CT Beer distributors

Package store owners in Connecticut are forced to deal with monopolies when it comes to purchasing from beer wholesalers! You can only buy Anheuser-Busch products from your designated distributor, even though other A/B distributors deliver non A/B products in our area! This leads to poor customer service and deliveries, because we are held hostage to this system (restraint of trade?) we have no recourse to get problems solved! Most consumers will take their business elsewhere when service suffers, package store owners do not have this freedom of choice. This closed system also lends itself to higher prices with no competition. Ever notice how all the big brewers sell at the same pricing, Bud, Bud light, Coors, Miller ect...

Yes, I know, it's not all about me! It is about service!  I cannot give my customers the level of service they deserve if I can't get product in a reasonable time. The distributor says" all orders received before 6 p.m. will be shipped the following day". So how come when I order on Friday A.M., and they are doing Saturday deliveries, I don't get my order until Tuesday (4 days after ordering)?

See, they got me started… while we are on the topic of beer…. Why is there no min bottle pricing as there is on wine and spirits? There may not be a lot of profit on some min bottle prices, but, it stops stores from selling items at cost, as a loss leader, to get people in the store. Beer is often sold at cost in the supermarkets to draw people in, again, this system only benefits the distributors!
 And….
 Distributors also charge a deposit on cardboard boxes! Yes! We pay $.06 deposit on any cardboard container that carries bottles (why not cans? Who Knows?) We have to break down and store cardboard boxes until we have enough to return. What do they do with all that money for boxes that don’t get returned?

Sorry,
Thanks for listening….
Now back to our regularly scheduled program….

Just another day in paradise

CL&P

CL&P does not deserve all of the bad press they are getting. They made a best guess estimate of when the power would be restored based on information (present at the time) and past experiences. We have never had a storm do this much damage before and no one had experienced this this much tree damage. CL&P worked non stop to get power back and on their own self imposed deadline. Did they make it? No. But who has not started a project(much less grand in scope) with an optimistic view and run into unplanned setbacks?  Should we berate and harass them for being to optimistic in their goals? No.  We should expect CL&P and our state government to be better prepared in the future? Yes. Our official deserve some of the blame too.
If we are going to hold a person to their exact promise and deadline(When they do not have absolute control over events) We need to apply the same standards and penalties to our politicians!How many have made campaign promises and not even come close to meeting them? CL&P said Sunday midnight and only missed by a couple of days, not bad all things considered. Can we say the same thing about any of elected officials? The media needs to be more even and fair in their reporting and not just trying to sensationalize certain  events.
All of the people and politicians calling for the head of CL&P to step down and want to fine CL&P should take a look at their own promises and performance and apply the same standards they want to hold CL&P to.
No I don't work for CL&P.. and I just got power back at 3:30 A.M. 11/8/2011

Just an other day in paradise