Council mulling request to allow store sales to begin at 6 a.m.
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The City of Burlington Common Council is looking at sales of alcoholic beverages.
Again.
At the request of an unidentified local business owner, the council recently discussed whether or not to allow – per state statute – retailers to sell packaged alcoholic beverages at 6 a.m. vs. 8 a.m.
The extra two hours would accommodate people heading out of town for events to pick up alcohol before they leave, versus purchasing it at their destination.
“Some of the local businesses said they have lost out on customers,” said Alderman Tom Preusker.
The hours were discussed at length three years ago when Wisconsin adopted the statute, which says municipalities can go earlier – but don’t have to.
The question of morality also came up. Alderman Todd Bauman said he didn’t see a problem, while Alderman Ed Johnson said, “it’s kind of wrong.”
Lori Pesch of the Racine County Youth Coalition spoke. The group works with Partners 2 in Burlington, and Pesch is worried that the early availability could get more alcohol into the hands of teenagers.
“We just have some concerns it’s giving some additional opportunities to students,” she said. However, Pesch also said the city had a “very good” compliance check program in place.
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What evidence is there to show that early sales results in more teens getting access to alcohol? Are sales people more easily fooled or persuaded to sell alcohol to minors between 6 am and 8 am? Do their fake IDs look better in the morning light as opposed to the afternoon or evening? Or is it that adults who purchase alcohol in the early morning are more likely to be drunk and passed out by noon making it easier for students to acquire the alcohol from them?
Like!
I’d much rather see beer and liquor sales in the stores be extended to 11 pm or 12 am. Late grocery shoppers like to make 1 trip and it’s not always easy to get it all done by 9pm. Work, travel and kids school and sports activities tend to make the weekend shopping trips later and later.
Its legal in the township I believe.
Agreed
Jay, Wisconsin State law precludes the sale of alcohol (well, liquor and wine) from 9 PM to 6 AM, so this is not a City of Burlington restriction. This is for a combination “Class A” License (Beer & Intoxicating Liquor Including Wine) – what your typical grocery store/gas station/liquor store would have. The licenses that bars and restaurants have are different.
Technically beer can actually be sold retail up until midnight, but most places put the sales cap at 9 PM for both beer and liquor. However, I’ve skimmed through the ToB municipal code and it looks like they’re set up to follow the State statutes. If true, it’s possible someone in the ToB is selling beer (but not liquor) between 9 PM and midnight as you mentioned. The City of Burlington cuts everything off at 9 PM.
A year or two ago the state changed the opening time from 8 AM to 6 AM. A previous council voted to keep the opening time in the City at 8 AM, but this article reflects the fact that we just voted to change it to 6 AM.
Seriously people – plan ahead! If you need extra hours at the beginning or the end of the day to buy alcohol – maybe you should step back and take a look at your life!
Why not just make it more convenient? As busy as people are these days with work, communting, kids and sports is it such a big deal to make it more consumer friendly? Why make special arrangements just to accommodate an alcohol purchase? And yes, I do have a life. A busy one.
There are a lot of second shift people who work 3 – 11. If I pick it up before work it sits in the car and is exposed to weather. We grocery shop after work and it would be nice to be able to pick up a bottle of wine if I’m in the mood. Just because the hours of our day are not typical doesn’t mean “we need to take a look at our life”! I too think extended evening hours would be better looked at. I work with alcohol sales we check I.D., stiffer penalties for those selling or providing to minors will also help in preventing teen from obtaining alcohol
Alcohol problem prevention efforts are based on a proven conceptualization known as the Distribution of consumption model. According to this model, the proportion of heavy drinkers in a culture is positively related to mean alcohol consumption.
The heavier the alcohol consumption the greater the probability of alcohol problems. Negative consequences of drinking can be reduced by reducing alcohol consumption across the culture.
The results of various studies have very clearly shown that control measures can influence drinking patterns, and in turn the rate of drinking problems. Any increase in alcohol availability through increasing alcohol selling hours will reliably increase sales, use, use to excess, and alcohol related problems based on extensive, longitudinal research.
