Thursday, September 26, 2013

10 Questions for the PLCB




  1. Why do you cheat the residents of Pennsylvania by having wine and liquor only bars and restaurants can order?

  1. Why do you cheat the residents of Pennsylvania by giving bars and restaurants a 10% discount but not a case discount to consumers?

  1. Why do you cheat the residents of Pennsylvania by only having liters at special prices at about 2% of the stores?

  1. Why do you cheat the bar and restaurant owners of Pennsylvania by not allowing those who don’t live anywhere near a store that carries liters from ordering them?

  1. If the PLCB is doing such a good job of controlling alcohol then why are the Pennsylvania alcohol fatality rates not better than the national average? http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics.html

  1. If the PLCB is doing such a good job educating Pennsylvanians then why do you spend more on advertising then education? Why is the state 28th (Statistically average) in DUI rates? http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/stateDUI/press.htm#Tab

  2. If the PLCB is one of the largest liquor buyers in the United States (which it is) then why don't Pennsylvanians have the best prices across the board? Why are there so many things on clearance all the time? After 80 years one would think you should know your customer base better. You’ve been told to run it like a business then be more like Walmart who doesn’t seem to have any problems selling all their stock, having low prices and making money.

  1. Staying with Walmart, why does their barcode system work so much better then the PLCB’s? You don’t see little stickers with new barcodes on Walmart products but you certainly do in the liquor store.

  1. Renaming things does not change them.  Going from Specialty Items to Luxury Items and renaming stores from Wine & Spirits to Fine Wine and Good Spirits only wastes money.  How much did just those things really cost to implement?
    We know about the $3.7million paid to an out of state consultant but how many meetings and man hours were wasted on it? How much are 600 signs going to cost and whose relative is going to get that contract?  Is the total more or less than the wine kiosks? Remember they weren’t supposed to cost the state anything either.

  1. Why can't there be 20-30,000 sqft stores in Philly and Pittsburgh? The PLCB doesn't have any problem with a few little stores open 3 or 4 days a week with limited selection in Podunkville why shouldn't they have a few of the biggest stores in the biggest cities? What business ever did well by having the exact same thing everywhere no matter what the customers wanted or would buy?


In conclusion, based on your success with wine kiosks, the new website, the horrid Oracle upgrade implementation, failure to provide correct information for beer registration, courtesy contract fiasco, Mother’s Day ads, blaming the date rape victim, unneeded renaming of things, unimproved fatality and DUI rates, the 36 years it took to move from counter stores to self-service, the 70+ year schedule the current store upgrade is on and the numerous failures Pennsylvanians don’t know of yet, why should we trust you when you say you can “Modernize”? 

Privatization IS Modernization. Accept nothing less.

8 comments:

sam k said...

Amen.

Anonymous said...

Are these questions just rhetorical snark, or are you really seeking answers? If you wanted answers you should ask the PLCB. With so few reading this blog, and those few being sincerely dedicated to the bottle, this will go nowhere.

Lew Bryson said...

Good to know that the PLCB Partisans still haven't figured out how this works!

Anonymous said...

Don't be so sure about that. Works fine so far. Thanks for your co-operation.,Dr.Drinklove. Y'all shoulda stuck to you talking points without help from the tea party. Ciervo and the Commonwealth foundation sunk your boat. Saying I'll hold my breath and my vote over the right to buy my get high at regular retail outlets....REALLY impressed the legislature. Even Metcalfe cut ties. Keep up the good work.

Lew Bryson said...

You're hilarious. You really think anyone in the legislature changed their vote because you ran to them with PRINTOUTS FROM THE INTERNET and said, "OOOO, teacher, teacher, look what Billy said!" I know what kind of kid you were in 5th grade.

Tip to you. Adults do things for adult reasons.

Albert Brooks said...

I wonder what your question would be if I already have asked the PLCB and ot gotten a reasonable answer?

As long as you are reading I seem to be making my point.

Anonymous said...

I've read your blog for years, but have never contributed for I am a wine distributor, and I have to be somewhat careful. I have no love for the plcb, but we have no option other than to satisfy and appease them to maintain our own prosperity, and that of our employees. One thing I've noticed is that your knowledge of what restaurant owners have to endure by purchasing from the plcb is extremely limited. If it weren't, your 1st and 2nd comment would have not been included, or written like this. "Why do restaurants feel it necessary to seek out wines that are not commonly found on the shelves of most plcb stores?" Or, "Why is it the PLCB feels restaurants buy at a fair rate due to the 10% discount they get, even when it is still 20-25% more than the national average of these products?" I think it would behoove you to interview privately owned restaurant owners who take pride in their beverage programs. I can assure you, you will get a whole new insight to the issues at hand, and perhaps add about 5 questions to the post that you might not have realized. My best wishes to you all for keeping up a fight that needs to be fought.

Albert Brooks said...

Thank you for your comments. While I have spoken to bar and restaurant owners it was never directly about products not available to the general public.

What you have read before this month was from Lew and since September 1st is from me. I can't speak to Lew's knowledge on the subject,

I understand the desire to have products that differentiate yourself from what is normally available. You don't want the customer knowing that what he just paid $40 for could be bought for $12 in the local liquor store but that isn't the point. The point is you have the government deciding who can buy what where, when and how much. They are cheating the public and that includes you.