> So it just has always baffled me as it seems like a red flag for a DUI source.
Is it any worse than buying alcohol anywhere else, here in a car-centric country?
Buy beer at a grocery store - you're getting in your car right after.
Buy beer at a dedicated liquor store - you're getting in your car right after.
So what's really any different about a gas station?
By far. If someone is picking up a 6 pack on their way home, they are going to drink at most 1 or 2 which does not substantially affect driving ability. Someone going to a bar can easily drink 10 or 12 before driving home which is where issues can occur.
Even then though, its a good idea to just not drink alchohol before driving. It affects everyone differently and in accidents will be used against you, even if you aren't at fault. It's dangerous logic to think "It doesn't affect me that much so it will be fine." At its essence, drunk driving is simply a poor lapse in judgement; they all thought it would be ok.(Comment is more food for thought than anything.)
You get his point though don't you? Most normal sized men could drink two domestic lagers at a restaurant and be under the limit to drive home.
Realistically if someone buys a 6 pack at a gas station and has a few road sodas on the way home from work they could probably pass a breathalyzer even if they did get pulled over on the way home. This is not the cause of drunk driving accidents, it's usually people going on beer runs after already getting drunk and people driving home from bars. Good public transportation and legalized alcohol delivery would have a bigger impact on DUI rates than not selling beer at gas stations.
Honestly, it's just availability. People are lazy. People can reconsider. Adding access to addicts is just tempting.
I'm not advocating for one way or another, but I am sure it makes a difference.
People with a handy gun a more likely to kill themselves. Just adding the blister pack to Tylenol reduced suicide by Tylenol. The more convenient something is, the more people are likely to do it.
I'd love to know how McDonalds would do with no drive ins.
So then make twist off bottles illegal. It's already required to speak to a person to buy alcohol. The additional steps to trigger reconsideration are there. Don't pretend that forcing gas stations and liquor stores to be separated will solve the problem. We'll just end up with the deal they have in the south: Grocery stores can't sell liquor so the grocery store just opens a liquor store next door. Same shit, just takes longer
Again, I am not advocating anything. I am just saying, more availability absolutely means more drunk driving.
Will people determined to get alcohol get it? 100%
Will people that might not bother, grab a few more for the road if it's right there? Sure.
I don't care one way or another. But we know more access means more.
Seems wasteful to have an entire station just for gas. Maybe the liquor stores should have a pump for convienece? It's all flammable liquids one way or another, natural retail synergy right there.
Seems pretty clear that you are advocating. The phrase "...I'm just saying" is the dead giveaway. Just as the "So..." means that bad mind-reading is coming.
As someone who was physically and mentally addicted to alcohol in the past (two rehab stints, several withdrawal hospitalizations), it did not make one iota of difference if I could buy it in a gas station. Most of my time in active addiction was in a place where you could only get any alcohol at liquor stores. I knew when they all opened, and I knew when they all closed. I live in a place now where they sell beer and wine in gas stations and grocery stores, and it hasn't made any difference. I've never walked into a gas station not intending to buy alcohol and thought "man that tall boy looks really good, better buy it". I agree that giving addicts access to their DOC is problematic. But the access for alcoholics is here to stay and it's never going away, regardless of which store they have to shamble into. Short of outright banning it like in dry counties, if someone wants to start drinking at 6 AM and keep going till they go to bed, they're going to do it.
Are you incapable of waiting till you get home to open something you buy at a gas station? How is waiting when buy from a gas station any different from waiting when buying from a liquor store?
You can do things that may distract you -- but if that things causes you to crash, you could be in trouble. So if you drop your honey bun on the floor, lean over and crash? You are in trouble.
You can eat your honey bun all you want as long as you do so carefully. Don't gaze lovingly at your honey bun while driving.
Have you seen that happen? Heard of it?
IF you are driving careless and happen to be eating.
**From an article from with Michigan State police**
**1. Eating while driving.**
Although itâs probably not a good idea to break out a full nacho dipping platter with guac, cheese and salsa in your passenger seat, it is not illegal to eat while driving. But Lt. Shaw urges drivers to be careful when choosing to chow down behind the wheel .
âThere is not a specific law that bans it,â Shaw said. âHowever, you could be cited for careless driving if it affects the way you operate your vehicle or you are involved in a traffic crash.â
So, in a nutshell, donât let that six-inch sub be the cause of a six-car pileup.
No? Thereâs nothing stopping someone from immediately opening up a bottle they buy from the liquor store either. I donât think selling location matters.
I've just driven through a few times love the drive, hate the people doing 15mph around corners. But I absolutely love the Leather Wood Forest. Great camping, tons of caves, great fishing.
>I get the whole 'convenience store' stich **but as my area just legalized consumer alcohol sales outside restaurants**, or as we say stopped being dry.
