BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: EBarnacle
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 08:51 PM

Sounds like another Catch 22. As Milo Minderbinder said "Nothin' better."

Intelligent people do not become bureaucrats. If you are a bureaucrat, you do not have to think. You have a rule book which defines all of your thoughts and actions. These rules make it very easy to say no to any request which does not completely fit the definitions in the book. The lack of discretion is like the difference between an administrator and an executive. Unfortunately, too many executives rise to their positions from being bureaucrats and have had any possible originality beaten out of them. They have been inculcated with the bureaucratic mind set and are only able to work with their former colleagues.

I hope this explanation of what happened to the poor sonovabitch is satisfactory.

PS, almost of the legal system is designed this way also.

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 12:33 PM

I work in the mailroom of a university. I operate a service window very much like a "post office" except that I am a university employee, not an employee of the US Postal Service.

Several times, I have seen people send or receive letters using old stamps—I'm guessing 1940s or 50s. I was curious, so I asked a student who was receiving letters from her father bearing old stamps. She explained that her father was a stamp collector, and had been collecting stamps since he was a kid, and had decided that he had too many stamps, and so was using them. She said these stamps weren't particularly valuable. (Obviously, these were uncanceled when he put them on the envelope.)

For me at least, old stamps are a real attention-getter, especially since you have to use several of them to make up the current rate of 42 cents. For that reason, many people might consider the money well spent even if the stamps are worth slightly more than their face value. I wonder if mail-marketers have thought of this?

I don't know about other states, but in Minnesota, used cars certainly are subject to sales tax, and the sales tax is based on the current selling price, regardless of whether it is higher or lower than the original price. But it depends on who sells them. Cars sold by a dealer are subject to sales tax; cars sold by a non-dealer are not. If you sell more than three cars a year, you're considered a dealer.

I'm not defending the law; I'm only explaining it (as well as I can; I'm not a lawyer).

If the bottle were sealed with superglue, it would hardly be in pristine condition, would it? To seal a bottle with superglue, I suppose you'd have to remove the cap and put the glue underneath it. While you're doing that, you might as well pour out the liquor and replace it with colored water.

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 08:54 AM

Well Jim, the Govt got the original tax on the original sale at the original sale price - ther is no law that allows them to play with booze resold for profit after the original retail sale.

Any attempt to gouge further would be like the Govt attempting to gather further increased sales tax on an antique vehicle that has increased in value by being well looked after, and not driven much.

If the bottles were sealed with superglue, then that would inhibit the odd chance of an occassional bottle being consumed by accident, but the previous comments mean that the Govt has no ongoing right of 'property' over that booze - the legal tax has been paid.

No sane stamp colector uses mint stamps, and it is illegal to (re)use franked ones - maybe someones daft maiden aunt might try...

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Bert
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 08:47 AM

...I can't imagine what people will do with all those Beanie Babies...

Why the ABC will come and steal them of course.

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 07:20 PM

Let me see if I understand:

He had a shop full of bottles of liquor. He sold some of them. He says he sold them to collectors who would hold them and maybe resell them, but not drink them, because that's what collectors do—and for that reason, he thinks he shouldn't have to have a liquor license?

For one thing, I predict a lot of that whiskey will end up being drunk anyway, even if the collectors did intend to "collect" it and not drink it, just like a lot of stamps from stamp collections end up being used as postage, and a lot of coins from coin collections end up being spent at their face value.

Sooner or later, most collectors of "collectibles" who hoped someday to sell their collections and get rich, wake up and realize that the stuff isn't worth any more than what they paid for it, and maybe a lot less.

At least with whiskey you CAN drink it. I can't imagine what people will do with all those Beanie Babies.

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Leadfingers
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 07:19 PM

Good job I dont trade any of MY collection of Miniature Spirits and Liqueurs then ! I have several hundred !

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 06:41 PM

Drink a few bottles and you'll think like one.

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Gurney
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 07:02 PM

Fine point of order here. If I buy a bottle of whisky and sell it to a friend, am I selling liquour without a license?

Must be.

If I have lots of bottles of whisky that I haven't yet sold, and can offer explanation that I have no intention of selling (unique in my collection, officer!,) and those bottles are seized, then surely the government owes me a refund of (A) the tax that was paid at the original purchase, and (B) the difference in worth between the original price and the collectors price, with suitable interest in both cases.
Speaking of cases, I would expect that any damage done to labels etc. that happened in the seizure would also have to be compensated for.

Makes you wish you were a lawyer, eh!

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Sorcha
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 07:57 PM

Pure D ridiculous. That's gubmint for ya.

Subject: RE: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 03:32 PM

Sometime there's the letter of the law, and sometime the spirit (pun kind of intended) of the law. This seems definitely an area of overkill. Perhaps the compromise should be that he get a restricted license for selling for non-consumption (is if!) and raise his prices a tad to cover the cost.

Anyhoo, I hope ABC gets a little less tight and returns his collection to him.

Subject: BS: ABC steals man's whiskey collection
From: Goose Gander
Date: 05 Jun 08 - 03:04 PM

Legalized theft in Tennessee.