A great place to work?

Among the lies, & fallacies, disingenuous statements and statistics that appear out of thin air over at the old PLCB fudge factory, we hear how the PLCB is a great place to work! Jinkies! Cool!

But what do the numbers say? According to the 2019 annual report (on page 61) the average age of a store clerk is 44 years old. Not exactly attracting younger workers. And when they do get workers, 56% of them are part time. I don't think those are the "Family Sustaining Jobs" that are so often mentioned. Out of that 56%, over half of them quit every year for a turnover rate of 53.1%. Even if you somehow manage to get one of the 2,453 full time filled positions, there is a 49.3 % turn over rate there too. Now factor in this: 29% of store workers change location every year.

Can you say "turn and churn"? Is it burnout, or do they just get tired of the bullshit? If the PLCB isn't that good at retaining employees, just how good they are to work for?

Turn it on its head: is this mismanaged workforce of any benefit to the agency (and thus, to the commonwealth). The average sales per employee for 2017 across this kind of industry was $689,000 per each full time equivalent. The PLCB can force a "part time" employee to work 34 hours a week if they want to, so that makes figuring out the total hours the part time workforce puts in a bit difficult. I'll just go with 25 hours a week for part time workers and 15 hours for seasonal workers.

With 3,190 full time sales and admin employees putting in 37.5 hours per week times 52 weeks, that's a total of 6,320,125 hours. Add to that 25 hours times 1,773 workers times 52 weeks equals 2,304,900 hours plus 383 seasonal workers at 15 hours each, but only 13 weeks of work equals 74,490 for a grand total of  8,719,515 hours. Take that and divide it by 37.5*52 (1,950) and you get roughly 4,471 full time equivalent employees.

Now that we have the number of full-time equivalents, we can then multiply that by $689,000 for each employee and come up with $3,080,519,000 as what average sales should be. But the PLCB only did $2,126,927,971 in sales or UNDERPERFORMED the average by just about 45%. In simple terms, having the PLCB do things is costing the state about $950 Million in lost taxable sales based on average sales. Now that is the average, there could be significant differences for liquor stores. But looking at Total Wine, they are only about 10% below that average, so it pretty much confirms the PLCB is a bloated, poorly managed organization,

It gets worse. All the PLCB numbers were taken from the number of working employees as of June 2019. However, the amount that are authorized is greater.  If the PLCB were fully staffed, they would be 65% BELOW average in sales per employee. Filling over 1000 current vacancies might cause the PLCB to not be able to meet the amount of payout revenues requested by the administration.

That of course, would require the PLCB to variably screw the citizens that much harder just to keep them afloat. In that scenario, it is better for them to have less people on the sales floor. What a way to run a business!

PLCB workers, staff, administrators, board members, and your supporters in the Legislature: tell me why we need this bloated, under performing jobs program?

We are not safer, we are not better served and we are not satisfied. Privatize.

6 Reasons to Keep The State Stores - Does it still hold up?

Marc Stier, a Philadelphia-based full-time progressive political activist, published six reasons why we should keep the State Stores five years ago. I thought I'd take a look at those reasons and how well they hold up today.

1. Poor regulation

"First, in an ideal world we could count on government regulation of private liquor stores to control the sale of alcohol. That’s important, because alcohol abuse remains a major public health hazard. But in the real world, regulation fails when it is carried out by those who hate government. And academic studies show that states that control the sale and distribution of alcohol have lower levels of problem drinking, drunk driving, and the violence and death that go along with them."

In an ideal world we could count on the government to control the sale of alcohol, Stier says, then makes the self-evident observation that the world isn't ideal. It never has been, it never will be. And what does "regulation fails when it is carried out by those who hate government" even mean? The state's liquor regulations are carried out by PLCB employees and BLCE cops: are they known for hating government? Doubtful.

So we're left with our non-ideal world, where the PLCB simply isn't very good at all at control or regulation. Pennsylvania has higher levels of DUI, underage DUI, DUI fatalities, underage DUI fatalities, binge drinking, and underage binge drinking overall than the states on our borders; the non-control states. So while academic studies (set in the ideal world, apparently) may show that states that control the sale and distribution of alcohol have lower levels of problem drinking, the reality is Pennsylvania, where the alcohol problems are in the stubborn middle, despite control.

2. Union organization

"Second, in an ideal world, the workforce in privately owned liquor stores would be able to form a union simply by securing the support of a majority of workers.
But in the real world, laws created and implemented by Republicans have made union organization in the private sector almost impossible. So I stand with currently unionized employees of the state stores."

