March 25, 2010
Your government at work

The state liquor monopoly has been overpaying truckers to ship booze from its Seattle distribution center to stores around the state.

At first, Pat McLaughlin, the Director for Business Enterprise for the Washington State Liquor Control Board told [KING 5] : "It was literally a day or two in the month of September."
On the other hand:
A high level source in the Distribution Center tells KING 5 that the state may have been overpaying carriers for years, and it could add up to millions of dollars.
There are increasing calls to privatize the state's liquor business, a long overdue move -- 77 years after Prohibition ended. Understandably, some liquor board employees are worried about their jobs.

But should the state's liquor business be privatized, its current workers will easily find other employment. The most capable would be snapped up by private liquor enterprises. The overpayers would be offered other government jobs, at, say, the new Obamacare bureaucracies.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at March 25, 2010 11:12 AM | Email This
Comments
1. Obongocare would be a good place for former liquor hucksters. After all, the Obongo health plan is comprised mostly of snake oil, which is a cousin to stump-hole whiskey.

Posted by: Saltherring on March 25, 2010 11:59 AM
2.

And we just experienced our wonderful political intellectuals in DC voting in health care that will be run by the government.
Can you imagine how much waste and incompetence will be part of this debacle?
I just can wait to get up in the morning these days to read what other level of stupidity comes down the pike.
Is it bed time yet?

Posted by: Ho ho on March 25, 2010 12:48 PM
3. There are many carriers that just plain refuse to haul for the liquor board. Others have a surcharge.

The reason?

They are one of the hardest companies to deal with. Since they have a monopoly they expect everyone to conform to what they want and not to what is normal in the shipping business. As a result the costs to the carriers is higher. They just pass that on.

Posted by: Vince on March 25, 2010 01:07 PM
4. Has anyone stopped to think about what would happen if it is privatized? Who would ship the liqour then? In the end the consumers end up paying for the shipments and the taxes and it is the sin taxes that are paying for the shipping anyway. So privatize the liqour, implement the state income tax and post the next blog about how our state government is AGAIN taxing everyone! Maybe a little research behind the headlines would help a bit.

Posted by: jjanel on March 26, 2010 09:35 AM
5. Sensational! They say "MAY" have overpaid and "COULD" be millions. You jump on it and take it as truth. Where are your FACTS?

Posted by: Truth on March 28, 2010 05:02 PM
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