The ABCs on ABC Stores
Posted in Once I Was a Kansas Girl on June 6, 2008I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like state or federal government doing what private citizens are more than willing to do. An example of this is residential garbage pickup. When I was growing up, we had a neighbor down the street who owned a garbage service. After a few years, they sold the business and made a lot of profit on it. There is no reason why the government should be picking up the average joe’s trash.
Moving on. Here’s another example that I find appalling. I was having a conversation with a friend, when she casually mentioned that ABC Stores were government-run liquor stores. Not finding a need to stop by a liquor store, I never realized that there were no other liquor stores in our state. I had never heard of such a thing and thought it was absolutely ludicrous. No other state that I’m remotely familiar with (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, or Arizona) has this. I decided to look it up.
Sure enough. The government in several states (including mine) has government-owned, government-run liquor stores. Other stores can sell beer and wine, but obtaining hard liquor requires visiting the government-owned store. What? This is crazy! I realize the history behind it (prohibition and all), but that doesn’t make it right. Sure alcohol sales should be regulated, but that’s what permits are for. We all know people can make money off selling the stuff, so let people do it (though honestly I’d prefer it if this wasn’t the case). There is no need for the government to be running these businesses.
Were you as clueless about ABC Stores as I was? Have I just been living in a cave so I didn’t know this? Are you aware of anything being done to change this?
I found my information about ABC states on Wikipedia. Trusty and reliable, at least some of the time.
June 6th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I don’t usually have a need for liquor but that is just crazy. I just learned something today thanks :)
June 8th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Yeah, here in Virginia they are state-run. I honestly don’t understand why. You’d think the government would have more important things to worry about than me going in to buy a bottle of Vodka.