Hung by that real world again. Stier didn't know that laws (and regulatory interpretation) would change to allow supermarkets to buy restaurant licenses and start selling beer and wine. And what happened? The majority of licenses purchased were by grocery stores which are already heavily unionized, most by the same union that the State Store workers already belong to. Guess union organization in the private sector isn't impossible after all.

3. Tax revenues

"Third, in an ideal world, businesses, including those that sell alcohol, would be taxed at reasonable rates, wouldn’t get to keep 1 percent of the sales tax to cover costs of collection they no longer have, and would pay all the taxes they owe.
In the real world, because we don’t have to worry about those problems, the wine and spirits stores generate more revenues for education, health care and other public needs than private stores would."

As we've always said, in the real world, the world we actually live in, tax collection problems are not a liquor store problem, they are a department of revenue problem. And having an average number of liquor stores for a state our size (about 2,400, compared to the 600 the PLCB manages to keep open...most days) will generate more tax revenue just due to the extra convenience. And don't forget the hundreds of millions of dollars that won't be going out of state to buy things that the bureaucrats in Harrisburg have decided we don't need or want. (BTW, if Stier thinks that in an ideal world alcohol would be taxed at reasonable rates...does he think the real world rates aren't reasonable? Because that's something we'd agree on.)

4. Wage disparity

"Fourth, in an ideal world, our governor and general assembly would be working to increase wages for working people and the middle class. But in the real world, the Republicans are attacking public sector workers and privatizing public services mainly to drive wages in the private sector down. So I stand against a proposal that is likely to make income even more unequal in our state."

In the real world, there would be LESS wage disparity. There wouldn't be the artificially large difference between a stock clerk in a grocery store and a stock clerk in a state-run monopoly liquor store (who are both represented by the same union...how's that work?). Also, I don't in any way consider the PLCB a service. It limits selection, never leads in new products, severely limits locations, and generally prevents entrepreneurs from providing the services consumers want. The PLCB stops job creation and is a drag on the economy, being well over a billion dollars in debt.

5. Discrimination protections

"Fifth, in an ideal world, the state would protect worker from discrimination by private businesses, including new private liquor stores. But in the real world, LGBTQ workers are only protected from discrimination by organized labor."

Simply not true..."in the real world." Again, Stier's pessimism (and drama) has undercut his positions, as the real world moved on and changed for the better. Workplace protections are provided by state law or regulation. Union agreements do not over-rule written law.

6. Corporate influence

"Sixth, in an ideal world, elections and public policy would be determined by the number of people on each side,  not by campaign contributions given by each side."

We strongly agree! Because by this measure, the PLCB should have been gone ages ago, since for decades the majority of people polled wanted private liquor stores. And we all know who gave more money to politicians -- those against privatization, even though it was against what the people wanted.


So what does this all mean?  In 2018 -- in the real world -- there are no reasons to keep the antiquated, anti-consumer jobs program called the PLCB.

Privatize.

Free Market or Socialist PLCB - who makes jobs?

The Legislature continues to ignore the drag the PLCB puts on the economy. Every place that has fully privatized has tripled employment in the industry. A side benefit is that a free market allows entrepreneurs to open businesses that a controlled market, by its very nature, limits. Since over a third of the PLCB is already part-time the claim of losing 5,000 "family sustaining" jobs from privatization is blatantly false.

Just one example of that limitation in jobs is craft distilleries. In 2012, the first year that limited distillery licenses were allowed — years behind other states — Pennsylvania had four. Now, four years later, the state has about 50. In contrast, Washington State — with about half the population — has 86 (as of mid-July). Since privatization of the state liquor monopoly in 2012, Washington has added 51 distilleries, added jobs, added tax base. Slow old Pennsylvania has added 50 in the same amount of time — with twice the market, and our proximity to big markets in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Maryland — an increase that should be well over 100, based on population ratios.

So what is holding things up? The PLCB's friends in the Legislature and the Almighty Liquor Code, of course. How many jobs, how much investment and taxes has the state lost because of the PLCB? Far more than the heavy hand has allowed in. What are we afraid of? Success? Money? Tax revenue?

While ACT 39 has added a few jobs (mostly in the PLCB hiring consultants to figure out how to implement it), there hasn't been the boon in employment full privatization would bring. No new warehouse jobs (union jobs!) that would be created by the formation of new distributors, because the state still controls wholesale. No new delivery jobs (more union jobs!) trucking wine and spirits to new stores, because there are no new stores, and besides, for the most part the PLCB doesn't deliver anyway. No new sales jobs because there still aren't any new stores. Poorer service because while private stores depend on good service for return customers, the state stores know you can't go anywhere else. Less selection because the PLCBureaucrats in Harrisburg are selecting the shelf stock for every single store for the entire state, instead of customer requests and demand, new product promotion, and American-style competition like how EVERYTHING ELSE  is sold in retail.

