It seems Sheetz is working legally to try to sell beer in PA from a place other than a distributor without having to designate a beer garden on the premises for buyers to consume according to an article in the Morning Call (read it here).
Seems a natural Friday story. Gas station wants to sell beer. PA Malt Beverage Distributors Association doesn't want anyone except distributors to sell beer, and has challenged that only those who allow/provide for consumption on the premises (aka Wegmans, which has a restaurant license - in Lower Nazareth) should be allowed to make sales.
Of course the irony of this is that Sheetz is a gas station. The ruling, if in favor of the association, would actually encourage drinking and driving.
The bottom line is that our PA laws on this are archaic and it is a shame the courts and companies are wasting money on these cases.
1 comment:
I am curious on how selling beer at a gas station encourages drinking and driving?
Do you not have to drive to a distributor to buy beer or a state store to buy the harder stuff? By your definition, do they not encourage drinking and driving as well?
The short answer is that PA is one of the very frew states where you cannot buy beer and liquor in other than state run stores or distributorships. There is an argument that state stores buying in bulk get better discounts, but I would argue that any large chain would provide the same benefit.
This state is locked in the stone age in many of its laws, and this is definitely one of them.
Will some distributors go out of business? Yes, they will, but not all of them. Will people loose their jobs if we shut down the state store system? Yes, they will. But, as a taxpayer, it is one less program that we will have to pay for and the money can be directed elsewhere.
In the long run, the lobby will win and we will have to continue to purchase beer at distributors, and the state store union will trump all and we will remain stuck with the state store system.
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