PLCB Shenanigans

PLCB’s Wine Kiosks Stoke the Ire of Liquor Store Employees

Belly up, Quakers!
Belly up, Quakers! Photo: PLCB

Last we checked in with the PLCB’s wine kiosk program — the Orwellian effort by the state’s almighty booze overlords to further mock and aggravate oenophiles throughout Pennsylvania — its trial run was going swimmingly but critics were a plenty. In the latest round of drama, a wine kiosk installed at University City’s Fresh Grocer supermarket has stoked the ire not of its users, but ironically enough, from the union that represents state liquor store employees, according to the website ConsumerAffairs.com. The Pennsylvania Independent State Store Union fired off a missive last week that accuses the state-run liquor control agency of hypocrisy for placing a wine vending machine at the only supermarket that serves students at University of Pennsylvania while simultaneously boasting of efforts to curb underage drinking among Pennsylvania’s youth.

The union, which alleges that PLCB is a little too cozy with the liquor industry to deal with underage drinking in a meaningful way, especially when it’s placing machines that dispenses alcoholic beverages on a college campus. The letter begs the question, “are we to assume the alcohol beverage industry represented by the PLCB will make the campus safer with the addition of a wine vending machine?” And goes on to say, that placing a wine vending machine at the Fresh Grocer “makes a cynical joke of the PLCB/industry hypocritical alcohol education/prevention programs.”

Wine Vending Machine Near College Draws Alcohol Abuse Complaints [ConsumerAffairs.com]

PLCB’s Wine Kiosks Stoke the Ire of Liquor Store Employees