While the PLCB is a jobs program, it isn't a jobs program that benefits the citizens overall, just the lucky winners at the State Stores and warehouses. It benefits them by denying and disrupting the normal opportunity and jobs found in free and open markets.

If the Pennsylvania State Store System were really all that good...Well, think about it. 

• They wouldn't be afraid of competition. 
• Other places would be trying to emulate our system. What a ridiculous concept! 
• The citizens wouldn't want change. They do.
• Pricing would reflect buying power. Flexible pricing makes sure it doesn't.
• Qualified people with industry experience would be making business decisions, not political hacks. 
• People would come into Pennsylvania to buy; instead the state has the largest alcohol sales border bleed in the country.

We aren't safer, we aren't better served, and even with McIlhinney's four-bottle folly, we aren't satisfied. The only way to really satisfy the consumer is with a free market, not a closed system.

PRIVATIZE.

Dangerous Things

We citizens of the Commonwealth are lied to every day by the PLCB, its associated unions, and seemingly every Democrat in the Legislature about how we need The State Stores to protect us from ourselves. That alcohol is the one drug that requires not only regulation by the state but state employees to sell it to us. Never mind that the alcohol in beer is exactly the same...but for some reason that can be sold by private businesses, or that the alcohol in a drink is exactly the same, and that can be sold by private businesses too (although they do want them to have their special PLCB training (which is of dubious value)).

What about all the different legal drugs? Why is it that pharmacies aren't run by the state and pharmacists state employees? Prescription drugs, by definition, need to regulated, but it seems that private business can handle that. There were almost a third more prescriptions filled in Pennsylvania in 2014 than all the bottles and boxes of wine and liquor of all sizes sold by the PLCB. Remember that these are drugs that the Federal government says are too unsafe to be sold without control, yet every state sells them through private businesses. Hard to explain why they aren't under state control, given the booze idiocy we put up with in Pennsylvania.

Drugs and alcohol are an apples to apples comparison. You can't explain why they are treated any differently on one side, because the other side is exactly the same. A logical fallacy has to exist: that fallacy is that we need State Stores and State Store employees to safely sell us wine and spirits. More proof is offered in that a strong majority of states have privately-owned retail alcohol sales, including every one of the states bordering the Commonwealth. Guess what: add them all up, and on a per capita basis, they do better in every alcohol harm statistic — DUI, underage DUI, binge drinking, underage binge drinking, and alcohol-related fatalities — than Pennsylvania. The "control" is not working.

How about guns? There is a saying that guns don't kill people; people kill people. Politics aside, it's at least partially true, since unless you beat somebody to death with your gun, you also need bullets. You can have all the guns you want, but without ammunition you probably aren't going to kill anything. However, while there are all sorts of regulations and controls on guns (though they are also sold by private businesses), there aren't many on ammunition. If you can buy cigarettes, you can buy bullets. Taking one drink won't kill anyone (despite what your D.A.R.E instructor may have said). One bullet can, yet you can go buy a whole box of bullets at Walmart. Is the state really looking out for our safety? 

The myths just keep exploding

So if we aren't safer having State Stores...why keep them? State revenue? How much is less safety and the worthless and patronizing annoyance of the State Stores worth? The entire non-tax contribution of the PLCB is 3/10ths of 1% of the budget. Chump change, a rounding error. So maybe it's the political patronage and nepotism. We have to deal with a system that is less convenient, has less selection, keeps us less safe, but still costs more, so some political hacks can have a nice state job? 

Or is it the entirety of the agency, a jobs program? If it's a jobs program, it's insignificant. The entire PLCB isn't even 1/10 of 1% of the state's full-time employment. You could fire every one of them, and the state unemployment rate wouldn't even quiver. If we're going to pay for a jobs program, how about we just add some jobs at PENNDOT?  We can pay for them by eliminating the Turnpike Commission and folding those jobs into PENNDOT. At least that will get something useful done.

I'm going to bet that it's union influence and a continuing stream of campaign money given to certain legislators (and directly to the parties) that keeps us from being normal. The State Store System clearly isn't better than privately-run stores, or other states would be moving toward it, and that certainly isn't happening. People want freedom of choice, and a monopoly can never provide that.

Private business is normal. 

Private sales are normal. 

Regulated business is normal. 

State-run retail is NOT normal.

Let's move toward normal.

We're better off privatized

After four years, I think it is safe to say that the liquor market in Washington state has settled down. Like everything else that is sold, big stores offer more and small stores offer less. People will pay more for convenience and pay less when buying quantity. Not every store is the same, which is a big change from the old state stores; just as it will be here.

