Forum and Classifieds

My Ballard Forum » Open Forum

Liquor prices going up Friday.......

(167 posts)

Started 11 months ago by lyl
Latest reply from onederfullone

lyl

offline
Member

Oh surprise surprise! Because privatizing everything makes so much sense! We took living wage jobs from citizens and created a bunch of below-living-wage jobs so the profiteers can make more more more money. And you get to pay more for the product!!! Maybe next you can privatize schools, social security, medicare, roads, bridges, police departments, oh wait, yeah those are already happening...

Posted 11 months ago #
VeganBiker

offline
Member

lyl - how do you know the prices are going up? Are any stores displaying prices now? If so where, I want to check that out. I have downloaded the WSLCB price list so I can compare.

Posted 11 months ago #
Cheese

offline
Member

Many reports have indicated that prices will go up - the Seattle Times even had a quote from a wholesale distributor that hikes of 15-25% or more are likely. If a wholesale distributor isn't knowledgeable, who is :=) ?

Costco will be cheaper on the little variation they carry. Knock yourself out on the 1.75L of Absolut. If, like me, you like variety in everything, then that small batch Bourbon probably will be more expensive, if you can find it.

But the proof is what the price ends up on the shelf on Friday (or later when the retailers raise the prices after the honeymoon when they think they've got your business). I am keeping a mental list of what I paid, but I would love to see the variations from the WSLCB list, VB!

Posted 11 months ago #
great idea

offline
Member

time is money, and the savings I'll get from not having to go to a special store for one product is well worth it.

I find the comparison to charter schools kind of funny.

Posted 11 months ago #
pennygirl

offline
Member

I agree with GI. Who cares about the price - it's just around the corner. (I actually don't buy liquor, so it doesn't benefit me, but I would imagine that being able to buy it in a regular store is helpful)

Posted 11 months ago #
teigyr

offline
Member

It's a step and it needed to be done. I rarely buy hard alcohol but it always was so strange to have to go somewhere special. I know Costco offered to interview all state liquor store employees, too.

It will be fine. 12 year olds will still get it if they want to (surprise, they always could), higher end brands will still be expensive, and there will still be people in there just to buy a fifth of something heinously cheap. People like me will be able to buy my husband tequila for his birthday after 9pm, especially for those times I forget his birthday until late.

Posted 11 months ago #
lyl

offline
Member

Who cares about the price? I do. I never needed it to be "just around the corner" either. I've got bottles of liquor that have been in the larder for decades, not much of a drinker, but I like to have a well stocked bar. Hospitality ya know.
If you don't get the comparison to charter schools you have not been paying attention.

Posted 11 months ago #
Mondoman

offline
Member

Making things easier doesn't always make them better, Dr FNF :)

IIRC, the initiative had some sort of giant minimum one or two year payment due from the distributors to the state; some thought that high initial prices at the distributors were an effort to sock away money for that, or to leave room to drop prices as things shake out initially.

Posted 11 months ago #
Mondoman

offline
Member

I thought charter schools were public but independent, not private, but I'm sure we'll all hear a LOT more about them if that initiative gets enough sigs.

Posted 11 months ago #
pennygirl

offline
Member

lyl...

No. I don't get the comparison to Charter Schools. It's whisky. Obviously I haven't been paying attention to this important subject.

Posted 11 months ago #
Oly

offline
Member

I'm not a drinker, but..... yeah right.....

Posted 11 months ago #
VeganBiker

offline
Member

lyl - so why did you not answer my question? How do you know the price will go up?

Posted 11 months ago #
Novalis

offline
Member

Sorry you lost your job ?

Posted 11 months ago #
great idea

offline
Member

Novalis +2!

Posted 11 months ago #
great idea

offline
Member

maybe the op is right?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018296171_liquor27.html

again, not that I care...worth my time for the few instances I need to purchase these items.

Posted 11 months ago #
great idea

offline
Member

"Under the state system, every bottle was shipped to a warehouse in Seattle before going back out to stores or bars, even if the final destination was just down the street. (in Eastern Washington)"

sounds like the old, state-run system was so efficient!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/in-washington-state-liquor-stores-are-about-to-go-private.html?_r=1&hpw

Posted 11 months ago #
allisonw

offline
Member

The electorate shall get what it deserves.

