State Store Improvements

[mrbigjas]

OK I've ranted and raved about the state store system for years now, about how I think it's draconian and antiquated and in general bullshit. But I think that we can agree that Jonathan Newman has made HUGE strides in the last couple years.

So can we talk about this again? I'll start:

Things I like:

1. specialty stores and superstores opening, although I haven't been up to the superstores to take advantage of the supposedly cheap booze there.

2. open on Sundays--I don't know what it took to get this through, but it actually might be my favorite thing. DAMN I hate it when things aren't available exactly when I want them.

3. They are much more open about what they have and what they can get, including their website, which I love--the product search button is in my bookmarks and I probably use it a couple times a day

4. Big socialist style state bureaucracy means things like this: in Y2K, a bottle of champagne cost as much as it always did, instead of being jacked up $10-15 just because it was new years 2000, like a private store would.

5. Big socialist style state bureaucracy means that there are occasional great deals, like the extraordinarily cheap Cuvee de Pena ($5.99), which THANK YOU VERY MUCH DEBORAH SCOBLIONKOV FOR TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT MY FAVORITE SUPER CHEAPO WINE BARGAIN is pretty much gone from the stores now.

Things I still don't like, why I still don't like them, and questions I have that I hope someone can explain for me:

1. Obviously, the prices. Sure there are some bargains, but in general we still pay more. Can we at least change the name of the 18% Johnstown Flood Tax to the Because We Can Tax?

2. the.. uh.. what's the word I'm looking for... like, the soviet-style sameness of the stores, even the specialty stores. I read a lot about wines and spirits and things, and half the stuff I look up, it's SLO (for those not drinking in PA who don't know, SLO means you gotta order it, which may or may not cost you money). They've made big steps--huge steps even. But the SLO designation--it's not as if it's not in stock at 12th & Chestnut, but in at 19th or 2nd or 5th--there are only a couple categories of shops, and they all have the same stuff no matter where you go. And the little store Circle Liquors in DC where my father in law shops carries probably nearly twice as many different wines (if not as much of each one) in a store half the size of the 12th St. specialty store here.

3. Speaking of SLO and storage in general, I'm wondering about the shipping costs: when I order, is the PLCB just ordering from somewhere else? Is that why they're charging regular UPS rates for shiping? What's really up with the whole distribution system? Do they have warehouses? What's in them? If I'm ordering a wine that's in their warehouse, do I have to pay the same shipping as a wine that they can just get for me? I assume each store has weekly deliveries; if I'm ordering a wine they have stored somewhere and can just send bottles to the store next time a truck comes, should I really be paying shipping? I guess I could ask them about this, and probably should.

4. Something that I think would really really endear the PLCB to many many consumers, and encourage even more purchasing from them, ESPECIALLY the wines that they get and sell for less money than other places (cf. cheap wine like cuvee de pena, above): case discounts. I really think, and I have no backup on this except my general feelings, that the vast majority of people wouldn't give a shit about this, except for the all-important concept that people's knowing that it exists would make them think the PLCB sucks less. And the number of people who do buy cases of wines is small enough that it wouldn't make huge differences in the bottom line of the PLCB. Which brings me to my final point:

5. Larger discounts for restaurants. While I love love love the BYOB culture in Philadelphia, one of the things many people complain about when they go out here is the high price of booze. And the first step toward fixing that is for the PLCB to charge less for restaurants. Give retailers a damn discount already. If I'm paying $15 for a bottle, a restaurant should be able to pay $12 and charge me $25, and everyone's happy.

That's what I got. Feel free to contradict/correct me--these were just some things I was thinking about today.

[KatieLoeb]

5. Larger discounts for restaurants. While I love love love the BYOB culture in Philadelphia, one of the things many people complain about when they go out here is the high price of booze. And the first step toward fixing that is for the PLCB to charge less for restaurants. Give retailers a damn discount already. If I'm paying $15 for a bottle, a restaurant should be able to pay $12 and charge me $25, and everyone's happy.

The 6% Licensee "discount" on any purchase over $50.00 is completely obliterated by the 7% sales tax. It's more or less a wash.

Charging you only a 2X markup won't really cover the expense of the bottle from the restaurant's perspective. Unfortunately, as someone else here wisely pointed out in another thread, "I could charge you half the price if I served it to you in a plastic cup on a bare table and you opened it yourself."

[mod_grl]

I would like it if the state store employees were just a tad more knowledgable. I don't mean the boutique level of service, where you expect the employees to know the kind of soil the grapes were grown in, the climate of the region and the differences between vintages. I'm thinking of really basic questions like, is this a full bodied wine? How about a riesling that's not sweet? If I say I'm looking for a wine to go with dessert, please don't point me to the gallon jugs that say "DESSERT WINE." Am I asking too much? Usually the people I talk to are very nice; they try to be helpful but they are completely clueless.

[mrbigjas]

The 6% Licensee "discount" on any purchase over $50.00 is completely obliterated by the 7% sales tax.  It's more or less a wash.

Charging you only a 2X markup won't really cover the expense of the bottle from the restaurant's perspective. Unfortunately, as someone else here wisely pointed out in another thread, "I could charge you half the price if I served it to you in a plastic cup on a bare table and you opened it yourself." 

That's why I'm saying discount it more! Do you know what the licensee discount is in other states?

Edited to say: serious question, not rhetorical.

Edited March 23, 2004 by mrbigjas (log)

[KatieLoeb]

The 6% Licensee "discount" on any purchase over $50.00 is completely obliterated by the 7% sales tax.  It's more or less a wash.

Charging you only a 2X markup won't really cover the expense of the bottle from the restaurant's perspective. Unfortunately, as someone else here wisely pointed out in another thread, "I could charge you half the price if I served it to you in a plastic cup on a bare table and you opened it yourself."  

That's why I'm saying discount it more! Do you know what the licensee discount is in other states?

Edited to say: serious question, not rhetorical.

Jas.:

I really don't know what the "discount" rate is in any other state, but in New Jersey where I've purchased liquor for a restaurant they have abundant case deals or "rips" where if you buy three cases at a time the price drops significantly, or when you buy five cases the sixth is free. There are very occasional deals like that in PA, but the break point is like 10 cases usually. Also, the price in NJ is more reasonable to start with.

[skroah]

1. The clerks are well paid professionals in a union. They should either get training and pass some tests to move up or move on. And I don't mean tests on how to balance the register at the end of the night.

2. The "sterno stop" aesthetics are a real turn off. State stores are just plain ugly. I feel like I'm shopping in east germany. The selection reinforces that as well.

3. People in the suburbs have more access to good wine than people in the city. I was at a specialty store in pittsburgh recently that had a much larger selection of wines than anything I've seen in center city.

4. Stuff is always mislabled, unlabeled or just sitting in the window under direct sunlight. No care or concern for the product. It might as well be a feed store.

5. Why can't I just order wine from my homestate, Oregon, and have it delivered to my house. Why do they have to be all in my business?

6. The website always lists wines/specials that never actually ever appear at stores in CC. They also don't respond to questions or complaints submitted on their website.

Honestly I can't really think of one good thing about the state system. They are the largest purchaser of wine in the country and they can't even leverage savings to wine consumers here. They rarely if ever have any kind of wine tastings or try to educate their consumers. To them education means abstinence I guess. The entire concept reminds me of a SOMA distribution center in Brave new world.

I know the new guy has made changes but from someone coming out of state I have to compare it to what I know.