How's Washington doing? Since the unions always make this about money, let's look at that. According to The Herald Business Journal total sales volume has increased 21%, and that doesn't count the couple of percent increase in border bleed. Border bleed isn't a product of privatization, Washington has always had it. It's no surprise, they've had higher taxes, and therefore higher prices then the adjoining states of Idaho and Oregon for decades. However, it isn't like the border bleed that Pennsylvania has; the population is smaller and there are no major population centers near the borders. An entire year of Washington border bleed is about a month's worth of what Pennsylvania loses.

How do we know this?  The states bordering Washington tell us that their sales have increased 7% after Washington privatized (and the booze taxes were jacked). For Idaho, that would be about $11.7 million and for Oregon about $34.8 million, or a total of $46.5 million per year being lost out of state after privatization.

In contrast, PA has at the very least $230 million in border bleed in just eight counties, and that was five years ago according to the PLCB itself.  Extrapolating for the entire state using the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association or the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America studies puts it closer to $500 million, or almost eleven times Washington's border bleed.

Sounds pretty bad, right? Let's hope that our politicians get it right and don't raise taxes when the state stores are privatized. Will convenience go up? No doubt. Will selection increase? Overall, yes, though not everywhere; the State Stores won't be charging Philly to have a full wine selection in Potter County. Will border bleed decrease? Certainly: if you make a product easier to buy locally, people will buy more locally. Look at Washington: even though there were 27% in added 'fees,' sales still increased 21%. If PA doesn't raise taxes that number will increase, and even a few percent more as border bleed decreases.

What do we need to replace financially? $110 million, give or take, which includes State Police funding, Drug and Alcohol education funding, and the average amount turned into the general fund for the past 5 years. Last year the PLCB collected $334.4 million in Johnstown flood tax and $130.2 million in sales tax. A total of  $464.6 million. If sales go up 25% then taxes collected go up 25% too and 25% of $464.6 million is $116.15 million. Done! The PLCB "profit" is replaced!  But there is more.

Every place that has fully privatized has tripled employment in the industry. New owners will be paying business taxes the PLCB doesn't pay, they will be paying license fees the PLCB doesn't pay, and they won't be looking to the taxpayer to address any future shortfall in pension and medical. You won't have as much bureaucracy to pay for, there won't be some unqualified person deciding what the entire state is allowed to buy, there won't be the graft and corruption of state employees, there won't be people who thought kiosks were a good idea, there won't be state stores trying to hide behind 4 different names and there won't be the PLCB as we know it now. Certainly a good thing.

What there will be is NORMAL. Or at least far closer to normal than what we have currently and normal is good. Just ask the majority of the population how much better free enterprise is over state monopoly.

Wendell Young lies and I can prove it.

On a Pennsylvania Cable Network call-in program (you can follow along here) on Tuesday, 29 April UFCW Local 1776 President For Life Mr. Wendell W. Young IV* made the following statements.

At approximately 5:50 into the show, Mr. Young says: “The typical store in Pennsylvania stocks 3,000 to 6,000 items. Our smallest stores stock 1,500 to 3,000 items and our specialty stores, our largest stores stock 5,000 to 10,000 items.” He then goes on to say: “We carry 30,000 items in the inventory...”

We have billllions and billlions of items.

Nice story, but the online database provided by the PLCB as of 30 April lists only 4,262 total regular items; out of that, 1,017 are close-outs, or holiday items not in stock leaving 3,245 regular items available. There are 11,661 items listed as “Luxury Items,” of which at least 25% are not in stock anywhere in the state; thousands more have only a few bottles available, leaving maybe 7,000 items at most somewhere. If they aren’t at a nearby store, you have to pay to have them shipped in -- just like a private store -- so no real benefit there.

So, according to the PLCB itself there are around 10,500 items in stock. We're not done, though. Then there are the inventory mistakes. Items like 34191 (Ehler's Estate 120 80 Red Blend St Helena 2010) are listed, but are not in stock, according to the inventory. Maybe strike a few hundred, conservatively, because of that.

Hey...trust me, slick.

But what about those "largest stores"? Mr. Young says that there is a store out there somewhere with everything Pennsylvania stocks, all 10,000 items that are left after the close-outs, not in stock, and inventory mistakes are taken out. I’d like to know where that one store is. Probably next to the store that carries the additional 15,000 items he says are in inventory...that the PLCB's own database  says are not. Looks like Wendell lied.