Posted 11 months ago #
Lou98107

offline
Member

I'd also read/heard that hard alcohol was going to cost more, but I don't remember if either were from reliable sources. I should've made a point last month of buying a bottle or two of what spirits I DO buy, because I can almost promise that the warehouse stores won't stock the single-malt whisky that I really like (the shrink-wrapped shelves contained a few bottles of decent Scotch, not what I prefer). Will Freddie's? Probably not. It's probably too late, but if the Ballard liquor store is still open, I'll try and stop by tomorrow.

Posted 11 months ago #
onederfullone

offline
Member

I read/heard, from very reliable sources, that it will cost more.

If you remember the initiative that passed, it was explicitly cited that taxes for alcohol would INCREASE per the initiative.

Both initiatives that failed last year did not require that, so yes, A.W. the electorate does get what it deserves.

I firmly believe that privatization is worth it. Even if our current crop of elected idiots benefit with even more money to waste. Which they will.

No worries, we will re-elect them all.

Comparing this to charter schools isn't a bad comparison, especially if you consider what that compromise with the crooks will entail.

"Charter schools for only the poor and the worst schools will be just more poor and worst schools."

We really want to make people suffer, as a rule, shame on you.

Back to alcohol, maybe your extra taxes will go toward soup kitchens for the very poorly educated. I doubt it, but maybe.

Posted 11 months ago #
boatgeek

offline
Member

@Mondoman, charters can be all kinds of different things. They are almost always nominally public but independent. However, some are operated by for-profit companies. In some cases, the independent charter board contracts all school functions to a for-profit or non-profit company. The original charter bill in the legislature would have allowed charters to be contracted to for-profit companies, but I've heard (but not seen yet) that the initiative takes out this loophole.

The funny thing is that the vast majority of charter school students have the same or worse academic achievement* than their peers at regular public schools. Many of the success stories are driven by charters making an effort to get very involved (not necessarily wealthy) families in the charter school. Shockingly, having parents who make kids do homework dramatically improves achievement!

The last charter bill also had a number of kill-the-school-district measures in it, the worst of which was where a charter board could convert a regular school to a charter, get all of the state per-student funding and much of the levy money, get the school building rent-free from the district, and the district was still responsible for major repairs and upgrades. What business could survive with a liability for capital expenses at a site but no income to support it?

* As measured by standardized tests. Caveat emptor.

Anyway, threadjack over. Don't buy liquor, so I don't really care. The initiative sponsors did promise more tax revenue, lower prices, and no increase in sales. If you believed that, I have some oceanfront property in Ellensburg to sell you.

Posted 11 months ago #
Mondoman

offline
Member

Thanks, bg, the devil is usually in the details. It does seem that the KIPP schools are consistently doing a good job, so maybe we could get a write-in modification to only allow KIPP schools...

Posted 11 months ago #
lyl

offline
Member

Nope, didn't lose my job, yep, it's true, not much of a drinker, last drink I had was a before Christmas cocktail, Vegan Biker-you'll find out soon enough, Yep, PG you have not been paying attention, yep GI I might just be right! and plus 1 for allison, the electorate shall get what it deserves.

Posted 11 months ago #
SEdholm

offline
Member

KIRO had a report this morning saying an $18 bottle of Absolut would hit at $33 in the store. That is painful. I would rather drive 5 more minutes for a state run place and have to get it early than pay for the "convenience"

Posted 11 months ago #
Alferd Packer

offline
Member

But will they have 5-Wives Vodka on sale? ;<|

Most of what I've seen so far on prices uses the qualifier "could" or "may" in conjunction with the words "up to" in the preceding words in the sentence. I suspect that things will settle out near to current prices or slightly higher.

Doesn't really affect us because we don't drink anything not currently sold outside the liquor stores.

Posted 11 months ago #
BuddyCianci

offline
Member

Re: "I've got bottles of liquor that have been in the larder for decades, not much of a drinker."

