Monday, January 11, 2016

Pennsylvania isn't even a good Liquor Control State

Seventeen states are considered "Liquor Control" states with only two, Pennsylvania and Utah, fully controlling wine and liquor sales from warehouse dock to retail counter. Pennsylvania is by far the largest system, mainly because of the wine monopoly, and because it has the largest population; not because the PLCB is doing anything special or inventive, or God forbid, efficient.

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.

Want the best wines? Better figure on taking a trip.
StateWays also has their own Best Wines of 2015 listing. They don't say if their selections are available in control states or not, but a quick check of the top two in each category shows that the Pennsylvania State Stores:
  • 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
So this quick look shows that the PLCB stocks 1 in 10 (at 5 stores) and can get 2 others if you want to pay more, sometimes A LOT more. (We're always told by the State Store Apologists that these SLO and allocations are set by the suppliers, not the PLCB: really? Then why don't they set them for the other control states?)
 
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:

Anonymous said...

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.



Anonymous said...

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.

Albert Brooks said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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...

Lew Bryson said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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...

Albert Brooks said...

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?

Anonymous said...

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.

Lew Bryson said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.

Lew Bryson said...

No argument here. I think they should have gone full honest, and gone back to STATE STORE.

Albert Brooks said...

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.

Anonymous said...

It is called lipstick!