Drink Responsibly…A Lot

Imagine telling your child to strictly practice abstinance while handing them a big box of profilactics with a pretty red bow.

This sentiment is how some feel about the news that the Washington State Liquor Control Board is going to expand liquor store locations and liquor sales. A great article by Chris Woodward (AP) in the Seattle Times describes how the state intends to increase the number of liquor store locations, while at the same time increasing the price of booze in order to make up for a budget deficit, and to replace funds in an already raided liquor fund.

To any businessperson, this seems like a marvy idea–expand the availability of the product to match a growing consumer base, and raise prices to a degree that the market will allow to increase your margin and profitability. It’s a no-brainer.

The problem is that the WSLCB is not a business. Also, the whole idea of the WSLCB is to ensure temperance by alcohol consumers.

Washington State is one of eighteen “control states,” and one of only eight that actually conduct liquor sales rather than merely taxing and monitoring. The idea here is that if liquor were to be available on the open market, prices would become competitive, liquor would be more widely available, and the thirsty public would run pel-mel to the stores to buy, booze it up, and cause all kinds of social ills. Basically, we’d be like California.

Their mission statement is a bit more succinct: “Our mission is to contribute to the safety and financial stability of our communities by ensuring the responsible sale, and preventing the misuse of, alcohol and tobacco.”

So, it seems a little odd at best that the WSLCB is going to add fifteen new locations, introduce seasonal stores/kiosks in shopping malls to sell gift packs of booze, and allow more liquor stores to be open on Sundays and seven holidays (big ad on the home page announcing they’ll be open on Independence Day). And, they’re going to do all this while increasing the retail price of liquor, adding about $3.70 for a bottle of premium whiskey.

As a consumer, I applaud the increased availability (what if I run dry on the 4th of July???), and boo the price hike (these are hard times!!!).

As a citizen, though, I just find the whole thing weird. How can the Liquor Control Board follow a mission of limiting (ab)use of liquor, while still doing everything they can to boost sales and turn a tidy (read: huge) profit off of the liquor consumer? How can they ensure temperance while encouraging incresaed consumption? How can they objectively protect the safety of the public when they have a clear profit motive?

Not to mention that these state-run liquor stores are direct competition for private businesses that sell beer and wine, while having control over those retailers by the power vested in them by the Legislature.

On the surface, it appears that the WSLCB was born with mutated genes, a circus-sideshow hermaphrodite with a perpetual crisis of identity. But, like any freakshow, the public will continue to throw money at it.