AFSCME Privatization Update

Source: By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A Montgomery County state senator wants Pennsylvania to get out of the retail wine and liquor business -- and one of his proposals involves selling a 51 percent stake in the state store system to a private equity firm to "wring out" inefficiencies before selling it off completely.

Other possibilities include an outright sale or contracting long-term leases.

Posted by Info Center at 10:56 AM in Asset Sale/Lease | Liquor Stores | Permalink

Source: WILLIAM PETROSKI, Des Moines Register (IA), December 1, 2005

An Iowa trucking industry group intends to fight a plan to have state employees continue to haul alcoholic beverages to Iowa's 480 liquor retailers. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division announced this week that it will permit Crystal Distributing of Cedar Rapids to take over operations of the state's liquor warehouse on Feb. 1, fulfilling a legislative request that private firms be permitted to compete for the work. But the state agency will still truck products to liquor stores because the agency submitted the lowest qualified bid to perform transportation services. ….. The combined private-public partnership should save Iowa taxpayers about $1.1 million annually when compared with the state's payments to a previous contractor, Walding told the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Commission this week.

Posted by Info Center at 11:04 AM in Liquor Stores | Transportation | Permalink