At 16:45, Mr. Young continues with: “When you look at every state that had a system like ours and two that were very similar to ours, Iowa and West Virginia, went through the same kind of transition at the lobbying efforts, because of the lobbying efforts of people like Kevin (Kevin Shivers NFIB PA State Director) and the folks he represents. Neither of those states ever recovered from what they lost in revenue.” Well, that sounds pretty damning. But for Iowa, at least, it just isn’t true. As I documented in this story, the Iowa Department of Revenue says they made $95 million more because they privatized their retail. Mr. Young lies again.

Privatize, and every job in the state is lost.

When you get to 17:10 in the story, Mr. Young says: “The jobs that Larry talked about will not be there, Sandra the caller was right. The retailers that will take most of these licenses, the big chain store retailers, they are just going to rearrange some of the...shelf space in their stores, reuse the same workforce that they have most of them who are part time, minimum wage or slightly above, WalMart, Target, the supermarket chains mostly non-union chains. Now, you don’t have to take my word for that, the Governor conducted a study on this, he went out and hired a company to study it –they told him the same thing. They said little or no jobs are going to be created by privatizing this.”

The study Mr. Young is talking about was for a completely different plan and has no bearing on current plan under discussion. More relevantly, every place on the continent that has privatized some or all of their liquor system has seen an increase in employment. Jobs tripled in Washington and Alberta, the last two which fully privatized. They doubled in Iowa, and even increased in West Virginia. In any case, 33% of the PLCB workforce is part time already, and that percentage is growing. Another set of lies from Mr. Young.

He goes on to talk about HB790 from last year saying how the bill claimed it would get $800 million for the sale of the system and that at 17:58: “$500 million of that approximately was from licensing wholesalers, an estimated 30 wholesalers in Pennsylvania. Every other state in the country they have 2 or 3 wholesalers.”

Hold on, Wendell. Let's check that. I admit I didn’t look at all 50 states, I just looked at the one because I knew he was lying about it. New York has 150 active licensed wholesalers.You can look for yourself here. Washington now has over 500 licensed importers and distributors. I think I see a pattern. Mr. Young lied again. 

I'll spin you right round, like a record, baby.

Of course, not everything he says is a lie. Sometimes he likes to do his second favorite activity and toss in some spin. Disingenuous might be the kindest thing you can say about that. An example of that is at 18:20 when he says: “And think about the Governor's study; said that it would take a billion four to unwind the system.” Of course, he fails to mention it would take over $2 billion to keep the system using those same numbers. Way to walk the fine line, Wendell.

One of my favorites occurs at 19:53 when Mr. Young tells us that: ”The PLCB runs about 20 stores in grocery stores and they would like to have more, but because of Mike Turzai and Governor Corbett they’ve put, they’ve refused to allow changes to the way the liquor board operates that would allow them to put more stores closer to supermarkets, next to them, or inside supermarkets.”

So if I understand what he is saying, the PLCB, which makes its own decisions on where to put and how many stores there are, can’t put more stores near or in grocery stores because of the current administration, even though they have no input on store placement, and have only been around for three years? The PLCB did the first “store in a store” 33 years ago and the have about 20 (I’m pretty sure the number is 17 at the moment) and yet somehow it is the Corbett administration who is holding up doing more. Another lie, a double lie.

That is only the first 20 minutes of an hour long show and Mr. Young continues on about the same pace for the rest of it. But I got tired of listening to and transcribing his lies. If Mr. Young wants to refute any or all of this he knows where I can be found.

Full Privatization is the only REAL Modernization.


*We've jokingly called Wendell "President for Life" at times, but of course that's not actually true. Young's father was president of UFCW Local 1776 for 43 consecutive years, till 2005, and Wendell IV has been president ever since, which might lead one to believe that it's a hereditary position, but he just keeps getting re-elected in free and fair elections. So it only looks like he's the Hereditary President for Life, much like a dictator in a corrupt, oppressive third world nation. He's not, really. He just looks exactly like it. Especially with that haircut.

The PennDot Plan

The latest Wendell Young IV press release.*

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming.  Today I would like to propose a new plan and direction for the state stores.  I call this plan the PennDot plan in honor of our union brothers who originated it.

For too long we have been trying to act like a business, be as efficient as a business and react like a business.  While we haven't failed at this it has not been as successful as we would have liked.  Today I propose we go back to doing what we do best - act like a union and not a business. Starting this week I will be working with the Board and legislature to triple the amount of  employees in each store. Where ever a customer goes they will now find at least one employee standing around waiting for them. There will now be employees guiding customers around the dangerous areas for the 6-10 months it will take to redo the floors between each of the shelving units.  Every customer will get a handout when they come in the door so they will know exactly who can help them based on one of the 50 color coded aprons.  The customers will soon learn that a blue with green stripe apron is an expert in TableLeaf Chardonnay while one in green with blue stripes is a Franzia red specialist. This will make their shopping experience that much greater by knowing exactly who they can talk to.World class aprons make for world class stores and world class shopping and we are proud to expand this fine initiative!