The flaw in this theory is by not having later store hours people who choose to buy alcohol in the evening are forced to go to the bar or drive out of the city. More people out and about drinking instead of at home could be viewed as another set of problems. And two more hours in the morning for stores to sell shouldn’t set off any alarms IMHO.
Bull! More retail outlets and expanded hours do not equate to more drinking – that is an asinine position to take! People drink what they drink, and don’t drink more because you can buy it earlier or later, or if there is another retail outlet for it!
D Mankel what research are you using to refute the distribution of consumption model? Saying “bull” is not a logical approach. The model has been validated in hundreds of studies in many countries and clearly shows that increased availability of alcohol tends to drive up alcohol use and that drives up alcohol related problems. It is not a moral statement just a fact. As a result laws are established to reduce availability either on the demand or the supply side, for example, by attaching warning labels (as in nicotine), reducing hours of availability, limiting drinking age, taxation, and public education. When those laws are relaxed drinking increases and when they are expanded drinking increases. The research data is incontrovertible and certainly not asinine.
Correction: When they are expanded drinking decreases.
I would be interested to know where this “research” was obtained. I moved to Wisconsin from Ohio about 2 years ago. Ohio in Marion County (where I am from) has 24 hr availability except on Sunday. The drinking in Wisconsin is far more excessive than in that area of Ohio. If you deny something it only makes humans want it more.
Mervin, as you point out in your comment, the Distribution of Consumption model is about how the drinking is distributed, not the overall consumption of the culture. Mediterranean cultures, with younger drinking incorporated in normal family environments appear to do a much better job of socializing drinkers into less abusive consumption patterns than what results from our restrictive approach, which allows for almost no actual responsibly supervised drinking. Rates of use are much higher in those cultures, though binge drinking and associated problems are much less. You are misquoting the concept when you state that restricting general access is associated with reduced problems. At the cultural level the opposite is true.
Very good points William. You are indeed correct that cultural factors play a mediating role. However, unlike Italy, we don’t do a good job in Wisconsin of teaching moderation. The research Ava has been derived from hundreds of studies in many nations over many years. The model does predict both distribution of consumption and specific consumption patterns. The European pattern is one of sustained, but less intense drinking whereas the pattern in North America is one of more episodic but heavier drinking. I am certainly not misquoting the model and would offer just one abstract as a good description of the findings (from the Journal of Alcohol and Drug studies, Volume 47, 1986)
One of the major approaches to alcoholism prevention is referred to as the distribution of consumption model. This prevention model can be summarized as a causal model whereby the availability of alcoholic beverages has a direct causal effect on the aggregate level of alcohol consumption in the population and, in turn, an indirect effect on the incidence and prevalence of alcohol-related damage. This article summarizes an application of a statistical technique known as the analysis of linear structural relations (LISREL) to a set of Ontario data concerning alcohol availability, alcohol consumption and alcohol-related damage. Results substantiated the existence of specific causal paths consistent with the model. Several procedures for assessing the overall goodness-of-fit of the model suggested that it adequately fit the data. The results provide reasonable statistical evidence that government policies restricting the retail availability of alcoholic beverages will reduce the per capita rates of alcohol consumption and, in turn, reduce the level of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity in the general population.
They should really try that with Heroin!!
“The extra two hours would accommodate people heading out of town for events to pick up alcohol before they leave, versus purchasing it at their destination.”
Maybe we should extend the hours for buying tires. Who knows I may need to buy a pair before I head out of town. How about opening barber shops at 6:00 so I can get an early hair cut during my “busy” schedule?
Come on folks. 8:00 AM is plenty early to buy alcohol.
There is no law saying you can’t buy tires or get a haircut. Big difference.
What I can say is wow people take their alcohol seriously lots of comments on this one.
This leads back to the rule my grandfather taught me…
You can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning.