Shopping at the state store.

[Ezra Smack]

There is a waitress in my town who immigrated here from one of the former Soviet satellite countries in the early 90's. She told me that the thing that impressed her most about America was the grocery stores. The first thing she noticed was how bright and colorfull the stores were. Growing up under communism, her family had to shop at the state store. "I remember standing in line allot" she said. They only had one brand of everything and shortages were common. "They were always running out of things"
She told me that they often taped slow moving items to fast sellers and sold them as a "package deal". If you wanted batteries, In order to get the batteries that you wanted, you also had to buy a can of beans that you did not want as they were literally taped together.

Sometimes I think that Americans don't always realize how well competition in the free market works.

ES

[7960]

I remember when someone came here from russia...don't remember if it was olympians or military who defected...anyway I remember the story about them going to the grocery store and saying "this must be meat day" because there was meat in the deli. They were told it was like this every day and they could not (would not) believe that the grocery store was like that every day. They said it must have been staged for them, for their defection, and that it was just that particular store that was set up that way.

But hey, we've got a socialist thread going right now where people believe you shouldn't be able to pay for anything....apparently the state will provide your meat and doctors and car and anything else you need. Go join the discussion!

[Simius]

We have city owned liquor stores in Eden Prairie, MN. No other liquor stores are allowed in the city. Fortunately, they didn't tape batteries to the liquor bottles. They were run as well as the liquor stores outside of the city and the prices were comparable. I guess they made the city a decent amount of money as well which helped pay for various things instead of needing to raise property taxes as much.

Our utilities here in my town of NE are also owned by the city. Apparently we pay two or three times as much for electricity as areas with private power plants. Plus we have no option to switch our electricity provider. On top of all that, our city has something like 25,000 residents... The power plant has something like $100 million in their reserves. That the city isn't allowed to tap into at all (even though the power plant is owned by the city). The power plant uses that money to buy buildings to store hundreds of brand new transformers in. (Which every other power plant stores outside since that is what they are designed for). Plus they buy a new fleet of vehicles every year. I guess their new plan is to build a new powerplant since they have nothing better to do with the money. (Like I dunno... pay for part of the school system or improve the parks... or anything else you can thing of to actually improve the infrastructure of our town).

So, depending on how it is setup... state stores can be a good thing... or they can suck ass. I do think they need to have competition (grocery stores sold alcohol in EP) to work well... plus the money generated by them should be earmarked for something useful and not simply saved and saved because it is magically off limits.)

(All info about our utilities are taken from memory from a conversation I had with someone who knows more about it than me. I won't back up any of my claims with links, so take them as you will.)

[7960]

Originally Posted by Simius

We have city owned liquor stores in Eden Prairie, MN. No other liquor stores are allowed in the city. Fortunately, they didn't tape batteries to the liquor bottles. They were run as well as the liquor stores outside of the city and the prices were comparable. I guess they made the city a decent amount of money as well which helped pay for various things instead of needing to raise property taxes as much.

NH has state liquor stores for hard liquor and wine but no beer. Grocery stores, convenience stores, etc can sell wine and beer but no hard liquor. A bottle of rum that costs $22 in NH costs $29 in Mass.

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by 7960

NH has state liquor stores for hard liquor and wine but no beer. Grocery stores, convenience stores, etc can sell wine and beer but no hard liquor. A bottle of rum that costs $22 in NH costs $29 in Mass.

I think some states have crazy taxes on alcohol so that could be part of what's going on.

EDIT: link added below. The rates vary widely, and I guess the "tax" where states control liquor is determined by whatever they want to sell the products for.

http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/liquor.html

[Ardentfrost]

I was in Russia for a couple weeks back in 1992. The grocery stores were EMPTY. Very little was on the shelves. Dogs even roamed in and out, which was really weird. While there, we heard from the back someone yell something (in Russian, of course) and everyone in the store ran as fast as they could over there. We went to see what on Earth was going on, and the guy had come out from the back with a rack of milk. He had yelled "MILK!" and everyone formed a line. There were about twice as many people in line as there was milk. Our interpreter told us that those that don't get milk simply don't get milk, and probably won't for that whole week.

