PA Residents Crossing State Lines For Booze. - Page 7

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

i dont think that delaware is turning people around at the borders, but there are police strategically placed. even then, if you know the back roads, people are getting through to purchase alcohol.

i will admit to buying alcohol in delaware and bringing it back into maryland (not recently.) the pricing is too good to pass up. in maryland we are not supposed to do that. i used to buy cigarettes there for family members when they were quite a bit cheaper than in maryland.

we have tons of liquor stores open and many of our restaurants can now sell you mixed drinks or packaged goods for the time being. no alcohol is sold in grocery stores, convenience stores, gas stations, or pharmacies.

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"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

september · ‎03-09-2010

@sunshine45 My daughter lives in Maryland and when I visited her one time, there was a market that had a limited amount of wine for sale. She did comment that it was unusual to see that in Maryland.

Although we both now live on the East Coast, we're from CA where you can buy wine (or any alcoholic beverage) at CVS!

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

@50Mickey wrote:
@Carmie wrote:
It is illegal to transport alocholic beverages across state lines in PA.

One of my friends husband works as a PA State Trooper. His only job is to monitor and stop and charge people who cross into Maryland go buy alcohol and transport it back into PA.

They usually don't stop a person with a bottle or two unless they do it often, but if you are planning a party or a wedding where you purchase cases and you get caught, it's not gonna be pretty.

If you drive a car with PA tags and you pull into a parking lot in Maryland where spirits are sold, you are taking a chance that somone is watching you. When you cross over the border, you will get grabbed.

It's been like this for years. I am sure they have Troopers at the borders of PA and other adjoining states as well.

The reason PA is strict with this is because booze has a high tax on it. You must have a paper tax sticker accross the lid of the bottle for it to be legal to even have in PA.

@Carmie The sale of booze a legal substance is so tightly controlled by the state of Pennsylvania that they don't allow you to bring it across the state line? That's crazy and I would imagine not very enforceable. A Pennsylvania state trooper is not going to be allowed to roam around the state of Maryland looking at license plates in a beverage store parking lot. So unless they have snitches stationed around the lots and calling troopers to report that someone in a blue Ford suv Pennsylvania license plate #XXX just bought a case of wine how are they going to know this? They can't possibly stop every car crossing driving back to Pennsylvania to check for booze. Unless the beverage store is right across the state line and visible from Pennsylvania. Don't the troopers have better things to do with their time like say catch real criminals?

PA has a special unit in the PA State Police that only enforces illegal alochol laws. In case you think people who transport boozeacross state lines are not real criminals...think again.

This is big business. Millions of dollars in taxes for PA are lost each year. We are not talking about a bottle or two. We are talking about cases and cases of alcohol. It is sold on the black market in PA and involves big crime organizations.

And yes, there are undercover PSP who hang outside of establishments to see if anyone from PA is buying alochol. Often, the workers in the stores will call with a tip.

Every bottle of hard alcohol sold in PA, must have a tax seal around the lid. You could be charged if you are in procession of an unopened bottle that does not have this seal.

We are RVers. If we are camping out of state, we are careful to break the seal on a bottle that we bought out of state and didn't consume yet. We have never been stopped, but friends have.

I know that people who buy cases of booze for weddings and parties have gotten busted too.

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

@SXMGirl PA has tax free shopping too, but not on everything like Delaware does.

We have bus loads of people from other states, especially NY who come to PA to shop for clothing and shoes...tax free.

PA retailers welcomes them. They are not stopped, but are invited to,come back.

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

@september wrote:
@sunshine45 My daughter lives in Maryland and when I visited her one time, there was a market that had a limited amount of wine for sale. She did comment that it was unusual to see that in Maryland.

Although we both now live on the East Coast, we're from CA where you can buy wine (or any alcoholic beverage) at CVS!

i know......i used to think it was so funny that you could purchase alcohol at a gas station in CA! it is convenient though!

finding a market that sells wine in MD is extremely rare. i have never seen one, i dont think.

********************************************
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

SXMGirl · ‎07-07-2010

@Carmie Two weeks ago, there was a line of cars from PA on the backroad to TriState Mall in Delaware. State Troopers turned them around at the border. One woman had driven several hours to shop here. I understand that they are doing the same for Maryland and NJ. I lived in Philly for most of my life, so I know about items that are tax-free.

The next time that I hear salt and ice together, it better be in a margarita!

ValuSkr · ‎03-15-2014

@SXMGirl wrote:
@Carmie Two weeks ago, there was a line of cars from PA on the backroad to TriState Mall in Delaware. State Troopers turned them around at the border. One woman had driven several hours to shop here. I understand that they are doing the same for Maryland and NJ. I lived in Philly for most of my life, so I know about items that are tax-free.

I thought the Tri-State Mall in Delaware had closed. What's left there to attract the crowds?

september · ‎03-09-2010

@sunshine45 wrote:
@september wrote:
@sunshine45 My daughter lives in Maryland and when I visited her one time, there was a market that had a limited amount of wine for sale. She did comment that it was unusual to see that in Maryland.

Although we both now live on the East Coast, we're from CA where you can buy wine (or any alcoholic beverage) at CVS!

i know......i used to think it was so funny that you could purchase alcohol at a gas station in CA! it is convenient though!

finding a market that sells wine in MD is extremely rare. i have never seen one, i dont think.

Lol! My memory has been jogged. There were two. Both in the Gaithersburg/Rockville area. I don't remember the name of the mainstream market, but the other one was a Polish market called the Kielbasa Factory. They had some very good German Riesling wines there

ollie5 · ‎06-26-2013

There are a few stores in the lower level, including Tri State liquor. I actually purchase here weekly, I live in PA a mile from the state line.

PA is the corrupt state, that's what we call it. Same thing with inspection for your car, we have to do it every year but Jersey and DE do it every 2 years. Kind of stupid since I could be in either state in a matter of minutes. My car is safer than your car, lol!

NYC Susan · ‎03-13-2010

@Vivian wrote:
The reason why liquor stores have been allowed to stay open in NY is that our governor was afrâid that New Yorkers would cross state lines to buy booze and get back home while driving drunk.

An ER doctor in NYC told me that liquor stores are open because of the fear that alcoholics may need medical attention/ hospitalization if they can't get alcohol. Hospitals and medical personnel are over-extended as it is. (I was told the same thing by new NJ ER doctors too.)

Governor Cuomo has been saying for awhile now that the tri-state area needs to present a united front because people can so easily travel from one state to another.