Stores will be cleaner and brighter than ever with a Board authorized person for each assignment to get the bucket, fill the bucket, move the bucket and finally mop the floor. This kind of specialization will make each member of the mopping team an expert in the task ready to take on the duties of the next in line provided there is a written request from the district manager at least 2 weeks in advance and that the shop steward approves. With over 9,000 PLCB paid employees the PA economy will flourish and it will be impossible to consider privatization again. These new employees will increase the total contribution into retirement and medical to make them solvent again for the current generation of PLCB employees and will give us time to figure out how to fix the PLCB pension system before they start retiring in 25 years.

All those new employees will have the time to read the labels of everything in stock and pass that expert knowledge onto the customer as long as the customer doesn't want to know how it tastes. Can't have clerks tasting the products, that would be promoting alcoholism and the PLCB won't allow that. New spirits specialists with intricate knowledge of all 14 different orange flavored vodkas will be placed at every store as soon as we can get them to buy all 14 different orange flavored vodkas and try them. Local economies will benefit as Courtesy Training centers are expanded to all counties with more friends and relatives employed truly making the PLCB one big happy family. 

I am also proposing a Wine Kiosk Museum to showcase the technological innovations the PLCB has done over the years. This will have a staff of at least a dozen and be headed by Joe Conti the foremost expert in Wine Kiosks in the state. All profits from the $20 admission fee will go to the state general fund further improving the lives of all Pennsylvanians.

These 6,000 new members will see the need for a strong union, a union they can be proud of and a union that will do everything it it's power to keep things exactly how your parents remembered because a link to the past is part of the chain that holds the FUTURE!


*(Taken from notes found in the parking lot of  the PLCB and inspired by an actual union representative so who knows....it may be coming soon)

Privatization Works - An Update

In my post Privatization Works earlier this month I mentioned that I didn't have any employment figures for Alberta.  Thanks to the good folks at the Commonwealth Foundation we do now.  They report that employment went from 1,300 when the government ran things to 4,000 after privatization.
Alberta only has 3.75 million residents, Pennsylvania has 12.75 million. - you do the math.  The union myth that jobs will decrease because of privatization is not true.  It wasn't true in West Virginia, it isn't true in Alberta and it certainly isn't true in Washington.

The legislature is back in session so be sure to write, call or visit your representative or senator and tell them that you want them to get off their ass and do something for the consumer and not the special interests - privatize.  (Just do it nicely)

Privatization IS Modernization, accept nothing less.

Just to remind you what the Senate is protecting you from...

Thanks to the gutless chumps in the state Senate who couldn't pass a privatization bill (because it would interfere with their campaign cash nom-noms), we don't have to worry about this happening in Pennsylvania!

"Total Wine and More is set to open its sixth Washington state location in Olympia on July 18. The 21,000-square-foot space will stock more than 8,000 wines, 3,000 spirits and 2,500 beers, including 1,500 Washington wines, 80 spirits distilled in Washington or Oregon and 550 beers from the Pacific Northwest region. The outpost will also feature a “Brewery District” beer-tasting bar and growler station, offering 12 rotating taps of local craft brews. Total Wine and More’s seventh Washington store is slated to open in Spokane later this year."

Just imagine if we had passed a similar privatization law in Pennsylvania (without the stupidly greedy tax increase Washingtonians got stuck with, of course). We'd be faced with greater choices, lower prices, more jobs, and diminished border bleed within a year. Thank God the Senate is a spineless special-interest pool that can't bring itself to be a body that reflects the will of the people!

"I love my job."

I got another response from a person who says they work for the PLCB today (the first one is here). There was no subject line, and I'll keep the name under wraps (to the writer: if you don't mind, or would like your name used, I'd be happy to add it, just let me know); the only thing I will say about the identity of the person is that their e-mail address ("willfulmissconduct") makes what follows a little suspicious...but even PLCB clerks like to have some fun, I guess. Until I have a better reason to believe that the following is a put-up job, I'll take is as genuine.

Here's what she had to say, my response follows:

Paid more than other clerks? I don't know how many years these high paid clerks have been in the PLCB, but I make 10.58 an hour. I have been here almost two years. I cannot even afford to pay my rent and bills on that, when all my taxes are taken out. I stay, because I love my job, I love my customers and I have the benefit of very reasonable medical insurance rates. What will happen to me if privatization happens? Will I get medicaid and food stamps? Sure, I can get another job. But.....it will probably cost me 500 to 600 a month for medical. Total Wine? Yeah, right. My friend used to work for them, and they do not even offer medical plans. When they do, it is so unafordable it is not worth it. My friend took a hefty paycut, but is happier at the PLCB.