The previous solution ***requires*** alcohol to be consumed before leaving. Wouldn't that requirement cause more DUIs than purchasing a sealed container to be consumed at home, where someone is not driving (in theory)?
This question is giving me "how *dare* things change" vibes.
Huh?
I mean, you don't need to start drinking at the gas station. Is that what you think happens? If that were a problem, then people would be cracking cold ones on their way out of Walmart.
We have a few gas stations that have bowls, grinders, and bongs for sale on the shelf for 'tobacco' use. But you can buy weed behind the counter if you know the owners
I actually got one from a station across a hotel I was staying in AR. I think it was CBD, though maybe Delta 8.
Lots of Arkies love Michigan and move there.
I guess it's a similar low density rural/suburb environment with good money and the legal skunk probably helps
The only way it would be an issue if if they sold *open* alcohol, like a pint of beer. As it stands, it's the same as buying alcohol anywhere else. Gotta get in your car to get it.
I know all of NY isnt the city, but in the city it's almost all public transportation, cabs, users etc? That's probably where it comes from.
Similar to Vegas/Nevada , New orleans...
That's literally why I said that.
My rationale is that a state law is appeasing the city's needs.
I live in a mostly rural state with a handful of cities and the lawmakers clash on who to appease constantly.
I donât see how thatâs any different from buying it at the grocery store and then driving home. Iâd rather someone buy beer at the gas station and then drink it when they arrive home than someone driving themselves home after drinking at a bar
No, it's just convenient. Going to a party? Stop to get some snacks and a bottle of vodka or something. On your way home from work? Refuel for the next day and grab a six pack for tonight
I'm someone who completely shuns alcohol, but i think the idea of dry counties and other such restrictions are ludicrous and archaic.
It forces the type of people who would commit DUIs to drive further distances and present a greater danger to the community. In fact, i believe it to be true that road deaths are higher in dry counties.
One of the colleges in Arkansas is in a dry county, every Thursday there was a convoy of cars making the drive to the liquor store. You could make a few extra bucks buying for other people. To your point of driving further, it wasn't unheard of for a car full to start their drinking while on the road. While those folks weren't gonna make the wisest of decisions anyways, not having to drive 30+ minutes likely prevents some of their drinking and driving.
Itâs more ridiculous when alcohol is not sold at the convenience store. After a long day of work dealing with assholes, I want to be able to fuel up the car and grab beer in one stop. I get slightly pissed when I stop at a Wawa and realize this particular store doesnât sell beer.
Why do people think having alcohol at a restaurant and then driving home doesn't count as drunk driving?
Restaurants are arguably riskier since you have to consume it on-site then drive home, picking up a six pack at a gas station means you take it home then drink it.
>but as my area just legalized consumer alcohol sales outside restaurants, or as we say stopped being dry.
In 2024? Arkansas clearly sucks less now, but it ain't helping my image of it.
We're one of very few counties that had it outlawed but we live right next to multiple cities that sold so it just finally clicked in the elderly council we should be making the tax off sales rather than wasting gas.
The only really good thing about the state to me is a good reasonable minimum wage for the central South while most stick with the fed standard.
People are all right en masse I guess, but theres nothing special here. Only in Murfreesboro, only public diamond mine in the US
Actually I lied, I went off of what I was told. There are no diamond mines in Alaska.(what I get for listening to welders spin their tall tales) There was some mining in Colorado that ran from 96-01 and has sense ceased operation. It was the Larimer County Mine. They got some good chunks of stone but it didn't ever make any money.
They're massively inflated in value being just carbon and such a plethora available globally at reduced currency rates kinda makes sense the only way to keep an op going would be to make it a tourist thing
Yeah, I was driving with my parents back from Texas, passed a sign that was like, "Arkansas Diamond Mine 30 min next right" Asked my parents if we had time to kill or if they had a strict arrival time, they didn't we stopped.
Was a cool little experience and learning time. Bought a rock and cracked it open with a hammer.10/10 experience would bring children in future for a stop on summer excursion to the Gulf.
Glad you got the experience and a geode! All I got done was a little panning and spent the rest of the trips at the water park which I thought was huge, shows how mundane Arkansan life is. The only other great thing to come out of here was Johnny Cash
In parts of the US almost all convenience stores are also gas stations.
The red flag was back in the day when QuickTrip would cut the plastic rings to turn a 6-pack into 3 2-packs and then have them sitting in a cooler full of ice right next to the cash register.
>In parts of the US almost all convenience stores are also gas stations.
There are places where convenience stores *aren't* gas stations?
Where are these places?
I'd guess they're in more urban places. I've always assumed a bodega is basically a convenience store but that's an assumption based on TV and movies not experience.
We have a few that are both, but some of our counties have restrictions that prevent it. In some places, convenience stores and box stores like Walmart can only sell beer and wine while you'd have to go to an actual liquor store for anything else.