OP is a teetotaler who whines about the price of booze. Trolls come in all forms, I guess.

I, for one, am a drinker who looks forward to walking across the street to buy a bottle of booze. Even if I pay $2-3 more for that bottle, I will be content.

Posted 11 months ago #
VeganBiker

offline
Member

Both QFC and Safeway sent out fliers today with prices for certain bottles of liquor. I think what is going to confuse most of us is the fact that at the state liquor stores the price on the label was the price that you paid total, but in the stores now we will see the price before the 20.5% state liquor tax + the $3.77 Liter tax that get added at the checkout! So a 1.75 liter bottle of Crown Royal (I never drink the stuff) which costs $59.95 and the Liquor Store will now cost about $64 at QFC.
lyl might be right and we will all be paying more when we thought we were going to pay less!

Posted 11 months ago #
VeganBiker

offline
Member

BuddyCianci - I am with you on that thought but being as I am a cheap-skate I was hoping to pay less for a good bottle of single malt! Oh well, I can only hope the stores start a price war trying to sell more than each other.

Posted 11 months ago #
BuddyCianci

offline
Member

Those are a lot of fees. Maybe the voters could repeal them. I expect Tim Eyman to write the initiative.

Posted 11 months ago #
MidWest

offline
Member

I'm going to fire up the backyard still, and make my own damn booze. Screw paying through the nose.

(Can anyone see a new potential Black Market for booze? California and other states have much lower prices than we already pay. There's money to be made in bringing it up illicitly if the prices go up even more.)

Posted 11 months ago #
SeaSpider

offline
Member

Being from out of state originally I find the whole state liquor store thing utterly baffling. There's just no good reason for it. Consider the arguments:
1) Alcohol is a controlled substance that needs to be kept out of the hands of children. Fair enough but the same can be said for tobacco and most prescription medicines but we don't have to go to a state store for those. Why not? How is alcohol different from tobacco? Neither are necessary and both are dangerous if abused. This is the argument I find most baffling.
2) Cost. Lots of people complaining about the cost. Does this mean you'd also favor state controlled grocery stores? If we're going to fret about the high cost of booze why not worry about the high cost of other food products? While we're at it, what about high gas prices? What better way to curb high gas prices than to have the state take control of filling stations and cut out the profit margin. Then there's health care. Humors me to know end when people rally against government paid healthcare but then want government paid liquor distribution.
3) It gives to much power to a small number of large corporations. Again, have you seen how our medical care system works?? Makes the liquor industry look like a school bake sale by comparison. Several items we all depend on are controlled by a fairly small number of large, for-profit corporations. A short list includes aviation, gas, most packaged foods, computers, and telecommunications. Should the state take over these areas as well?

Again, every other advanced state (sorry but I really don't want us to be in the same league as places like Alabama or Kansas) allows sales and it hasn't been the apocalypse for them.

Posted 11 months ago #
NW Native

offline
Member

This won't last forever. Wait until wholesalers start buying direct from the manufacturers, you'll see prices come down. The middlemen just need to be squeezed out of their state protected monopoly first.

Posted 11 months ago #
Edog

offline
Member

No, there will just be new middlemen.

Posted 11 months ago #
NW Native

offline
Member

Companies like Costco and BevMo aren't going to choose to use middlemen if they don't have to.

HTH

Posted 11 months ago #
Edog

offline
Member

They have injected themselves as the new middlemen.

Posted 11 months ago #
Cheese

offline
Member

Didn't the Who do a song about them? Meet the new middleman, same as the old middleman?

And why isn't it middleperson, fer chrissakes!

Posted 11 months ago #
Edog

offline
Member

And the liquor that they worship will be gone

Posted 11 months ago #
onederfullone

offline
Member

SeaSpider-fwiw, the new law requires an additional tax, beyond the existing tax, and a very steep annual license fee.

Costco doesn't care. Like any smart corporation, you will pay all fees, all taxes, all licensing, all labor costs.

Welcome to the real world.

