Todd Klondike wrote
>
> If going to the distributor is 'too much trouble', then you didn't
> want a beer very bad, now did you?
>
> Missing out on 'impulse buyers' hardly equals 'difficulty buying
> beer'.

The only reason beer distributors exist is because of the post-prohibition
liquor laws which were supposed to keep organized crime (made up of former
bootleggers) out of the alcohol market. You can buy a case only from a
distributor and they spend a lot of money lobbying the legislature to keep
it that way.

Missing out on impulse buying does indeed equal difficulty buying beer in a
competitive marketplace. People who are shopping for dinner parties or
barbeques want to buy their food and drink at the same store. Consumers are
limited in the time they want to spend shopping and an impulse sale lost is
money spent on other beverages. Putting beer in supermarkets isn't a radical
idea - at least 48 other states do it (I'm not sure about Utah).

You're right when you say that if going to a distributor is too much trouble
then I don't want a beer that badly. I drink a beer or two almost every day
but I feel that I really need a beer maybe once a month. That means most of
my beer puchases are impulse buys and that can be the difference between
keeping a business open and seeing it close.

People on this list from Pennsylvania are from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
I assume that there really is a difficulty buying beer (especially good
beer) in other parts of the state.

-Tom W