We do a good job. It's not a matter of training people to do their jobs. It's a matter of firing those that do not. I spend my free time reading wine books and attending classes. Many of my customers thank me and come back and ask for me by name. It is not unusual for me to give my attention to a customer (or set of customers in a group) for 15 to 30 minutes. I love my job. I love my boss, I love the people I work with. We are all just like everyone else, trying to earn a living and support our families. The PLCB is the best thing that ever happened to me. I am a college graduate as well, IQ of 145, and not stupid, as you would like to have folks believe. I went through a horrible divorce and my child and I were homeless at one point. No one helped us. The PLCB gave me hope for a future, supporting myself and taking care of my child, instead of ending up on welfare or in a shelter.

I turn away many people every day who are underage or have no valid ID. Try seeing the same at most beer distributors, when the owner is concerned his or her profits are down. Go ahead.... buy your wine from a grocery store, when all you have to tell you about the wine is the tag on the shelf, put out by the company making the wine. Sure thing they are going to tell you their wine is "good." As far as restaurant markups, complain to the restaurant. It is their decision if they want to buy a wine for 8 bucks and charge 25 for it.

I love my job. I cannot state that enough.

My response to her:

I feel you deserve a response. I have said on the blog, many times, that the situation and future of the PLCB employees is the thorniest part of privatization. It's one of only two issues that really concern me, the other being how to keep the new system fair, insofar as how new licenses are created, approved, issued, and transferred.

When you say "It's not a matter of training people to do their jobs. It's a matter of firing those that do not", I could not agree with you more. I hear from, and about, people like you, who are genuinely interested in their jobs and try to learn more about the products. I recently talked to a young man in a PLCB store in the Philly area who is very interested in single malt Scotch whisky, has developed a nice collection of it, who aspires to travel to Scotland to learn more. People like him, and you, should be rewarded. The type of clerks I unfortunately run into much more often, who either mumble "I don't know," or predictably, cynically, point to the most expensive wine in the section and say "This is good," when I ask for a recommendation -- both of which I've had happen multiple times in the State Stores -- should be getting training and being evaluated on it.

As far as the pay, that's a simple matter of numbers. There is a study out there on salaries of retail clerks nationwide, I've seen it, and PLCB clerks rank rather high on it. That may be more a reflection on how poorly-paid retail clerks are than on how well-paid PLCB clerks are, but the fact remains that PLCB clerks are paid more than most, and "CEO" Joe Conti did say in the PCN interview that experience is not a factor in hiring, and seemed to be concerned about that.

But I take issue with you saying that I think of, or portray, PLCB clerks as stupid. I will say that I have run into some that are ignorant of their own products, or of any products that might not be on the shelves; I'd have to lie to say that hadn't happened. But I don't think the clerks are stupid, and I am always polite and friendly to them, and hopeful of their knowledge. I do think PLCB clerks are handicapped by the system, by the policies of the agency.

I also disagree with you about carding at beer distributors. I've seen carding going on, and I've seen people turned away. I did it myself when I worked beer retail in PA back in the 1990s. The people at beer distributors are just as conscientious as PLCB employees, and by so callously saying it is not so, you do them -- and yourself -- a disservice. It's a simple fact: most underage drinkers don't buy with fake ID. They get booze from relatives or friends who buy it for them, something that happens at State Stores and beer distributors, and nothing clerks do can stop it.

As for grocery store wine sales and restaurant markups... If I just want a bottle with dinner, and I know what I want, what's wrong with buying at the grocery store? Nothing. If I want better wine than that? Well, if I lived in a non-control state, which I have in the past, I would go to a store that specialized in better wines and service, just like I go to my local cheesemonger when I want something other than block cheddar. Choice. It's what private stores are all about.

Restaurant mark-ups aren't really the issue in Pennsylvania, either. It's about the price the state charges to the restaurant, and the lack of service delivered to the restaurant, and the lack of options. Why do you think Philadelphia has many more BYOBs than other big cities in America? One reason: Pennsylvania's archaic, overbearing, monopolistic liquor code.

The main point of your e-mail, though, is about your job, and I don't blame you. I don't want you to be unemployed. You sound like just the kind of clerk I'd love to run into. But the PLCB is not a jobs program. The state should not be in the retail business, any kind of retail business. There is no good reason for the State Stores to exist.

