Pa State Stores Playing games with customers I hate them

[dave ziegler]

Two weeks ago I bought the last bottle of Wild Turkey Russels Reserve Rye whiskey which is no sale till Monday. The store told me when I asked when will more come in early next week well I called last night and was told even though they have 250 cases on Stock at their warehouse no more will come in till after the sale is over.

What great customer suport you go in the beginning of the month they have very little and then they do not stock any more till the sale is safely over! I drove to another town and got their last two bottles as I really like this Rye but I am getting so sick of the stuff these People pull.

The day I buy the last bottle first week of June they say no trouble the warehouses have 250 cases we will get more, but a week and 1/2 later they have the nerve to tell you none will come in till after the sale is over, boy is that some great customer service.

And to top it off they will no longer have Wild Turkey Rare breed Bourbon the Pa stores just plain Suck.

Dave Z

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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory

America's Most magnificent Bourbon

[Jono]

I am so glad I do not live in a state with a liqour control board. One thing IL has done right is to stay out of the liqour business....well, not really as the distributorships make for great patronage....but independent stores can compete on product and price....including grocery stores. Hmm, this has lessons and echos of another thread elsewhere.

http://www.state.il.us/LCC/

The Illinois Liqour Commission just deals with licensing issues etc.

[ILLfarmboy]

I am so glad I do not live in a state with a liqour control board. One thing IL has done right is to stay out of the liqour business....well, not really as the distributorships make for great patronage....but independent stores can compete on product and price....including grocery stores. Hmm, this has lessons and echos of another thread elsewhere.

http://www.state.il.us/LCC/

The Illinois Liqour Commission just deals with licensing issues etc.

I was thinking the same thing.

I was looking for an air filter for one of my chain saws. Kline Equipment in Galesburg didn't have one but their store in Monmouth did. They offered to have it shipped from their store in Monmouth so I could pick it up the next day. I've never asked a chain liquor store if they would do this, ship bottles from one store to another, but that is the kind of thing that can and does happen in a free market system. There is an economic incentive to take care of the customer, especially if you're a regular patron.

[callmeox]

If I want a bottle of X and my local state store does not have it in stock, I call Columbus and they will either tell me who else in my area has it or they will schedule a case delivery to my local store. Stores get two deliveries a week from the local warehouse, so the process is moderately fast.

PA has a pretty whiz-bang site so it is easy to find what is in stock, whereas Ohio has a text file on their site so there's no way to find what is stocked locally.

PA has the RR Rye on sale with empty shelves but don't want to ship warehoused sock to the stores? To me, that means that they have last years allocation on sale and want it gone before shipping the new year/label to the stores. New label/old label combinations on the shelf are not good merchandising and the general public will probably buy the new one and leave the old label there to languish. Control states don't want that.

Dave, were the bottles that you picked up the new style label or the old style??

[dave ziegler]

Scott as far as I can see this was new lot style Bottles and sometimes they play this game of only putting so much at each store on sale then no more till the price goes back to noraml end of the month. The clerk did not want to hear about it told me come in begining of next Month you can get all you want at the regular price!

All They care about in Pa is Wine! So many times we have fought to get this system gone but the Union clerks win everytime.

And this is what we are stuck with. Last yr we were suppose to get 4 Roses and it still is not here and Now they are discontinuing Wild Turkey Rare Breed too. And on the things you can order you most times have to buy a case to get them and most people can't aford that.

Dave Z

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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For Unhurried Moments

[callmeox]

According to Chuck Cowdery, control states are supposed to get the 4R products last. Since they hit Ohio in July, PA may be next. What if that's the product destined to take up the Rare Breed shelf space?

The one thing that I've noticed about the PA stores is that they all seem to have shelf space dedicated to the same items which is different than how Ohio stocks the shelves. That's why the discontinue a product to "make room for another" concept seems odd to me.

[jburlowski]

Unless I'm missing something, what Dave is describing doesn't seem that much different than what private stores do all the time: put items on sale for a limited period of time and with limited quantities.

