So I guess I am going stop drinking liquor. Idiots in this state decided to privatize state liquor stores.

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Originally posted by Joss Weatherby So I guess I am going stop drinking liquor. Idiots in this state decided to privatize state liquor stores.

Huh? What's wrong with that? It's how it is nearly everywhere.

Its going to make hard alcohol available in more places, more underage drinking, more drunk driving, etc. Its bad. The state is a better enforcer of liquor sale than private companies are.

Also the cost of liquor is probably going to go up since dealers now can apply their own markups which will probably be much higher than the states mark up. Plus I like liquor stores... its a whole store dedicated to liquor and the staff are really knowledgeable on what they sell.

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Originally posted by Joss Weatherby The state is a better enforcer of liquor sale than private companies are.

What are you basing this on? The industry will still be regulated by the government. Sellers will have specific rules to follow, or they lose their license - They obviously won't want that to happen.

Bottleshops are hard as fuck around here these days. My local place will card anyone that looks under 25 (and the legal drinking age is 18 here, by the way). If they're caught selling to a minor, the minor gets a smallish fine, the shop attendant gets a large fine (around $7k from memory), and the shop they work at gets a huge fine ($15k + or something, pretty full-on).

It was way easier when I was a teenager in the 90s

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Originally posted by Sushipunk What are you basing this on? The industry will still be regulated by the government. Sellers will have specific rules to follow, or they lose their license - They obviously won't want that to happen. Bottleshops are hard as fuck around here these days. My local place will card anyone that looks under 25 (and the legal drinking age is 18 here, by the way). If they're caught selling to a minor, the minor gets a smallish fine, the shop attendant gets a large fine (around $7k from memory), and the shop they work at gets a huge fine ($15k + or something, pretty full-on). It was way easier when I was a teenager in the 90s

Yea, but grocery stores and mini-marts will sell it now too and I know plenty of stores that never card and never get caught.

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Originally posted by Joss Weatherby Yea, but grocery stores and mini-marts will sell it now too and I know plenty of stores that never card and never get caught.

Eh, I dunno then. Only bottleshops can sell grog here, of any sort, not corner stores and supermarkets.

Hopefully your government will keep a close eye on shit, though to be fair, you can get just as trashed on beer and wine that are already sold at these private stores (and go take a drive, or whatever) as you can on spirits, so I think your point is kind of moot anyway.

Edit: And I truly doubt your prices will go up, either. More stores selling spirits should mean more competition, and so the prices might actually go down.

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Originally posted by Joss Weatherby So I guess I am going stop drinking liquor. Idiots in this state decided to privatize state liquor stores.

It was better than the alternative. I was very happy with the current system, but considering it was either the one that just got voted for or keeping state-owned liquor stores with a private distributor, this is the lesser of two evils.

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Originally posted by Sushipunk Eh, I dunno then. Only bottleshops can sell grog here, of any sort, not corner stores and supermarkets. Hopefully your government will keep a close eye on shit, though to be fair, you can get just as trashed on beer and wine that are already sold at these private stores (and go take a drive, or whatever) as you can on spirits, so I think your point is kind of moot anyway. Edit: And I truly doubt your prices will go up, either. More stores selling spirits should mean more competition, and so the prices might actually go down.

Prices will most likely go down, since Costco and the other big stores will be able to buy in bulk and negotiate with producers to get lower costs than the state was able to.

Also, the government is going to be getting more tax money from the new system, which will end up with more money going towards alcohol-abuse prevention.

We'll see what happens.


Nou, the current liquor stores most likely won't disappear, also. They will just be run by private businesses. And yes, a store devoted completely to liquor is fucking awesome

Private bottle shops have been around in NSW for about 40 years, though the big/mid-size supermarket chains also sell it unlike Qld... which is about 40 years behind like the US, but not quite as many fat arses, guns and blacks.


I spent all day by the pool and it is now my office, until it rains.

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Originally posted by Lilith Private bottle shops have been around in NSW for about 40 years, though the big/mid-size supermarket chains also sell it unlike Qld... which is about 40 years behind like the US, but not quite as many fat arses, guns and blacks.

Coles/Woolworths own 95% of the pubs and bottleshops up here anyway, though, so it's not that different. We just have to go to a separate store (usually only meters away from the supermarket) to get grog

That's an interesting way around the law *buy the bastards!*
The big chains are slowly choking the little fellows out though by offering the same range of grog for much less, stores that specialise in wine or upper-end stuff the chains don't know exist, do slightly better because of the advice from the people selling it. Even so, I joined a wine club and they just send me a dozen or so bottles every second month to try and destroy.