Washington State privatizing Wine/Liquor Shops

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g0IU6fgEPu2s8jFKbMRoCiNjysGw?docId=39f11b38ae9d430ca1c0624f2f9fb0d9

"Washington state opened a public auction online Thursday of its state-run liquor stores, beginning the process of privatizing a booze industry the state has tightly controlled since the end of Prohibition.

Within hours, more than 30 bidders had entered the fray. Nearly a dozen offered to buy rights to all of the stores, though most bid on individual store locations.

The minimum bid: $1,000."

Yeah and the all stores thing scares me. The existing sites are the only ones that can be under 10,000sf. If they go to chains… what do you think happens to selection? And price?

If California - where liquor is available everywhere including supermarkets, drug stores, Trader Joe’s and Costco - is an example, selection improves and price goes down.

Bob, if ONE chain gets ALL the stores it could be the reverse, no?

Oh . . . yeah. Good point. How about if I disguise myself as W1NE EXPO and put in a bid for you? rolleyes

Yeah, except that’s not the law we have. Liquor won’t be sold at all of those places.

The limitation is that stores wanting to sell hard liquor MUST be over 10,000sf. The only exceptions are existing stores and places where there’s no facility large enough within some distance (I think 20 miles). The latter exemption is specifically for smaller communities - it will never be true in the Seattle area. So, for those of us in the Puget Sound region it’s large places (gee, that benefits Costco… oh WAIT…) or whoever takes over existing store sites. I don’t give a rat’s ass if I can get half gallons of Monarch vodka cheaply… the only real advantage of this law for me is improved selection which is why I’d like to see the stores sold piecemeal - hopefully some will be the equivalent of a wine shop.

Note, too, that the law was written to be revenue neutral. One of the sticking points of the first try at this was that the state would lose a fair chunk of change by privatizing so this version adds new taxes etc. I’ll believe in lower prices on good booze when I see them.

Lawmakers will tinker with it. It will get better over time.


Steve

[rofl.gif]

The unintended entendre there… is priceless.

Oh gawd Steven. I don’t know if I should laugh or cry at that post.

It is NOT revenue neutral. There are some special clauses in the first three years that make a LOT of extra money forthe state. Re-read the statute.

Fine… Revenue neutral over the long haul. The entire point of that language was to avoid the 'we’re in a budget crisis and you want to take revenue AWAY?" objection. If anyone’s expecting prices to drop from this, they’re kidding themselves.

You can cry all you want. If you are truly that cynical about our system of government then you should move somewhere else. Perhaps Canada?


Steve

Ohh a ‘love it or leave it’ reply. From someone who’s not even a citizen of my state… That’s rich.

Did you miss all of the whining and bitching in the original thread on this initiative about how the government sucked and is incompetent? I found your comment amusing, that’s all.

I was just throwing the ridicule right back at ya. One thing is always certain Rick - you can dish it out, but you can’t take it.

Are you usually this dense steven? I thought your post was funny in light of the prior thread. I wasn’t ridiculing you. But hey, if you want to be a humorless dick feel free. But telling me to leave if i don’t like it from SOMEONE WHO DOESNT LIVE HERE? Thats just idiotic.

Boys, you need to spend some time in THE HAPPY THREAD: http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=63315

I had an employee who brought in a box of Happy Pills or were they Hippy Pills? I think a free supply should be distributed before posting is allowed. [snort.gif]