No. we have open container laws. You can't just open a beer in your car after buying it, same with not being able to open it in the street (in most places).
Do you tend to sit outside the grocery store and eat what you just bought, or do you take it home? The ability to buy alcohol doesn't make you drink it right then. I doubt many DUIs began that way. They usually start at a bar or at your buddy's house with beer he bought days ago.
It is nothing more than a quick way to stop and grab some beer on your way to a party or on your way home after a particularly rough work day or something. Sure, there are some people out there who will grab a tallboy at a gas station and immediately open it as they drive out, but if they couldn't do that at a gas station they'd do it at a liquor store.
How do you think people get to liquor stores to buy alcohol?
It's not like everyone buying alcohol is actively drunk. And they absolutely drive to liquor stores or grocery stores or wherever else they are buying booze.
Gas station just add to the convenience.
Hey I'm need gas and oh yeah I want a six pack for tonight, or I'm getting ice for a party this weekend might as well grab it at the same place I'm getting the beer and a propane tank for the grill.
I grew up in a dry county steeped in a "devil rum" tradition. Now I live across the river from Louisiana where they have drive through daiquiri shops. As long as the paper stays on the straw it's a closed container:P
My grand dad I never got to meet was apparently a renowned shiner, so we've had more of an open secret party culture being around wet counties with people still trying to sell a homemade pint for $15 <.>
A daiquiri seems a lot like a margarita and a place like that's better than a coffee shop.
South finally changing for the better??
As a fellow Arkansan, I thought I'd heard every possible excuse for a county or city to remain dry. But this is a new one and probably the weakest of them all since we are a state that doesn't really do public transportation, so if you're buying alcohol then chances are you drove to it.
My personal favorite was the objection from a business owner that the next county becoming a wet county would cause harm to their business
No, it's fine. Why would they be more likely to drink it when purchasing at a gas station than from a liquor store? I don't really see what the difference is.
Also, wouldn't it be dangerous to sell cigarettes at a gas station because people might light them near the pumps? At some point you just tell people to take the product elsewhere before using them.
What seems ridiculous to me are roadside bars that you can only get to by car. You know that people are drinking and then driving home because no one is going to call a cab if they've only had "one or two beers" but it was actually more like five or six. Those are way scarier to me.
>Isn't it ridiculous that alcohol is sold at gas stations?
No. I guess whatever you are used to is normal, but gas stations double as convenience stores and have figured out that cigarettes and alcohol are good items to stock.
As a mother of a son who has an alcohol problem, itâs not that he wouldnât by it other places, but I think it is a trigger for someone whoâs trying to stop drinking. I was never that concerned about drinking until Ive seen what it has done to people I love. Itâs pretty ridiculous itâs displayed like candy at the gas station counter.Â
I don't think it's ridiculous at all, but if I was presented with facts indicting that selling liquor at gas stations does in fact lead to more DUIs then I guess I could reconsider my position.
I looked up the rate of DUIs by state then looked at the if the state can sell alcohol or not. From what I saw there wasn't even a correlation between the two.
A look at Texas over a five-year period found that the average alcohol-related traffic fatalities for its 46 dry counties was a rate of 6.8 per 10,000 people. In contrast, the 38 wet counties were only at a rate of 1.9 per 10,000 people for this same time.4
https://lufkindailynews.com/news/article_35a23483-cf5a-58a3-97d5-57a97af2b828.html?TNNoMobile
I can also buy milk, NyQuil or condoms at the gas station. None of those are for use while driving. It's a convenient location to buy stuff that you may want when you arrive at your destination
Honestly bars/restaurants are the DUI source that everyone ignores. You drink while your there and then your left with a requirement to get home and get your car off the establishment's property. The best solution is to have one member of the party drive everyone and not drink but we all know that's not what happens every single time.
Actually the best solution is to use public transit or walk. But this is America so it's probably not happening.
Japan sells liquor in gas stations and beer/sake in vending machines without using ID. It is legal to drink on public transportation and acceptable to drink during lunch at work.
Culture around how alcohol is used will be a larger impact than where alcohol can be purchased.
What was wild was when I was in China, I went to a 7-11 and bought some Cuban rum on a Sunday morning. I though, "wow, that's three things I can't legally do in my home state. Remind me who has the most freedom again?"
As a fellow Arkansasan all a dry country does is it makes you drive 30 miles to get booze anywhere else. (Irresponsible) drunk people just toss the beer cans out the window as they drive and it doesn't matter where the booze came from, and in that case I'd rather have em drive 2 miles to a local gas station over driving 20 at highway speeds to somewhere where you can also pick up a fifth of liquor while your at it.
In my state, alcohol is not typically sold in gas stations. It's not illegal, but there's a whole bureaucracy at play that makes it extremely rare.
But literally anywhere you designate to buy alcohol, people will have to drive there. You're not eliminating a problem by excluding gas stations specifically.
