Slog Comments
Privatized Liquor Fails to Produce Citywide Binge of Criminal Recklessness
1
hth i saw 2 older couples fighting over the last bottle of something in safeway on rainier last night
2
Of course there wasn't, everyone was too shell shocked due to the massive mark-up applied when tax was added at the till. I wonder how many people though this would make their booze cheaper.
3
I was talking to a store manager about seeing a bottle sold in a grocery for the first time. He told me that as soon as the booze hit the shelves, people started stealing it and that several hundred dollars worth was stolen in the first twenty four hours. I wasn't surprised.
4
hey, it takes a while to drink all the cheap liquor we stored up before the "private" stores jacked up the prices ...
give it time.
@3 for the Light Fingered Crosscut discount win.
give it time.
@3 for the Light Fingered Crosscut discount win.
6
@5, I have extrapolated from your comment that it will cause me to laugh for the next thirteen weeks straight.
9
Oh, there was plenty of alcohol-related crime over the weekend; every single person who bought booze was held-up at the check-out counter...
10
If you're interested in a fightin', barfin', pissin' your jeans and passing out type of evening, there's much better options for the cash-deficient ne'er-do-well than straight booze—assuming you're paying for it—and they've been on sale at most corner stores all along.
Of course booze is gonna be stolen, just like condoms and beer and pregnancy tests and toothbrushes and batteries are gonna be stolen. It's not weapons-grade uranium, stores can deal with this issue.
Of course booze is gonna be stolen, just like condoms and beer and pregnancy tests and toothbrushes and batteries are gonna be stolen. It's not weapons-grade uranium, stores can deal with this issue.
11
It occurred to me over the weekend that the two most frequent concerns I've heard about privatization are:
1) more people drinking more (i.e., more net alcohol consumption)
2) prices will go up.
I would think that if you are worried about (1), you ought to welcome (2), right?
1) more people drinking more (i.e., more net alcohol consumption)
2) prices will go up.
I would think that if you are worried about (1), you ought to welcome (2), right?
12
I went to Fred Meyer in Balfree in the early PM. The liquor shelf opposite the bakery area was already partialy emptied. One of their folks on the floor told me they we having a struggle keeping the shelves stocked. Demand is apparently pretty good.....and this is a Monday.
13
Oh, so NOW you swallow the tale that SPD spins. I'll bet there were frosty looks galore in certain genteel backwaters over who spotted the last bottle of St-Germain first.
14
@11: One also has to wonder if it's the same group of people griping about the "loss of a state revenue stream" that are griping about the enormous sales taxes.
15
I'd imagine that the higher prices and larger bottle sizes make booze a little more inaccesible to the get-drunk-on-the-cheap crowd - I haven't seen anything smaller than 750ml.
16
So, the take home message is: now the state can fully fund education.
Right?
Cause we sure ain't using this for roads.
Right?
Cause we sure ain't using this for roads.
17
Ignorant question from Portland, was the potential need for additional sales taxes that would be necessary for the state to recoup lost liquor-sales revenue stated on the ballot measure?
18
Dominic, we've already seen the criminal recklessness and it was statewide: the $28 million that a CEO spent to privatize booze.
Q: Does anyone at The Stranger read anyone else's articles? http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/fuck-…
Q: Does anyone at The Stranger read anyone else's articles? http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/fuck-…
20
Hah. I was biking up a hill 3 blocks from my house, and two vehicles of twentyish kids were parked, with the guys from the truck talking to the girls in the car. As I went by, the girls were saying something about bottle sizes and I caught a clear whiff of alcohol. I stopped at the top of the hill a few seconds later to get a description of their cars for the cops, and they were already driving off.
I've never seen this happen before, so by my authoritative, binding anecdotal analysis, selling booze at the QFC is solely responsible for youngsters driving drunk near Shilshole.
I've never seen this happen before, so by my authoritative, binding anecdotal analysis, selling booze at the QFC is solely responsible for youngsters driving drunk near Shilshole.
21
In lower Queen Anne, pods of resident street drunks were shoplifting mass quantities of shelf stock for several days ahead of the opening gun.
24
I saw two thirty to forty year old white-collar types nearly come to blows in the parking lot of my regular Roosevelt Safeway over a parking space at 5:30 this evening. I've gone there for years around that time and I've never before seen anything even close. It's true the lot was unusually packed, with more cars arriving steadily. A meaningless anecdote surely, but still, the excitement was palpable.
26
Cool 4 day sample size Dom. That is a solid investigation based conclusion. I understand the hyperbole you are referring to but you are clearly having a knee-jerk hyperbolic counter-reaction. They are both absurd. Let's wait this out and see what happens like patient citizens without agendas.
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