TheAgitator.com
Businesses Ask Legislature to Stop Them From Doing Business
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008Oregon’s car dealerships are asking the state’s legislature to help them cut costs—by forcing them to close on Sundays.
Oregon’s struggling auto dealers plan to ask the Legislature to impose “blue laws” prohibiting car sales on Sunday.
The day off would help them cut costs during an economic downturn that has already put 19 Oregon dealerships out of business this year. Nationally, sales of domestic cars declined more than 35 percent in 2008.
Greg Remensperger, executive vice president of the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association, told The Oregonian newspaper his members strongly favor the measure.
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If lawmakers don’t approve the restriction on Sunday sales, Oregon dealers could opt for a voluntary pact among themselves. Dealers, however, figure a state law is needed to ensure that nobody takes advantage of the others’ closure.
I’ve been told by contacts in the liquor industry that the biggest opposition to repealing Sunday sales laws related to alcohol tends to come not from moral crusaders, but from long-established liquor stores, who don’t want the hassle of staying open all week.
Remember that two groups love regulation of industry: socialists and industry. Regulation exists to help keep the barriers to entry high, no more obviously than in the liquor industry.
Anyway, what I was going to write is that we believe this will be the year that we’ll get wine sales in grocery stores (and hopefully beer sales in liquor stores to go along with it). I would be surprised if this gets by without a Sunday exclusion for those sales, but at least it’s a start.
Massachusetts repealed their alcohol blue laws a few years back, the only people opposed were the liquor stores owners/employees.
In WV there are no retail liquor sales on Sunday. The primary dealer here is Rite Aid which is open on Sunday anyway. I guess it’s only the bible thumpers that keep that in effect here. Strangely, I can go to a bar or restaurant and drink until I get shit-faced, cut-off or run our of money. More than likely at 4 plus dollars a drink it’s the latter.
I used to work in a liquor store in Memphis, TN, the buckle of the Bible belt. There was absolutely no desire on the owners part to change the mandatory closings on Sundays and national holidays. This gave him time off and assured competitors wouldn’t steal a sale. As with any regulation it’s usually the consumer who loses out through higher prices and inconvenience.
“If lawmakers don’t approve the restriction on Sunday sales, Oregon dealers could opt for a voluntary pact among themselves. Dealers, however, figure a state law is needed to ensure that nobody takes advantage of the others’ closure.”
You have to be kidding me.
If opening on Sundays loses your business money, why wouldn’t you just close on Sundays? Why is the first reaction to involve the government? How pathetic is that?
Isn’t this sort of like the Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule in “Atlas Shrugged”? The economic news lately keeps reminding me of things in that book, sadly.
Radley you’re absolutely right that the liquor stores are the biggest opposition. There’s been talk here at IU of Indiana allowing the Sunday liquor sales, and when the IDS did an article on it, they ran a quote from the owner of Big Red Liquors (small liquor store chain here in Bloomington) that was something like “I don’t think Sunday sales should be allowed, because the additional sales wouldn’t be worth the extra cost of staffing the day.” So that isn’t a calculation you can do – you think the state of Indiana is the best judge of when a business should and shouldn’t be opened? If that’s the case, why don’t we let the state determine all of your operating hours. Why don’t we just let them make every damn business decision for you. It’d be alot easier, wouldn’t it?
“If opening on Sundays loses your business money, why wouldn’t you just close on Sundays”
It only works if everyone closes on Sundays.
Here in Minnesota – auto dealerships and liquor stores are required by law to be closed on Sundays. At yet we’ve had one major dealership bankruptcy and numerous minor dealership closures. So – that’s working well isn’t it?
I’m betting Liquor stores are having a booming business. And they are on the forefront in trying to prevent supermarkets from carrying wine. Its “for the children” ya know….
A few years ago in CT there was a debate over opening up liquor stores on Sundays, and the leading opponents to it were quite openly the liquor store owners.
I have to say, at least here in CA (People’s Republic thereof, no lack of regulations) at least we can buy wine and liquor in the grocery store, and there is of course the glorious “BevMo!” (I think the ! is part of their name, much like “Airplane!”, “Mafia!” etc).
OR has plenty of other dumb rules (liquor sales being one of them, I believe that stores are privately owned/operated, but quantity per town, and stock/prices, are set by state) too. Oh, another one is that OR is one of few places in country where you can’t pump your own gas (law exists specifically to employ troglodytes to touch your car).
I read an article on this 5-6 years ago. Sorry no cite available..
Anyway, the story was about Arkansas with their dry counties, and sales being forbidden the entire week.
The campaign contributions for this where highly skewed
by the liquor store owners in neighboring counties were a liquor store owner 10 steps from the county line would lose a lot of business if the change were approved…
come on now, it’s Oregon – you can’t set the bar too high for legislators who can’t pump their own gas.
Here in Georgia, we have been trying to get Sunday liquor sales. One of the biggest opponents is the owner of a large liquor store, who says that the change in the law would put him at a disadvantage to grocery stores and gas stations, which are both already open on Sunday.