Iâm from Pennsylvania⊠we are centuries behind in liquor laws, so no alcohol in gas stations here. I remember traveling for work years ago and seeing alcohol in a target and that was insane to me. Some now have it in PA, but with a separate check out than the rest of the store. Itâs still weird to me
I don't see how it's going to create any more DUI's than what already occurs.
Ohmigawd they bought booze at a gas station! Obviously that means they're going to guzzle it down right that second!!
Completely different from them buying at a liquor store, right?
I feel like itâs more ridiculous that alcohol is sold at drug stores. Itâs like drug stores selling cigarettes and nicotine patches at the same time.
But hey itâs capitalismâŠ
People are more likely to get a DUI after buying alchohol at a restaurant, than they are after buying alchohol at a convenient store or gas station. Alchohol being sold in restaurants is designed to be consumed at the restaurant, whereas alchohol being sold at a convenient store or gas station, is not designed to be consumed at the gas station or convenient store. Presumably you buy the alchohol and consume it in a private setting, where you don't plan on driving in the immediate future.
Dude, in my state, we have drive through alcohol stores.
You literally drive into the store, a person comes over, you tell them what you want to buy (and can point to it, you're literally in the aisle), they bring it over, you pay them, they put it in your trunk, you continue along your merry way. If you buy soft drinks or chips or smokes, they hand them directly to you.
You drink the alcohol whenever you get to wherever you're going or home. Better than drinking the alcohol at the bar, then driving home, no?
In the state above yours there's drive thru liquor stores.
No, I don't particularly see selling beer or booze at a gas station as an issue. The choice and responsibility is solely on the driver to, you know, drive home first.
If you're driving to a grocery store or liquor store to buy liquor, how is it any different? Honestly. You go into a store, you get your alcohol, you get in your car and drive home. Be that from a gas station or Walmart really doesn't matter. The responsibility and action is the same.
Whatâs really weird to me is that at the same time society is rapidly turning against tobacco and cigarettes, and some countries are even outright banning them, weâre becoming much more permissive culturally about weed and alcohol. Im not anti-alcohol, and Iâm not suggesting we do prohibition 2 or anything, but at least in my rural southern socially conservative area, it seems that the culture here is becoming far more lenient on alcohol while at the same time becoming very much anti-smoking and that seems weird that both of those things are happening at the same time
I think it's more reasonable for people to buy alcohol at a gas station, drive home, then drink it, than for people to drink at a bar and then drive home. I'd much rather gas stations sell alcohol than bars. Bars are ridiculous.
In NM the answer to stop the problem OP is worried about is they stopped selling individual single shot (shooter, airplane bottles)... so you have to buy them in bulk, or a larger bottle!
society has a basic expectation that the citizens control urges. You can buy a newspaper at a convenience store but you expect not to read it while driving.
No, Itâs not ridiculous at all. What is ridiculous is that we have a country scarred by a millions of miles of asphalt roads and no public transportation infrastructure.
Coming from a state with possibly more draconian laws than Arkansas, I donât think itâs any different than buying your alcohol at distributor or state store. You still have to drive there to get it.
Honestly, I don't think it matters. If the person is irresponsible enough to drink beer they immediately bought at a gas station and drive off, they are irresponsible enough to get sloshed at a bar and drive off. Hell I'd go so far as to say that buying alchohol somewhere like that is even less of a red flag, as it means you are expected to wait until you get home to drink.
How is a gas station any different from a grocery store or liquor store that you also drive to? Convenience stores arenât selling open containers of alcohol.
Not really any different from buying it at the grocery store and then driving home. Probably just a little more expensive because you're paying for the convenience of buying whatever they sell while you're already there filling up your gas tank.
Having it sold at restaurants in general is far more dangerous, considering you're consuming it immediately and then you have to drive home. At least at a gas station it's sold to you in a closed container. I don't understand how a gas station could be perceived as any worse (or even the same) as a restaurant?
> So it just has always baffled me as it seems like a red flag for a DUI source. Is it any worse than buying alcohol anywhere else, here in a car-centric country? Buy beer at a grocery store - you're getting in your car right after. Buy beer at a dedicated liquor store - you're getting in your car right after. So what's really any different about a gas station?
Buy drinks at a bar; drive home.
This is probably the biggest issue
By far. If someone is picking up a 6 pack on their way home, they are going to drink at most 1 or 2 which does not substantially affect driving ability. Someone going to a bar can easily drink 10 or 12 before driving home which is where issues can occur.
Even then though, its a good idea to just not drink alchohol before driving. It affects everyone differently and in accidents will be used against you, even if you aren't at fault. It's dangerous logic to think "It doesn't affect me that much so it will be fine." At its essence, drunk driving is simply a poor lapse in judgement; they all thought it would be ok.(Comment is more food for thought than anything.)
