PA is one of only 4 states that have a monopoly on wine sales. UT obviously. WY? and NH. NH makes a ton of money because of having a lower wine tax than MA. Still, no good reason why it can’t be done by private stores paying the tax.

Only one province in .ca is a monopoly, Ontario. A couple of years ago, the PIT Biz Journal had an article about how even the Canadians are more effient than the PLCB.

“Thank you for your email and for allowing us to see your posting on Tea Leaves. As you correctly point out our online store http://www.pawineandspirits.com currently only carries a limited amount of products. We are in the process of increasing the selection so that the majority of the products that are carried in our stores are also available online. Our long range goals will allow for the capability to place a deposit for Special Liquor Order products. Although I can not give a time frame as to when that feature will be available I do know that the option has been discussed as a viable feature for our ecommerce initiates. Again thank you for your interest in Pawineandspirits.com. Sincerely, Deidre Costello”

So perhaps there’s hope. If being able to order SLO’s online is something that’s important to you, you might consider sending them email. They read it.

If you want to buy three six-packs (you lush, you), you have to make two separate purchases. Buy two, go out, come back in, buy the third.

All three six-packs will generally be at close to the full bar markup, of course.

Beer can be purchased from beer distributors (by the case) or in smaller quantities from bars.

There is some weird exemption for indie wine stores that are allowed to sell certain wines that the PLCB doesn’t carry, but these stores are few and far between and it’s a fair approximation to say that they don’t sell wine that anyone wants to drink.

Does PA allow no alcohol sales in grocery stores, 7-Elevens — and no indie wine stores? I’m just a lil confused as to what’s going on — Whether you keep going to these sad PLCB stores because you have no other option, or whether, despite the bad service and stuff, the PLCBs have the best liquor selection –

My big beef with California is that the bars close at 2 am –

If I decide to do my grocery shopping at 2AM, I can. If I decide to buy some liquor as part of my groceries, I can. Even the tiniest hole-in-the-wall restaurants can get liquor licenses easily. And so on.

Is there anyone who actually argues for keeping the PLCB the way it is when the issue must periodically be raised? Or is it all just a matter of momentum?

Him: “Oh, you can place special orders online.”

Me: “Huh?” I said. “Really, how?”

Him: “Well, you just do it.”

Me: “Because I’ve tried, and I couldn’t do it.”

Him: “You just find the item you want, and write down the number. Then you hit ‘back’ on your browser until you get to the email address, and click on it. That will start Outlook and you send your order in.”

I smiled, and nodded, and said “Well, I’ll have to try that, then.” It’s pretty clear that our respective ideas of what “ordering online” meant differed too substantially for us to talk reasonably about this.

Hopefully, there’s someone at the liquor control board who “gets it.” But I’m not holding my breath.

Chris: on my planet “order online” means that I place an order at 3 in the morning and never, ever have to talk to an actual human being unless there’s a problem with the order. On the PLCB’s planet “order online” means that I send email at 3 in the morning and then a stranger calls me up during business hours, probably right in the middle of some important meeting, to ask me for my credit card information. That ain’t good enough.