You've been paying it all along, whether you drink or not. Now it's just more revenue, specifically applied to specific consumers. If you drink, follow the money, and vote on the next initiative. It will come.

Posted 11 months ago #
VeganBiker

offline
Member

1nder - Are you talking about the 20.5% Liquor tax and the $3.77 per Liter Tax? Or is there another tax that I have missed?

Posted 11 months ago #
BuffaloHawk

offline
Member

I am curious to see how much mixed drinks go up at the bars.

Posted 11 months ago #
SeaSpider

offline
Member

@ onederfullone

I'm well aware of the taxes and costs but again, if we're so worried about taxes and costs on booze why not extend that to other products such as gas and groceries? If state run stores are better why not extend them to other goods? Lower grocery bills would help a LOT more people than lower booze costs. Why is liquor - and liquor alone - the one area where we're OK with the state calling the shots? I've yet to hear anyone provide an answer on this. Like I said, not being from here I just find it all kind of baffling.

Posted 11 months ago #
onederfullone

offline
Member

you miss the point, dude.

Privatization is not better in liquor under this initiative. It just more than doubles tax revenue.

If charter schools could charge more than twice what the state currently milks in property tax for every student, most failing every standardized evaluation, would you vote for that? Nope.

If grocery stores could charge double the going rate for all items, regardless of their costs for inventory, from cabbage to canned spam, just because the 'state' could use them as revenue whores, would you vote vote for that? Nope, I would hope.

Two initiatives, both designed to relinquish us from added taxation, and a state monopoly, failed just last year. talk about effing morons voting...

Costco got the state to complain bitterly about 'added revenue for irresponsible state officials to waste' and it still passed. Employees and exclusive liquor store landlords got shafted. Everyone that is responsible for the worst aspect of state controlled liquor is getting a whopping raise. Count on it.

Then, the state runs a lottery/bid/be.an.idiot for us event, selling limited franchise opportunities to retain ridiculous leases, and employees, maybe, for an opportunity to run your very own liquor store. They made another several million dollars.

We have yet to see what the lawsuit/injunction.non-injunction/settlement.penalty/etc. will result in, but it's so very pointless, the crooks win, not even suffering a due castration, but, *boy* did the voter get facebooking took.

More than double taxation, but maybe the next initiative will do.

Who knows, it will be a *tax the rich* year, while the poor slaughter themselves. More.

Maybe that clarifies your confusion, but, I don't ever count on it...

Posted 11 months ago #
NW Native

offline
Member

onederfulone, you seem to completely ignore the fact that increased competition is eventually going to drive prices down, despite the new taxes.

And it is only a matter of time before another initiative is filed to amend the liqour sales laws to more resemble those in Arizona and California.

Posted 11 months ago #
onederfullone

offline
Member

I didn't completely ignore it. I find it quite irrelevent, until, as I said, another initiative takes away about 200 million dollars a year from these crooks. Expect a very real fight.

I expect you to think that *competition* matters if costco can sell Monarch for a dime less, it's still a facebooking joke that will screw every other distributor that has to pay up front for all inventory, licenses, and collect millions in taxes.

NW, you are a genius, I'd like to hear more from you. /sarcasm.

Posted 11 months ago #
SeaSpider

offline
Member

I'm neither a free market libertarian nor a socialist. I think there are some things the government can do extremely well and some things the private sector does extremely well and also a lot of places where both can work together. I also don't think there's one right model for every situation. However, you still miss my point. I want to know why was the state ORIGINALLY involved in the sale and distribution of what is essentially a luxury item and what is the justification for them controlling the sale and distribution of just this one single item and not other comparable items such as tobacco?

Second, I don't really mind higher taxes on liquor. It's a luxury item and if you can afford it then you can afford the taxes on it. Better to tax a luxury such as liquor than a necessity such as food. This is also where your argument makes a fundamental flaw in comparing necessary expenses (food, education) with unnecessary expenses (liquor). Also while we might think our taxes are high the reality is they're not. At least not by the standards of our own recent history and certainly not by the standards of any other modern nation. Even compared to other states we're not that high up - when you combine income, property and sales taxes we're not in top 10 highest paying, regardless of weighting. At the Federal level taxes are lower now than they have been in decades. The "high" gas tax people blather about hasn't been raised by a single penny in 20 years and when you factor in fuel efficiency increase over that time most people are actually paying less in gas taxes. Finally, compared to just about anywhere in Europe our taxes are a bargain (though the Euros do get some nice perks like mandatory vacation time).