I'd love to see you get a severance package of loans and discounts from the State that would allow you to open your own wine store, maybe in partnership with your current boss and fellow clerks, that would let you run with your love and serve the people who appreciated it. Believe me, there would be so many happy wine-lovers to support you, your store would be a runaway success. And you'd be making a lot more than $10.58 an hour.

That's the way wine retail is in New Jersey, in Delaware, in Maryland. That's the way it could be, should be, in Pennsylvania.

Sincerely,
Lew Bryson

The PLCB is not a jobs program. The Turnpike Commission, maybe, but the PLCB is not. I have said from the beginning that the plight of the employees is the toughest part; here's what I said in a comment on my very first post on the blog, the day after I started: "The hardest part about writing this, getting people to see the problems with the PLCB, is thinking about the effect it could have on people's livelihoods if I were somehow successful." Since then I believe we've come up with some workable ideas on how to ease that transition, and I hope that some legislators take a look at them.

But...the PLCB is not a jobs program. Shouldn't be, can't be. It's bad enough that it's got the State in retail.

A Shot Across the Bow

Time to step things up. I just sent the following to Governor Rendell, Senators Wonderling, Tomlinson (my local senator), Greenleaf, and Rafferty, and Representative Farry (my local rep), cc;'d to the three PLCB Board members. If you feel like it, send them something similar, but don't use my letter; they'll just write it off as kook action. You can get their e-mail addresses (and those of your legislators) easily: here's a list of senators, representatives, and the governor. Have at it.


Gentlemen,

As a Pennsylvania citizen, taxpayer, and native, I strongly believe that the time has come to end the Commonwealth's monopoly on the sale of wine and spirits. This week's reports of a $173,820 consulting contract with Solutions 21 to train State Store clerks and managers "how to greet someone, where to stand, and how to read a customer's cues", and the ensuing concerns over a possible conflict of interest when it was revealed that the head of Solutions 21 is married to one of three PLCB regional managers, put a cap on a building series of questionable decisions by the Board. The people of Pennsylvania deserve better from their state agencies.

But this is almost beside the point. There is no good reason why the State is in the booze business. Approximately 75% of the monies transferred to the general fund from the PLCB are taxes that could just as easily be collected by private businesses, as is done in other states, as is done in Pennsylvania by beer distributors now. The "profits" from the PLCB stores are not insignificant, but it is very likely that any revenue loss from privatization would be more than made up by greater in-state sales when Pennsylvanians ceased going across the borders to buy spirits and wine in other states. There is, after all, a very good reason that there are huge booze superstores right across our borders; people can get the service and selection there that they simply cannot get in the State Stores. Privatization would bring those stores into Pennsylvania, keep those sales and taxes in Pennsylvania, and bring those jobs to Pennsylvania.

It has been argued since Repeal of Prohibition that the Commonwealth's 'control' of liquor and wine sales is in the interests of the citizens, that control serves, in the words of the Pennsylvania Liquor Code, "for the protection of the public welfare, health, peace and morals of the people of the Commonwealth and to prohibit forever the open saloon, and all of the provisions of this act shall be liberally construed for the accomplishment of this purpose." But all control has proven to be is an inconvenience and annoyance to the citizens. Pennsylvania's record with underage drinking, alcoholism, and drunk driving is not significantly better or worse than neighboring states that have fully privatized wine and spirits sales. The State doesn't sell gasoline, guns, or prescription drugs: why does it sell wine and spirits?

If there is no benefit to the citizens in tax revenue, convenience, satisfaction, or safety, there is no compelling reason to continue with the State-controlled retail (or wholesale) of wine and spirits. Indeed, the State's image suffers from the accusations of favoritism and patronage that dog actions like the Solutions 21 contract and the non-competitive appointment of PLCB CEO Joe Conti.

It has been estimated that privatization would bring the State a windfall of over $1 billion from sale of product stocks and other assets, and the sale of new store licenses (and I would urge the Legislature to set up any new licensing structure to benefit the State rather than the holders of licenses; it angers me, as a taxpayer, every time I hear of a restaurant license sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars that the State should be getting). Even if that's generous, and the windfall is only $500 million, that would go a long way towards plugging the current budget deficit, and tax revenues should increase dramatically. It's a win for almost everyone, excepting current PLCB employees. Some of the windfall could perhaps go for early retirement packages and re-training for the clerks and managers, they could be given preference on other state jobs, and perhaps even low-interest loans to open their own, private stores.

There may never be a better time for privatization to succeed; times such as these favor bold solutions. Pennsylvania could find new jobs and new tax revenues while pleasing the majority of the citizenry. Please consider this in the coming session.

Sincerely,

Lewis Bryson