A few months later, one of our host families sent their daughter to come to America for a few weeks. When she went to our store she LITERALLY dropped to her knees and cried. She told us she had never seen so much food in a single place before, and it was apparently overwhelming to her. And this was a 17 year old girl from a relatively well-to-do family (relative to Moscow families).

[7960]

Originally Posted by Phantom

I think some states have crazy taxes on alcohol so that could be part of what's going on.

EDIT: link added below. The rates vary widely, and I guess the "tax" where states control liquor is determined by whatever they want to sell the products for.

State Liquor Excise Tax Rates

Mass has high taxes, NH negotiates for the entire state and buys in bulk. I'm sure libertarians are pissed that the govt isn't allowing competition but I say I'd rather have my margarita cost $4.50 (in NH) rather than $6.75 (in MA)

[Simius]

Originally Posted by 7960

NH has state liquor stores for hard liquor and wine but no beer. Grocery stores, convenience stores, etc can sell wine and beer but no hard liquor. A bottle of rum that costs $22 in NH costs $29 in Mass.

I know the state liquor stores sold beer... but I'm not sure if the grocery stores sold any hard liquor. (99% sure they sold beer).

I do know I was shocked when I moved to NE and stores like k-mart was selling beer by the front counter.

[thewise1]

Originally Posted by Simius

I know the state liquor stores sold beer... but I'm not sure if the grocery stores sold any hard liquor. (99% sure they sold beer).

I do know I was shocked when I moved to NE and stores like k-mart was selling beer by the front counter.

I was pretty shocked when I went to New Mexico and found drive through liquor stores that you could buy hard liquor at.

[7960]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

A few months later, one of our host families sent their daughter to come to America for a few weeks. When she went to our store she LITERALLY dropped to her knees and cried. She told us she had never seen so much food in a single place before, and it was apparently overwhelming to her. And this was a 17 year old girl from a relatively well-to-do family (relative to Moscow families).

at my first college my roommate was Shamut from india. His father ran (maybe owned?) a company that supplied something like 20% of the PVC pipe used in the US. I brought him home (this home)


(google street view scares me)

for thanksgiving. He asked how many families lived there. I told him just mine and he said a house that "big" in india would have had 3 or 4 generations in it.

[7960]

Originally Posted by Simius

I know the state liquor stores sold beer...

In NH they don't. In fact when NASCAR comes around they put signs on the highway "No Beer Sold Here" so NASCAR fans don't think they can stop in the state liquor store and get their beer on the way to the track.

[7960]

Originally Posted by thewise1

I was pretty shocked when I went to New Mexico and found drive through liquor stores that you could buy hard liquor at.

I went skiing in colorado and my uncle said it's tradition to stop in some town between denver and steamboat and buy one beer per person so we could drink them at the mountain pass.

[Dylith]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

I was in Russia for a couple weeks back in 1992. The grocery stores were EMPTY. Very little was on the shelves. Dogs even roamed in and out, which was really weird. While there, we heard from the back someone yell something (in Russian, of course) and everyone in the store ran as fast as they could over there. We went to see what on Earth was going on, and the guy had come out from the back with a rack of milk. He had yelled "MILK!" and everyone formed a line. There were about twice as many people in line as there was milk. Our interpreter told us that those that don't get milk simply don't get milk, and probably won't for that whole week.

A few months later, one of our host families sent their daughter to come to America for a few weeks. When she went to our store she LITERALLY dropped to her knees and cried. She told us she had never seen so much food in a single place before, and it was apparently overwhelming to her. And this was a 17 year old girl from a relatively well-to-do family (relative to Moscow families).

Wow, and that is in Moscow where most of the wealth is concentrated. imagine what it was like elswhere in the country.

[Rouger2]

Originally Posted by thewise1

I was pretty shocked when I went to New Mexico and found drive through liquor stores that you could buy hard liquor at.

Last time I was in California you could buy hard liquor in the large grocery stores, or any store.

[kombayn]

If this thread isn't the poster-board for a Free Market Economy, I don't know what is...