I think we should consider privatizing our elected official positions...I like that idea better than the lop-sided "program" we have to operate with in this Commonwealth now. If our elected officials were paid based on their performance...and did not have their meat-hooks directly into the tax payers wallets...setting their OWN compensation terms outside of any taxpayer say...we'd probably have a better response out of them. In regards to what they do with the state stores...I could care less. I don't drink. But these one time fixes to sell off our Commonwealth assets...the lottery and alcohol mainly which are generating millions and millions of dollars for our elderly which we will all be one day...instead of addressing the flush-hole where the taxpayers money is flowing down that is getting bigger and bigger...PENSIONS...is a play right out of Mayor Pawlowski's Allentown hand-book called...."How to Ruin a City for Your Future Children". Did all of our politicians graduate from the same jack-ass school on how to kick the problem down the road???? What do our politicians care about our elderly? They've set themselves up for life with guaranteed taxpayer funded programs anyway!!! Most people miss this point entirely!

I don't drink but it does seem to me that you would be giving up a source of future income to the state. So in the future won't you have to raise taxes to make up for this lack of income. Not to mention the people you would be putting out of business. If you can buy beer at a grocery store you will be taking business away from are local beer distributors, closing business that have been in operation for decades. The argument that people go over to neighboring states to buy the alcohol sure some might but it is illegal. Do you really think there are all that many people willing to risk this for a few dollars? This is just an attempt by the governor to line his use of the states immediate income the sales will provide and to line his pockets & friends pocket for future income. Greed hasn't the country had enough of this type of behavior?

It's about time!

problem is the schools will spend outside of their means the next 4 years and then the money goes away and the schools will raise taxes to compensate for the lack of money coming from the state

short sighted fix with long term debt

SWT,
Of course it will go to pensions! Now, I cannot see the future, so I will not predict anything. BUT, if we eliminate the "state store" and the "state employee" it hires (not to mention the state dollars that go to marketing and "research", we will eliminate further pension costs!
That stops part of any future pension costs. And it makes customers happy, too!

I agree with everything you pose, SWT.
I just do not agree with holding accessible liquor sales hostage to get it.
Eventually, we will have to come to terms with the fact that the future rests with the individual and their own retirement planning.
However, saying we need to hold on to something that profits government while it punishes the customer doesn't work, either.
Government is not responsible with my money. Never has been. I'm willing to let this go private and THEN see what happens.
Government can always pull it back. And if they want to, they will.

SWT, you seem to be confusing selling off the MANAGEMENT of the lottery with selling the lottery itself. The company that bought the management rights believes they can do it more efficiently then the PA State Govt and will make their money in those savings. The amount guaranteed to be turned in to the state is greater then what is currently brought in. The only people "losing out" are state lottery management workers.

You say the PLCB has gross profits that are sky high but due to their incompetence and inefficiency the net profits are not. $85 million last year on $2.1B of sales. Sales will go up due to increased convenience (1200 stores instead of 600) businesses will pay business taxes which the PLCB doesn't do, higher more people and run more efficiently. The taxes collected will increase because of the higher amount of sales and education and enforcement funding will go up far more then what the PLCB spends now.....or didn't you listen to the proposal.

The majority of other states handle private liquor just fine and most do a better job then the PLCB ever could. It is time to let the state regulate and educate and not be in sales.

State Stores bring $500 million into our State finances every year. God knows, we don't want that. Up with taxes ! Up with Turnpike fees - triple them ! $200 to renew your driver's license !!

There is nothing positive about 5000 people losing their jobs statewide, and those who say it doesn't affect them are mistaken, anybody who is a taxpayer living in PA will be paying thousands of people's unemployment as well as welfare for those who will be forced to apply for it. There is nothing definite about what Corbett is proposing for the existing employees, just a bunch of "we could do this" like possible schooling and other state jobs that aren't even available now.
Something else they don't inform the public about, if it is privatized the convenient liquor store you may use(for some everyday) very well may not be there, and if it is a once $5 bottle vodka may be $20 instead, it is something for everyone to think about. Once again, like the lottery PA is broke and looking for fast money. So if they do privatize and get a couple billion, in ten years when they are broke again, which we all know they will be what are they going to sell next? roads? bridges? oh my! It is a permanent solution to a temporary problem .
So for all those ignorant people who do not fully understand the consequences of privatizing and how it affects everyone as a whole maybe you will once you start paying for 5000 people's unemployment and welfare goes up. I don't know call me crazy but laying off that many people and having the taxpayers pay for it doesn't sound like a positive way to fix a deficit.

Those state employees ALSO pay taxes and the lost of their job will increase local school taxes- and the difference is a low wage employee and your taxes still rise.
This big push to get rid of govt workers, no one seems to get they pay taxes and spend money, take their part away - you pay more. Keep outsourcing and reducing wages and all taxes go up.
If you live in the middle of the state and don't want to drive hours you go to a state store, they know about how much each year they would get in profits and the fine Gov just wants this for another friends- a loss for the state! From a dept that was making money and could have made more for the state each year. Good thing he is only going to be a one term, but it will be too late to undue all the gifts he was given friends!!