[Lost Pollito]

I was thinking the same thing.

I've never asked a chain liquor store if they would do this, ship bottles from one store to another, but that is the kind of thing that can and does happen in a free market system. There is an economic incentive to take care of the customer, especially if you're a regular patron.

[ILLfarmboy]

That would be illegal in the State of Illinois. Each store has its own license, and each store has to work within the 3 tier system. Even if it's one chain, they can't transfer store to store. Stores have to get there goods from a distributor.

[ILLfarmboy]

Unless I'm missing something, what Dave is describing doesn't seem that much different than what private stores do all the time: put items on sale for a limited period of time and with limited quantities.

[ThomasH]

In Ohio, they run specials on stuff like Beam white and E&J VSOP without having sufficient stock for the month and run out. Then about 3-4 days before the sale ends they shovel off all the extra in the warehouse onto the stores. I have seen orders for 25 cases of a sale item sent to a store right at the end of the sale month!

Thomas

[jburlowski]

Unless an advertisement explicitly states "while supples last", aren't most private stores in most states subject to some kind of "rain-check" rule?

I don't know, just asking.......

Brad,

I don't know either. I suspect it varies by local laws. But my experience has been that (regardless where I have lived) the "limited time / while supplies last" sort of rule applies to most sales. Alternatively, there is often a quantity limit per customer established.

Usually there is some sort of disclosure of this --- often in microscopic print. I don't know if that was true in Dave's case or if the state was subject to such disclosure requirements (if any).

[Joshua]

I hate all that stuff... personally, when I go bourbon shopping it's like going to "hang out" at the liquor store. I almost always discuss bottles with their store bourbon expert. (although some "experts" are more so than others...)

I talk with what they like, share stories, talk with other customers... and if they are more "business" then I would like then no sales and I don't go back. I hate newspaper-ad type sales and "if supplies last" and that garbage.

When I was looking for some Lot B, I asked when they would get more in... I was told "I'm not sure, but I'll keep a couple bottles in back when we get it." my response was "Thank you, that sounds good. What's the price on those?" His answer, "$40" when clearly the spot on the shelf was marked at $50. THOSE are the "sales" I like!

[ILLfarmboy]

I hate all that stuff... personally, when I go bourbon shopping it's like going to "hang out" at the liquor store...

Sounds like hanging out in a gun shop......guys drinking coffee and smoking cigars...Only now Illinois has an indoor smoking ban. But that doesn't stop guys from smoking in one particular gun shop I know of, cuz one of the guys who hangs out there, I think he even works there part time, is an Illinois State Trooper.:grin:

I wish I knew a well stocked liquor store that had a dram shop license (or whatever it is called). That would be cool.:cool:

[Bourbon Geek]

All They care about in Pa is Wine!

I totally agree. If I remember correctly, the head guy at the PA liquor control board is a BIG wine fan. He works out all these big deals to get discount wine in the stores, and then gives almost all of the prime end caps and floor display space to showcase the wines. It seems that the spirits keep getting shoved to the side.... Although, he did liberalize the sampling rules to permit in-store sampling a few years back (they told me I had the honor of being the first spirit company representative to hold a sampling in the state)

Generally, I still agree ... Spirits frequently get the short end of the stick in PA

[shyster512]

Pa must have some strange liquor and beer regulations. I live in the Bible belt and I found it easier to buy beer or whiskey in Tennessee than in Pa. On a trip to Bucks county, it was nearly impossible to buy beer. We had to buy it at a restaurant and take it back to the B & B. It was a difficult proposition.

[ratcheer]

Same kinds of things in Alabama. I want a bottle of Pernod and a bottle of Campari. I found on the ABC web site that Alabama ABC does list these products. So, I ask at a store, how would I get some of them? The dumb clerk reply is, we only stock what they send us. I said, they are on the official ABC list, but I can't find them in any of the stores I have been to. He says, they are probably just wholesale items, for restaurants and such.

What good is that? :hot:

Tim