So I just picked up some juice at the local WSLCB, and the clerks were busy yapping away at all the clients that if liquor becomes privatized in Washington, that the prices will stay the same because the retailers can't buy at the same low rate as Washington State, and that variety and selection will suffer because the big stores will only carry select types of Alcohol. Their opinions.

My opinion is that yes, Costco and other stores will not carry everything that a WSLCB store would, but that's fine with me, because I could likely get the less-popular types of alcohol elsewhere.
One Pricing however, I'm not so sure how it will work.

So what do you think, if this law passes, will we have the same selection, better, or worse? ...and will prices drop, rise, or stay the same?

In the words of the coolest, smartest, most interesting man on earth, stay thirsty my friends!

I am in favor of privatizing the liquor stores, but disagree that private industry is always better. When I was an auditor we found very high error rates in medical claims processing by private insurers. Much higher then rates found for claims processed by state employees. I also would rather have my military and police not be privatized. Nothing is always.

You may have to drive a little further to find that special bottle.

What will happen with prices is anybody's guess and will be an effect of numerous factors other than the privatization of the industry.

It's a good thing overall. Can't see any reason the state should spend money in order to control the liquor industry.

I am eagerly awaiting a Bevmo in my town.

WSLCB can go [censored] itself.

As for the employees? Well, most of them are hard-working people who really need the money and health bennies, then there are those WSLCB asshats that think they are some kind of vice-cops. I actually saw one at Lakefair last year strapped with a glock and randomly demanding ID. I wont feel bad when they are holding a sign on an off-ramp.

I won't miss WSLCB a bit. They dug their own grave with decades of archaic restrictions and asinine policies.

IMO, the state has no business peddling alcohol or tobacco.

I have traveled a lot in my life and in price and variety you have to go to a dry county in the South to do much worse than this state. The concept of reducing availability by the state controlling alcohol is really pretty stupid. If your gonna drink and can not deal with a addictive personality you will get alcohol even if your reduced to drinking Mad Dog. There is one out of the 60's but still true.

Only trouble with MD is is you chase parked cars and bark at the moon on cloudy nights. Makes for one hell of a story when you recover your thought process.

My brother and I swiped a bottle of MD 20/20 Plum Supreme from my old man that wound up in a box in the basement since nobody of legal age would drink that sh!t.

We did.

And boy were we f'n sorry.

The crap they are spewing is union propaganda so that they will keep their jobs. Under Prop 1100 safeway,costco, fred meyer etc will be able
to buy direct from the distiller. The volume discounts that they get will
be cheaper than anything the state gets.

I lived in California the prices and selection that costco was better than any state liquor store i have been in. And if costco didnt have it safeway or albertsons did. Not to mention bev mo and traders joes
carried hard liquor also.

Damned Unions! Can't even get freakin' drunk anymore 'cause o' them bastards...

Hey Chuck, you ready to call Acme fire dept. if'n your house burns down?

How about Amalgamated Police and Security when someone tries to steal you kicker motor?

Sometimes privatized, for-profit ain't what you think it is...

'Specially now that KK has his own lighter and gasoline.

Better price, selection and service.

Fark the union and get this state out of the liquor business!

Pretty sweet when you can roll into 7-11 in Phoenix, grab a slurpee some jerky and a bottle of Jack for the road...

Why doesn't the state get to buy direct from the distiller and get a bulk discount? And aren't there union workers at Costco, Safeway, Fred Meyers, et al?

Drank Mad Dog ONCE before a High School Dance. Went straight to the dance then straight out behind the stadium to blow chunks then I went straight home to sleep the rest off.

All in all, the night went better than my experiences with 'ice beer.'

The state most likely buys from the manufacturer or the rep ( southern wine and spirit is the big gun on the west coast). Yes safeway and fred meyer are union, costco is not. State employees have a stronger union with better benefits pay etc.

Why even get out of your car? Plenty of drive through liquor stores down there...

What I hate about the current stores is how early they close. I need to plan ahead if I need liquor! That, to me, is BS. I was glad down in Phoenix that after getting to work at 7am, then leaving at 9pm, I could stop by the grocery store and pick up some stress relief if I didn't have any at home.

About 13% of Costco employees are union.

"The state most likely" buys from a distributor? Or you know for fact they do? For the sake of argument, let's say they are forced to buy from Southern Wine and Spirit; what precludes the grocery stores from not being held to the same requirement? I doubt SWS is going to sit by and let one of their biggest customers go away.

I don't believe private grocers will be able to buy the products any cheaper than what the state does now. Considering how many liquor stores are in the state, that's some serious volume.

Lived in a lot of States and therefore experienced a lot of different situations of buying booze. The Setup clubs of Texas in the 60's were a joke, not being able to carry your own longneck around a pool table in Delaware were laughable, being astonded in Colorado State Boozer store that a fifth of Seagrams 7 was twice as expensive as a private outlet, etc., etc. Also being used to the Wednesday's Boozer ads in the Illinois papers where Walgreens liquior specials were displayed on two full aisles were great.

Then moving to the "Left Coast" and experiencing the asinine Washington/Oregon State(s) Liquior attempts at running a business is laughable to say the least. Here this thread is now almost 2 pages long and nobody has remembered and mentioned the massive expensive and "Failed" Washington State Automated Booze Warehouse. That alone has in all likelyhood driven up the price of Hooch at least 50%. Goobermint does NOT want to be efficient, doesn't bode well for empires. In terms of efficently and EFFECTIVELY running essentially a Materials Management form of business, Goobermint is the last one you want involved. I believe that is why States who have Private Enterprises doing the Booze Business have far cheaper Hooch, better availability/choice, and better REVENUE flow thru liquior stamps (TAXATION) than either Washington or Orygun. They just Do Not have to support a Bureacracy. Compare the price of a bottle of VO in Walgreens in Illinois (after the Wednesday's Ads are out) to a bottle in either Orygun or Washington.

It's not as bad as it used to be. Every time residents make noises about turning the liquor board out into the street, they ease up regs a notch or two. When I first turned 21 the only place you could get a cocktail was in a restaurant's lounge that could only be X percent of the Y in floor space, so some of these spots were the size of a closet. Was actually nice, because if you managed to get a table, by last call chances were you'd have a girl or two on your lap for lack of seating space. (I miss the 90's.) It was a good way to make friends fast.

There was also a rule that outdoor beer gardens could only be for ONE week out of the year and were beer & wine only and could only be like 10'x10' or some such bullschit.

Remember when you could sit down and enjoy a cigar?

The liquor store that was closest to my house was converted to an Outback Steakhouse. I say bring it on.

If anything, this liquor initiative will produce some funny ass commercial from the opposition on how evil alcohol is if not controlled by the state.

They do make great moonshine on the rez at the canal !!!!!