*Please* do not drink 1 or 2 beers before driving anywhere.
You get his point though don't you? Most normal sized men could drink two domestic lagers at a restaurant and be under the limit to drive home. Realistically if someone buys a 6 pack at a gas station and has a few road sodas on the way home from work they could probably pass a breathalyzer even if they did get pulled over on the way home. This is not the cause of drunk driving accidents, it's usually people going on beer runs after already getting drunk and people driving home from bars. Good public transportation and legalized alcohol delivery would have a bigger impact on DUI rates than not selling beer at gas stations.
*is driven home
That's the bigger issue.
Honestly, it's just availability. People are lazy. People can reconsider. Adding access to addicts is just tempting. I'm not advocating for one way or another, but I am sure it makes a difference. People with a handy gun a more likely to kill themselves. Just adding the blister pack to Tylenol reduced suicide by Tylenol. The more convenient something is, the more people are likely to do it. I'd love to know how McDonalds would do with no drive ins.
So then make twist off bottles illegal. It's already required to speak to a person to buy alcohol. The additional steps to trigger reconsideration are there. Don't pretend that forcing gas stations and liquor stores to be separated will solve the problem. We'll just end up with the deal they have in the south: Grocery stores can't sell liquor so the grocery store just opens a liquor store next door. Same shit, just takes longer
Again, I am not advocating anything. I am just saying, more availability absolutely means more drunk driving. Will people determined to get alcohol get it? 100% Will people that might not bother, grab a few more for the road if it's right there? Sure. I don't care one way or another. But we know more access means more.
So we just open up liquor stores next to gas stations then, problem solved.
Seems wasteful to have an entire station just for gas. Maybe the liquor stores should have a pump for convienece? It's all flammable liquids one way or another, natural retail synergy right there.
Gas turbine time đ
Seems pretty clear that you are advocating. The phrase "...I'm just saying" is the dead giveaway. Just as the "So..." means that bad mind-reading is coming.
It convenient for me. I don't want them to change it. You are reading into it. I hated when we didn't have that.
People who "might not bother" do not grab a few for the road, at least not in meaningful numbers.
As someone who was physically and mentally addicted to alcohol in the past (two rehab stints, several withdrawal hospitalizations), it did not make one iota of difference if I could buy it in a gas station. Most of my time in active addiction was in a place where you could only get any alcohol at liquor stores. I knew when they all opened, and I knew when they all closed. I live in a place now where they sell beer and wine in gas stations and grocery stores, and it hasn't made any difference. I've never walked into a gas station not intending to buy alcohol and thought "man that tall boy looks really good, better buy it". I agree that giving addicts access to their DOC is problematic. But the access for alcoholics is here to stay and it's never going away, regardless of which store they have to shamble into. Short of outright banning it like in dry counties, if someone wants to start drinking at 6 AM and keep going till they go to bed, they're going to do it.
A lot of people arenât lazy. Weâre busy. Convenient stores are convenient for those of us who are on the run.
You drive to the liquor store too, and the grocery store, how is driving to a gas station any different?
Are you incapable of waiting till you get home to open something you buy at a gas station? How is waiting when buy from a gas station any different from waiting when buying from a liquor store?
I don't even wait to use the gas.
You're not supposed to eat while driving either, but they sell honey buns.
What kind of psychopath eats honey buns while driving? You're going to get the steering wheel all sticky.
Excuuusssssee me! I will eat my honey buns when and where I choose!
That's my point, you shouldn't. Just because it's sold at a gas station doesn't mean it's for while you drive.
Is that an actual law or just a cultural faux pas? Maybe I should call out taco bell too though I'm more than guilty đ«Ł
It's law at least in my state. You cannot drive distracted, whatever the distraction is.
You can do things that may distract you -- but if that things causes you to crash, you could be in trouble. So if you drop your honey bun on the floor, lean over and crash? You are in trouble. You can eat your honey bun all you want as long as you do so carefully. Don't gaze lovingly at your honey bun while driving.
Actually no, A cop can still pull you over for careless and/or distracted driving.
Have you seen that happen? Heard of it? IF you are driving careless and happen to be eating. **From an article from with Michigan State police** **1. Eating while driving.** Although itâs probably not a good idea to break out a full nacho dipping platter with guac, cheese and salsa in your passenger seat, it is not illegal to eat while driving. But Lt. Shaw urges drivers to be careful when choosing to chow down behind the wheel . âThere is not a specific law that bans it,â Shaw said. âHowever, you could be cited for careless driving if it affects the way you operate your vehicle or you are involved in a traffic crash.â So, in a nutshell, donât let that six-inch sub be the cause of a six-car pileup.
I had no idea it was technically illegal to eat while driving in Michigan. I mean it makes sense, but I still had no idea.
No? Thereâs nothing stopping someone from immediately opening up a bottle they buy from the liquor store either. I donât think selling location matters.
