There are several well funded lobbies that do not want change because it hurts their bottom line in one way or another, either in actual dollars or jobs. Speak to any PA citizen and they hate the way this system works; it's terribly inconvenient and reduces consumer choice and competition. You will find nobody in favor of the way this system works except the people who gain from it in some way (unionized employees or business owners). PA is very corrupt. Nobody I know in this state, republican or democrat, agrees with the way this works and they all believe it needs a radical change.

Wine/Liquor: We can only buy wine and liquor at state run stores. Why won't this change? Because those employees are unionized and they make far above what they should be making. Our previous governor, Corbett, a Republican tried to change this but he was a big failure and ineffective at just about everything. One of the few PA governors to only get one term. Now we have a democrat who is backed heavily by unions, so there is no chance of getting privatized wine stores anytime soon now as that is one of his bases of support. In my opinion, they should start allowing private licenses while keeping the state stores in the short term and they will slowly disappear. Or maybe even find a private buyer of the entire system. Bottom line -- the government should not be selling alcohol direct to citizens.

Beer: Traditionally you buy beer in case stores (seriously, cases only) or you can go to a bar and get a six pack to go. Obviously going to a bar to get a six pack is very inconvenient for most people. This is starting to change through what is essentially a loophole; stores like grocery stores and gas stations can get a special license to sell up to 192 ounces to people, but it has to be done under a separate checkout. A lot of grocery stores have these now. Buy groceries, check out. Get beer, check out again. If you want to go over 192 ounces, simply go outside and then come back in. Yes, that is allowed. It is so comically dumb.

The people who do not want change are case stores, they are the major roadblock to change. In other states you can easily buy beer with your groceries in the same checkout or at any convenience store. There is no need for "case stores" in other states, so these stores would, over time disappear if they do not modify their business model. Grocery stores, including Wegmans (who lobbied heavily to change the current laws) want to make it easy to sell beer to people, understandably. To be fair, it is a lot of larger corporations that are lobbying against "family owned" case stores in this issue. So you can see how the PA legislature sides with their constituent businesses over larger corporations, some of which are not even based in PA.

As a fairly liberal democrat, I sympathize with the case stores that will likely go out of business, but they are essentially being protected by the state government through laws written to prevent competition and reduce consumer choice. My recommendation would be that case stores should be allowed to sell any quantity of beer, from a single bottle to cases. But any other stores, including large grocery stores, should be able to as well. Beer stores should focus on the niche market and stock things that cannot be found in grocery stores or would rarely ever be stocked by them. But it's clear these case stores don't want to change their simple business model and so they are fighting to prevent change. Go into any case store in PA and you will see how cheap it is to run one of them -- it's often nothing but a big open room with cases upon cases stacked upon themselves. In the summer, many of them don't have A/C so the beer gets way too warm.