A real business would have been filing quarterly reports, but I guess we citizens, the so-called 'owners' of this public nightmare, aren't important enough to rate that consideration. It isn't like some clerk is Harrisburg is sitting there with a pull-down adding machine waiting for the mail to be delivered. This is the age of computers. The day after the fiscal year ends, they know what they made within a few tenths of a percent, they know what they spent, and they know what is owed to them. So where is it?
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| PLCB - Moving at the speed of early 20th century business. |
Here are my predictions for this past fiscal year:
The PLCB had record sales again. No surprise there with a police enforced monopoly, a growing population and things costing more over time: what else would you expect?
There should be some crowing about record amounts of taxes turned in, but how is that a surprise when sales go up? Tax payments are done by tens of thousands of businesses, but the PLCB is the only one that puts out a press release saying that they did their job. Congratulations, guys.
The PLCB will not have record Net Operating Income or what they call "profits". It went down last year and I'm betting it will go down again this year. You gotta wonder how they can have record sales all the time, but rarely record profits (or 'unwasted use tax', as I like to call it).
Store, Warehouse, and Transportation Costs went up 8% last year and i say they will be up by at least the same amount this year.
Administrative, Alcohol Education, and Support Costs went up 9% last year and they will go up again by 8-10%. Don't even think that was because of the education part, since the total was even more in 2011. Went down after Rep. Turzai started pointing it out and then went back up to what it was. It's going to go up again.
So there you have it. We'll have to wait and see how well my prognostication did whenever the PLCB can figure out how to work those computers.
Until then - keep buying out of state. It's the patriotic thing to do.
16 comments:
"Keep buying out of state." I do wonder if some of the people who do that are aware of the premium collection stores.
The PLCB's new multi-million dollar computer system was intended to give "real time" info on all aspects of the business. You can get snippets in their board minutes online. The test will be how the year end info gets manipulated when it comes out next year.
The "premium collection stores" are a joke, sonny. My local store, #0909, is a "premium collection store," and there are three stores in NJ within 15 minutes of the local bridge over the Delaware River that blow it away. Damned if I can see what's so "premium" about it.
I just got back from one of them tonight, let's see...got a bottle of Kahlua ($18.99, saved $4 compared to the PLCB), Joel Gott unoaked chardonnay ($12.99, saved $1 off the PLCB sale price), and a bottle of Yalumba unwooded chardonnay 2013 ($9.98, saved $4.41, AND to get it from the PLCB you have to special order at least TWELVE; I got it right off the shelf, they had plenty). So I saved $9.41, and I got a sixpack of Sculpin Grapefruit IPA, too, which you can't get at any damned State Store.
"Premium collection"? It is to laugh.
OPEN YOUR EYES! THE STATE STORES ARE A JOKE!
OK, I'll ask. Why is next year's manipulation different than this year's manipulation? The system isn't changing from now until then AFAIK.
I contacted the PLCB to ask why their new Ardmore store is smaller than the old one, and this is an excerpt of their response, no joke: “We’ve actually revamped the way we deliver products to our customers so we do not have to stock as many items in our stores." Gee, PLCB stores are getting smaller, not bigger?
It has been know from the start that FWAGS stores carry fewer SKUs than the same size non-updated stores.
Does a grapefruit IPA make your man-boobs grow larger than a lemon IPA?
And Al, do we know the actual reason WHY they chose to downsize?
Do we? I can't say since I don't know what you think you know. My best guess is they needed room for baskets and the center stations and 30 facings each on three shelves of Vladimir handles.
You know the premise of your title is wrong. It is clearing not uncommon for real, publically traded companies to not put out or delay the quarterly filings. I mean, search Google, you have heard of Google, and see all the companies that posted their filings are delayed. I know it does not fit in to your small business crushing, pro big business mantra. But at least be honest that many public businesses do not file earning reports on time.
Why can't the PLCB even put out quarterly reports, like publicly-owned businesses do (because they must)? You won't answer that, and you don't address the real premise of the title, which is not quarterly reports: it's about late filing annual reports.
To say that supporters of privatization have a "small business crushing, pro big business mantra" is ridiculous. We are all for small liquor stores, and big liquor stores, and wine and beer sales at all types of stores. We'd love to see "mom and pop" stores, which would be a new thing for PA. There are NO mom and pop stores under the current regime; there are no small businesses to crush, because the State doesn't allow them! There is NO choice. There is only Big State Business, the PLCB Way: no choice, NO small business. And if you're implying that we want to "crush" beer distributors, they have a great opportunity under the current proposal to become "all-alcohol" stores. They'll only be crushed if they choose not to pick that up.
Don't be a hypocrite; don't create a strawman agenda.
My premise is exactly right. Show me other $2B+ retail companies that with hold their year end reports for 2 months as the PLCB did last year. Notice I said YEAR END and not quarterly - we don't get any quarterly reports delayed or otherwise. If you can come up with over half of them then you can say my premise is wrong and I'll print a retraction. If not then the premise that most retail businesses don't take that long is correct. Your ball, whatcha gonna do? Play or go home?
Good one Albert! I'm not sure anyone cares if you print a retraction or not (this isn't exatly the New York Times) but way to go anyhow!
Thank goodness the PLCB isn't a phone company, because their "coverage" of the state is nowhere near complete. I am bewildered at how far some people have to drive (or walk, or take public transit, whatever) just to get to a state store. And I'm not talking about rural PA either... I have cities and busy suburbs in mind.
If the PLCB waits long enough the budget will be passes and the momentum to privatize will weaken. At this point they can release their financial reports which will show diminished profitability and it won't influence the privatization efforts. It will also be interesting in how they will spin this given that they walked their former head of finance out of the building for predicting this problem.
I suspect this is the main reason it's taking so long. We should ask the House Liquor Control Committee why it's taking so long (no point in asking the Senate Law & Justice Committee when Sen. Chuck McIlhinney's in charge).
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