What amazes me is this: in time, when the number of people collecting SS begins to rise and we begin to get closer and closer to not be able to pay them, the fed will have NO PROBLEM with cutting back the pay outs to those who are entitled to receive SS payments. $1,500 a month this year. $1,000 a month in the year 2025. But, here we are with a severe pension issue in this Commonwealth. We are already at in PA where the fed SS program is approaching. I don't see anyone standing up at the Commonwealth level telling those with taxpayer funded pensions...sorry, folks, because of a declining income, we will have to cut back your guaranteed payouts. Nope. Not a word. You will see taxpayers on the streets, loosing their homes, and not a single thing STILL being done about it. What do they do? They begin to sell off anything that makes money, rent out our pristine woodlands to be ruined by fracking, give big business free taxpayer money to bring $12-$14 an hour warehouse jobs to the Lehigh Valley...just at poverty level...and call they call this success? It may be if you are making $175,000 a year as many who make the decisions for us are. I call on Corbert...or Pat Browne...try living on $14 an hour, gentlemen. Once you piss away ownership of these two assets...PLCB and the lottery...you've pretty much run out of all options except what you should be doing: FIXING THE PENSION PROBLEM. Grow a set and make the necessary changes and STOP KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD.

SWT Resident: I'm not sure where you got your 28 people at $150K or who you are referring to. Conti is the only one in the PLCB and I do agree that he isn't qualified. Since the management of the PLCB isn't even under consideration to be sold I don't know what the point of your reply is. The PLCB is incompetent on the retail end and should be, needs to be and God willing will be replaced with a private system and not with a private management team.

Something to consider: Convenient PLCB stores are damn few and far between. If that wasn't the case there wouldn't be as much push to get rid of them and replace them with something better.

POINT BLANK: thousands out of a job and those agreeing with it in they way things are today is the devil's work and when is the the last time you have been to a state store where there is actual civilization because you would easily see they are younger employees trained and very knowledgeable about wines and clearly not on a second pension. I know the air is clearer out there but come visit once in a while!

With only 600 stores in a state the size of PA they are few and far between no matter where you live. My closest store is one of the top 20 in the state but it isn't what I would call close. I never said anything about second pensions so please refrain from trying to twist what I did say.

There only being 600 state stores isn't a valid reason to give up a proven revenue stream of some $100 million profit to the state. That's just a good reason for the state to consider expanding locations. Maybe the system could be managed better to maximize potential profit, but there's no denying that it's profiting. Profit is a measure of success, even if there is room for even greater success, it's still profitable. What other government agency can say that? Once the $1 billion or so from the sell off is used up, where will that annual revenue come from that the state once had? Surely taxes will have to rise, unless for some reason it's believed that we will somehow double liquor sales. And there is no reason to believe that grocery and convenience stores will hire those who will lose their jobs. Why would they add employees when they already have ones in place to do the job? To me, the numbers simply don't work, tho I do agree the state could do an even better job at maximizing profits thru the PLCB.

This might be a silly question, but why if the state run stores are soooo profitable don't other states take over liquor sales in their states.....if it's such a money maker? We could continue down the path where the state takes whatever they deem necessary. How about all these poor people who just have to hand over their land...could happen...if they wanted to...if it really was such a money maker!

@Ann- isn't that sorta what the state has been doing with fracking? Public land is the people's land. It's our asset, not the corporations exploiting it, but that's a separate discussion. No one is advocating that the state get into the business of doing everything. What's being discussed is the privatization of an existing state asset, and the loss in revenue by doing so. Those are tangible issues, not "what ifs". $100 million in annual revenue is nothing to sneeze at. Not with the budget gap we currently have. It seems to come down to as simply two sided question: would you rather gain revenue from the PLCB or from an increase in taxes?

@Albert- doubling the number of retail locations doesn't presume that sales will double. The rest of what you say I agree with in theory. I just don't believe that volume/consumption will double simply due to privatization. Thus, the net benefit you mention is questionable considering. I also don't see the realization of job tranference, as I do think that grocery and convenience stores will corner the market. How many WaWas, Sheetz, Wegman locations are there in the state? That's a chunk right there. Perhaps they might open more locations to hire more employees, but that's an assumption.

Amend, no one knows for sure the money aspect. Everyone is just giving their opinion. Some say we lose money, some say we make money. We can all agree that we WILL have more convenience and variety!

I didn't say it would double, I said it would increase. It doesn't have to increase very much to make up for the "profit" the PLCB currently turns in. Just looking at raw numbers sales would have to go from the current $2.1B to $2.45B (~17%) to pass the total collected by the PLCB in taxes and profit and that doesn't count the licensing fees, business taxes or income taxes.