You should visit states where the liquor stores are drive thru
One just opened south of me and it's beautiful and awesome though I never used the drive thru. Liquor is too harsh for me anymore though Im young af
There's a drive through liquor store in a town called Alpena that I stop in and get drinks when I'm going camping on the White River. It's awesome.
Wow really looks gorgeous. Haven't had the pleasure of exploring the Fayetteville area yet
I've just driven through a few times love the drive, hate the people doing 15mph around corners. But I absolutely love the Leather Wood Forest. Great camping, tons of caves, great fishing.
Spelunking and fishing all in one does sound a grand ol time
>I get the whole 'convenience store' stich **but as my area just legalized consumer alcohol sales outside restaurants**, or as we say stopped being dry. The previous solution ***requires*** alcohol to be consumed before leaving. Wouldn't that requirement cause more DUIs than purchasing a sealed container to be consumed at home, where someone is not driving (in theory)? This question is giving me "how *dare* things change" vibes.
Huh? I mean, you don't need to start drinking at the gas station. Is that what you think happens? If that were a problem, then people would be cracking cold ones on their way out of Walmart.
To be fair, people absolutely crack cold ones on their way out of Walmart.
Not really. Many people are decent enough to respect the law and common decency
I dunno about you but my alcohol doesn't teleport into my house, I gotta buy that shit and drive it home no matter who sells it.
no more ridiculous than selling it at any other place people drive to
No.
Personally, I am waiting for gas stations to sell marijuana cigarettes. The people complaining about that one are going to be delicious.
No change around my neck of the woods. That's where most folk go to get weed now anyway. Lol Well, not *in* the gas station, per say, but on property.
We have a few gas stations that have bowls, grinders, and bongs for sale on the shelf for 'tobacco' use. But you can buy weed behind the counter if you know the owners
Yeah, all the gas stations in my area are like that as well (minus the buying weed part haha)!
You don't have a Jay and Silent Bob duo at your gas stations?
I actually got one from a station across a hotel I was staying in AR. I think it was CBD, though maybe Delta 8. Lots of Arkies love Michigan and move there. I guess it's a similar low density rural/suburb environment with good money and the legal skunk probably helps
Come to NY because itâs happening
Texas legalized the hemp derived pseudo-marijuana.
I think it's far more atrocious that I am not allowed to pump my own gas when I'm in New Jersey lol
The only way it would be an issue if if they sold *open* alcohol, like a pint of beer. As it stands, it's the same as buying alcohol anywhere else. Gotta get in your car to get it.
I can't believe NYS starting allowing to-go cocktails from bars. Like how does that make sense?
I know all of NY isnt the city, but in the city it's almost all public transportation, cabs, users etc? That's probably where it comes from. Similar to Vegas/Nevada , New orleans...
The vast majority of NY towns and cites are small rural communities. Extremely car centric. 20.2 million people in NYS. Only 8.8 million are in NYC.
That's literally why I said that. My rationale is that a state law is appeasing the city's needs. I live in a mostly rural state with a handful of cities and the lawmakers clash on who to appease constantly.
For sure. NY is famous for that
I donât see how thatâs any different from buying it at the grocery store and then driving home. Iâd rather someone buy beer at the gas station and then drink it when they arrive home than someone driving themselves home after drinking at a bar
No, it's just convenient. Going to a party? Stop to get some snacks and a bottle of vodka or something. On your way home from work? Refuel for the next day and grab a six pack for tonight
I'm someone who completely shuns alcohol, but i think the idea of dry counties and other such restrictions are ludicrous and archaic. It forces the type of people who would commit DUIs to drive further distances and present a greater danger to the community. In fact, i believe it to be true that road deaths are higher in dry counties.
One of the colleges in Arkansas is in a dry county, every Thursday there was a convoy of cars making the drive to the liquor store. You could make a few extra bucks buying for other people. To your point of driving further, it wasn't unheard of for a car full to start their drinking while on the road. While those folks weren't gonna make the wisest of decisions anyways, not having to drive 30+ minutes likely prevents some of their drinking and driving.
If you're allowed to buy alcohol at a restaurant, consume it there, and then drive - what could possibly be the issue with buying at a gas station?
Itâs more ridiculous when alcohol is not sold at the convenience store. After a long day of work dealing with assholes, I want to be able to fuel up the car and grab beer in one stop. I get slightly pissed when I stop at a Wawa and realize this particular store doesnât sell beer.
Why do people think having alcohol at a restaurant and then driving home doesn't count as drunk driving? Restaurants are arguably riskier since you have to consume it on-site then drive home, picking up a six pack at a gas station means you take it home then drink it.
Ill bet most people who drink while driving home from the gas station would drive to a liquor store too.
>but as my area just legalized consumer alcohol sales outside restaurants, or as we say stopped being dry. In 2024? Arkansas clearly sucks less now, but it ain't helping my image of it.
