, I should ask you this: why is the service at PLCB stores so darn bad? I don't expect liquor store clerks to be wine experts, but I do find PLCB store staff to usually be downright rude and discourteous, with an obvious "I don't care" attitude. Believe it or not, I once saw a PLCB employee HAVING A CELL PHONE CONVERSATION at the SAME TIME as ringing up a customer's purchase.
Also, I once asked a PLCB employee if a certain item was out of stock. She said "I'm pretty sure we ran out of that last week" but then I found plenty of that item only maybe five feet from where she was standing.
One more incident I should share: I once asked an employee if a store carried Stanza brand wines. He said "this store doesn't have them but premium collection stores do". But this store WAS a premium collection store.
The PLCB really should come up with an online store finder, or better yet a nap for iPhone and Android! Then they might win an award or something.
When you have people who work with no thoughts of being fired and with most having no goals other than showing up that is the kind of service you get.
Would it be possible for the federal government to invalidate all the state liquor laws? I hope to see a future America where liquor laws are consistent from state to state. Maybe a lawsuit against a state store chain (in Pennsylvania or any of the other states with state stores) for closing on Sundays (which would seem to be closing for religious observances) will lead to a domino effect...
No, those state liquor laws are guaranteed by the 21st Amendment. It would have to be amended to change that, and I do NOT see that happening.
What on earth was the point of adding "fine" and "good" to the Wine & Spirits name? The PLCB was talking years ago about changing the name to "Table Leaf" but ended up making this lateral name change that NOBODY has taken notice of... in fact, a lot of people never buried the "state store" name when the PLCB buried it long ago.
They easily could have renamed the stores to "Keystone Bar Stores" or something like that. A name that would give people emotional warm fiuzzies and stay with people's memories...
The PLCB paid an out of state consulting firm over $4 million to come up with TableLeaf, which the governor rejected. FWAGS was the second choice. You wouldn't have wanted them to completely waste that money now would you?
What was the problem with TableLeaf? They used it as the private label brand. The "Fine Wine & Good Spirits" name is a waste because nobody noticed it was a change from the "Wine & Spirits" name. So much for "rebranding" when nobody notices it. TableLeaf on the other hand would at least have been noticed.
Does "TableLeaf" say "excellent liquor store" to you? It says "Williams-Sonoma knockoff" to me. The only reason they used it for the private label was because they'd already paid for it, and someone had enough brainpower to realize that using it as a store name was a non-starter.
But how is "Fine Wine & Good Spirits" an improvement over "Wine & Spirits"? I think it just ads confusion to the already incostent world of PLCB branding and signage, especially considering the PLCB is in no hurry to rebrand ALL the stores in the chain.
No argument here. I think they should have gone full honest, and gone back to STATE STORE.
Your question on how it is an improvement might be best asked of the PLCB. You are preaching to the choir telling us it was no improvement.
It is called lipstick!
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