Posted 11 months ago #
RichY

offline
Member

SeaSpider
WLCB goes back to prohibition -where most states controlled sales of hard spirits - we were one of 19 US states that controlled sales (till Friday)

Wa Gas tax has gone from $.26/ G to $.37.5 / G in the last 20 years (the 8th highest in the US)

Did you not pay attention in Wa State history class?

Posted 11 months ago #
NW Native

offline
Member

Onederfulone, any chance you can post without being an obnoxious twit?

The high cost to distributors is whats going to drive them out of the market, and drive prices down for the consumers.

Hope this helps.

Posted 11 months ago #
Ballardemician

offline
Member

1.75 Tanqueray at state store: $49.95

1.75 Tanqueray at QFC: $37.39

Sad to see the big price jump. Might have to start making my own gin at home.

Posted 11 months ago #
Ballardemician

offline
Member

and not to poke Rich but:

"Wa Gas tax has gone from $.26/ G to $.37.5 / G in the last 20 years (the 8th highest in the US)"

According to the CPI 26 cents in 1992 had the same purchasing power as 43 cents today. In real terms does this mean that gas tax have slightly dropped?

Not that I want more gas tax. Totally regressive in the regressive-ist state in the nation ...

Posted 11 months ago #
RichY

offline
Member

Ballardemician, My response was on the statement: "The "high" gas tax people blather about hasn't been raised by a single penny in 20 years. "

But not to poke back, if you take cpi in account then most items have stayed the same or gone down (for equivalent)

Posted 11 months ago #
Ballardemician

offline
Member

my bad -- reading too quickly. You are right!

Posted 11 months ago #
VeganBiker

offline
Member

Ballardemician - sorry to correct you on this but if you read my earlier post I pointed out that the QFC price you quoted is minus the 20.5% State Liquor Tax and the $3.77 per liter tax that is added at the checkout. So it will actually be more than the "old" WSLCB price. On that QFC flyer you read, just on the bottom left of the page in small print is the message!
And by my calculation the State "old" price of $49.95 will be less than the QFC price of $37.39 plus 20.5% = $45.05 plus $3.77 per liter tax = $5.37 = total of $50.42

Posted 11 months ago #
SeaSpider

offline
Member

I was talking about Federal gas tax, not state. Either way it's still ridiculously low compared to the cost of maintaining the roads.

No I didn't pay attention in Wa State History class. Did you not pay attention when I said I'm not from here? ;)

Posted 11 months ago #
RichY

offline
Member

SeaSpider, No I did not, they do offer the class at any CC or high school though

Posted 11 months ago #
Ballardemician

offline
Member

That's no fun then. Boo.

Still about the same though, no? And far more convenient ...

Posted 11 months ago #
pennygirl

offline
Member

And by my calculation the State "old" price of $49.95 will be less than the QFC price of $37.39 plus 20.5% = $45.05 plus $3.77 per liter tax = $5.37 = total of $50.42

So we're talking 47c? Scandalous!

Posted 11 months ago #
Edog

offline
Member

Oh, you can laugh PG but when its time for hard drinking, don't nickel and dime me.

Posted 11 months ago #
pennygirl

offline
Member

This reminds me of people who drive 2 miles to save 5c on a roll of toilet paper.

(Not you VB, because you don't waste petrol) :-)

Posted 11 months ago #
Edog

offline
Member

I hear he does not wipe his a*s either.

Posted 11 months ago #
pennygirl

offline
Member

Neither does your dog but no-one brings that up.

Posted 11 months ago #
onederfullone

offline
Member

You just did...

Posted 11 months ago #

Daily news for Seattle's Ballard neighborhood

My Ballard Forum » Open Forum

Liquor prices going up Friday.......

Reply »