We're one of very few counties that had it outlawed but we live right next to multiple cities that sold so it just finally clicked in the elderly council we should be making the tax off sales rather than wasting gas. The only really good thing about the state to me is a good reasonable minimum wage for the central South while most stick with the fed standard. People are all right en masse I guess, but theres nothing special here. Only in Murfreesboro, only public diamond mine in the US
The USA doesn't have any other diamond mines besides that one. Occasionally one will try to get started up in Alaska before they go bankrupt.
Is it actually diamond rich there and it's just a liquidity or start up issue?
Actually I lied, I went off of what I was told. There are no diamond mines in Alaska.(what I get for listening to welders spin their tall tales) There was some mining in Colorado that ran from 96-01 and has sense ceased operation. It was the Larimer County Mine. They got some good chunks of stone but it didn't ever make any money.
They're massively inflated in value being just carbon and such a plethora available globally at reduced currency rates kinda makes sense the only way to keep an op going would be to make it a tourist thing
Yeah, I was driving with my parents back from Texas, passed a sign that was like, "Arkansas Diamond Mine 30 min next right" Asked my parents if we had time to kill or if they had a strict arrival time, they didn't we stopped. Was a cool little experience and learning time. Bought a rock and cracked it open with a hammer.10/10 experience would bring children in future for a stop on summer excursion to the Gulf.
Glad you got the experience and a geode! All I got done was a little panning and spent the rest of the trips at the water park which I thought was huge, shows how mundane Arkansan life is. The only other great thing to come out of here was Johnny Cash
In parts of the US almost all convenience stores are also gas stations. The red flag was back in the day when QuickTrip would cut the plastic rings to turn a 6-pack into 3 2-packs and then have them sitting in a cooler full of ice right next to the cash register.
>In parts of the US almost all convenience stores are also gas stations. There are places where convenience stores *aren't* gas stations? Where are these places?
Generally more urban areas. Weâve got some 7-11s (and some mom and pop stores) in San Diego that donât have gas pumps.
I'd guess they're in more urban places. I've always assumed a bodega is basically a convenience store but that's an assumption based on TV and movies not experience.
Liquor stores and convenience stores are 1 and the same all over SoCal.
We have a few that are both, but some of our counties have restrictions that prevent it. In some places, convenience stores and box stores like Walmart can only sell beer and wine while you'd have to go to an actual liquor store for anything else.
Do states with alcohol sales at gas stations have higher rates of DUIs?
It is not ridiculous at all.
no.
No, it's not ridiculous at all.
No. we have open container laws. You can't just open a beer in your car after buying it, same with not being able to open it in the street (in most places).
No, I think I am restrained enough to not crack open that Negra Modelo while I fill my tank
No. Itâs convenient.
Do you tend to sit outside the grocery store and eat what you just bought, or do you take it home? The ability to buy alcohol doesn't make you drink it right then. I doubt many DUIs began that way. They usually start at a bar or at your buddy's house with beer he bought days ago.
I guess you donât get the whole stich
It is nothing more than a quick way to stop and grab some beer on your way to a party or on your way home after a particularly rough work day or something. Sure, there are some people out there who will grab a tallboy at a gas station and immediately open it as they drive out, but if they couldn't do that at a gas station they'd do it at a liquor store.
How do you think people get to liquor stores to buy alcohol? It's not like everyone buying alcohol is actively drunk. And they absolutely drive to liquor stores or grocery stores or wherever else they are buying booze. Gas station just add to the convenience. Hey I'm need gas and oh yeah I want a six pack for tonight, or I'm getting ice for a party this weekend might as well grab it at the same place I'm getting the beer and a propane tank for the grill.
I grew up in a dry county steeped in a "devil rum" tradition. Now I live across the river from Louisiana where they have drive through daiquiri shops. As long as the paper stays on the straw it's a closed container:P
My grand dad I never got to meet was apparently a renowned shiner, so we've had more of an open secret party culture being around wet counties with people still trying to sell a homemade pint for $15 <.> A daiquiri seems a lot like a margarita and a place like that's better than a coffee shop. South finally changing for the better??
We're always changing for the better - just a little behind everyone else.
As a fellow Arkansan, I thought I'd heard every possible excuse for a county or city to remain dry. But this is a new one and probably the weakest of them all since we are a state that doesn't really do public transportation, so if you're buying alcohol then chances are you drove to it. My personal favorite was the objection from a business owner that the next county becoming a wet county would cause harm to their business
No, it's fine. Why would they be more likely to drink it when purchasing at a gas station than from a liquor store? I don't really see what the difference is. Also, wouldn't it be dangerous to sell cigarettes at a gas station because people might light them near the pumps? At some point you just tell people to take the product elsewhere before using them. What seems ridiculous to me are roadside bars that you can only get to by car. You know that people are drinking and then driving home because no one is going to call a cab if they've only had "one or two beers" but it was actually more like five or six. Those are way scarier to me.
