Hard liquor to join wine in Pennsylvania grocery kiosks

[The Northerner]

(Reuters) - For the first time since the end of prohibition in 1933, Pennsylvanians will soon be able to buy spirits in a place other than a state-run liquor store.

Kiosks in supermarkets, which currently sell wine, also will be stocked with hard liquor, Stacey Witalec, spokeswoman for the state Liquor Control Board, said on Tuesday.

Starting on a small scale within the next two months, liquor will initially be available in only about a third of the 32 groceries that have kiosks.

Since last June, some 69,000 wine bottles have been sold that way.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/26/us-pennsylvania-liquor-idUSTRE73P6R420110426

[Drale]

1. I just found out about state run liquor stores recently

and I still think its the craziest thing ever. Especially in a state run by repukes, isn't that "socialism!"? :rofl:

[markpkessinger]

5. Pennsylvania is fairly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans...

...and control shifts back and forth between the two. At the moment, the Republicans are dominant.

I grew up in Pennsylvania, and have always thought the so-called "State Stores" were a stupid idea. When I lived there in the '60s and '70s, you couldn't even buy beer or wine at a grocery store or deli. Wine was available only at the State Stores (and the state's inventory was quite limited). Beer could be purchased either at a beer distributor or at a bar with a "package license" that allowed people to purchase up to two six packs at a time to take out.

Much as I hate to admit it, it has actually been Pennsylvania Democrats, historically, that have fought privatization of the liquor stores, because the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) and state store franchises had become a boondoggle for political patronage, and because it has been a large source of revenue for the Commonwealth.

[Drale]

6. I'm meant right now at the moment

especially because the repukes are on their "socialism is evil" crusade.

[ZombieHorde]

2. Nice. nt

[customerserviceguy]

3. Now, if they will just step out of the shadow of Prohibition

and allow a person to buy a six-pack (rather than a whole case) of beer, that might resemble progress. The Southern states have modernized their beer laws, too, a brewer is not limited to something with the alcohol content of Bud Light anymore, thank goodness.

[RamboLiberal]

4. It's a stupid ass boondoggle the kiosks

They had to shut them down at Xmas due to glitches.

In the same damn grocery store where I can buy beer over the counter they put these stupid kiosks. To buy beer they scan everyone's license or id.

Here's the procedure at the stupid ass kiosks.

Then, under the watchful gaze of an LCB employee monitoring you on camera, you swipe a driver's license for age verification, submit to a breath analysis to prove you're not drunk and then swipe your credit card to complete your purchase.

The LCB probably resisted the temptation to add a thumbprint or iris scan because it didn't want the process to feel cumbersome.

Unbelievably, each of these laborious transactions comes with a $1 "convenience fee." Clearly, someone at the LCB has a cruel and mercenary sense of humor.

Read more: Pennsylvania should dispense with wine kiosks - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/columns/heyl/s_716617.html#ixzz1KfgjA99R

You already have controls in place to sell beer at the same damn store OTC. Sell wine & liquor the same way you dumbasses running PA LCB & government!