Saturday, July 04, 2009

Well, government couldn't run a brothel and make money,

why would we think it can run liquor stores?
More to the point, it isn’t working. And apparently has not been working since it was installed! It was not until the beginning of June that the state noticed there was a problem with their new toy, when they finally realized that they were only filling 65% of their orders. They claim the problem is fixed, but I have my doubts. After a month, with thousands of hours of overtime, and six "temporary" warehouses in operation, they can fill 80% of their orders. When they finally do get through the backlog, and go back to relying only on the system, let me know if it doesn’t immediately break down again.

Meanwhile, the state owned liquor stores can’t get product. The state license stores can’t get product. And the biggest pains in the butt is that restaurants can’t get product.
Those of you who read me religiously (all three of you), know how jealous of Seattle’s craft bar scene I am. But to go into a holiday weekend with no idea what inventory you can have must be a nightmare. And it’s going to be especially bad for the higher end watering holes, serving the more esoteric drinks
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If you were running a business, how long would it take you to 'realize' you were only filling 2/3's of your orders? Not too damn long, I'd think. But then, this is a government-run 'business'...
But Pete Hanning, an owner of the Red Door in Fremont, said restaurants count on getting not just the most common liquors, but ones they can feature in specialty cocktails. For two weeks, he said, he was unable to offer a popular summertime sipper — a lemonade drink he makes with pear-flavored Absolut vodka. The Red Door has a large outdoor deck and depends on heavy summer traffic, Hanning said.

"The worst part is each week I'm not sure what's going to be on my load and what products I'm going to be out of. It creates a lot of undue stress," he said.
Yeah, when your supplier can't tell you when or if you'll get what you ordered, that's a stress-maker. Especially when they're about to raise the price on what they might be able to deliver:
Hanning said the pinch is compounded by the fact that a state alcohol surcharge takes effect Aug. 1, which will force bar owners to increase prices.

The surcharge, which will add between $1 and $3 to the price of most bottles of booze, was enacted to raise about $80 million to replace money legislators took from a liquor-reserve fund to balance the state budget
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Government: it can't run a whorehouse OR sell booze efficiently, but socialized medicine will be GREAT! Yeah.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And another opportunity to expand opens for the mob.