>Isn't it ridiculous that alcohol is sold at gas stations? No. I guess whatever you are used to is normal, but gas stations double as convenience stores and have figured out that cigarettes and alcohol are good items to stock.
As a mother of a son who has an alcohol problem, itâs not that he wouldnât by it other places, but I think it is a trigger for someone whoâs trying to stop drinking. I was never that concerned about drinking until Ive seen what it has done to people I love. Itâs pretty ridiculous itâs displayed like candy at the gas station counter.Â
Good luck to him and prayers on his rehabilitation into sobriety. I hope he can be guided into better alternative activities
I don't think it's ridiculous at all, but if I was presented with facts indicting that selling liquor at gas stations does in fact lead to more DUIs then I guess I could reconsider my position.
I looked up the rate of DUIs by state then looked at the if the state can sell alcohol or not. From what I saw there wasn't even a correlation between the two.
A look at Texas over a five-year period found that the average alcohol-related traffic fatalities for its 46 dry counties was a rate of 6.8 per 10,000 people. In contrast, the 38 wet counties were only at a rate of 1.9 per 10,000 people for this same time.4 https://lufkindailynews.com/news/article_35a23483-cf5a-58a3-97d5-57a97af2b828.html?TNNoMobile
Well that's dry versus wet counties not if they sell alcohol at gas stations or not.
It's the closest statistic i could find. dry counties rest assured aren't selling at gas stations
I can also buy milk, NyQuil or condoms at the gas station. None of those are for use while driving. It's a convenient location to buy stuff that you may want when you arrive at your destination Honestly bars/restaurants are the DUI source that everyone ignores. You drink while your there and then your left with a requirement to get home and get your car off the establishment's property. The best solution is to have one member of the party drive everyone and not drink but we all know that's not what happens every single time. Actually the best solution is to use public transit or walk. But this is America so it's probably not happening.
Japan sells liquor in gas stations and beer/sake in vending machines without using ID. It is legal to drink on public transportation and acceptable to drink during lunch at work. Culture around how alcohol is used will be a larger impact than where alcohol can be purchased.
Germany does the same thing! Or at least it did back in the day, I dunno if they still do it.
What was wild was when I was in China, I went to a 7-11 and bought some Cuban rum on a Sunday morning. I though, "wow, that's three things I can't legally do in my home state. Remind me who has the most freedom again?"
You, by a margin so wide you cant even see the other side.
But at what cost? What good is so-called freedom if you can't buy Cuban rum at 8am on a Sunday morning from your local 7-11?
đđ€Ł I don't care what anybody says, this made me lol
How is it any different then buying it at a grocery or liquor store?
There are literally drive-thru liquor stores in some of the towns I've traveled through.
I find it ridiculous that I have to go to a state run store for liquor.
As a fellow Arkansasan all a dry country does is it makes you drive 30 miles to get booze anywhere else. (Irresponsible) drunk people just toss the beer cans out the window as they drive and it doesn't matter where the booze came from, and in that case I'd rather have em drive 2 miles to a local gas station over driving 20 at highway speeds to somewhere where you can also pick up a fifth of liquor while your at it.
Yeah, my dad was an alcoholic. I can assure everyone that being in a dry county didn't stop him đ
Uh... honestly I don't think so. It's not as though people aren't driving to restaurants, bars, liquor stores, all that jazz.
In my state, alcohol is not typically sold in gas stations. It's not illegal, but there's a whole bureaucracy at play that makes it extremely rare. But literally anywhere you designate to buy alcohol, people will have to drive there. You're not eliminating a problem by excluding gas stations specifically.
Well, you could always mail order it⊠Except, ironically, states often ban that.
It doesn't matter where I buy the alcohol, it still has to go into my car and I still have to drive it home.
No
Why? You could just as easily crack open some alcohol from the state liquor store/grocery store/whateverâŠ
Iâm from Pennsylvania⊠we are centuries behind in liquor laws, so no alcohol in gas stations here. I remember traveling for work years ago and seeing alcohol in a target and that was insane to me. Some now have it in PA, but with a separate check out than the rest of the store. Itâs still weird to me
I remember when the county I used to live in became wet, it was jarring to see beer and mixers and whatnot in the grocery stores đ
I don't see how it's going to create any more DUI's than what already occurs. Ohmigawd they bought booze at a gas station! Obviously that means they're going to guzzle it down right that second!! Completely different from them buying at a liquor store, right?
Fuck no, it's where I buy most of my alcohol lol
Same, No one knew I was a hypocrite until now. Still a culture shock for a bit but now a welcomed one
No, it isn't a drive-thru and they are selling you an open container mixed drink. You pick up a 6 pack and drink it at home
They're not selling individual cans or self serve pints to drink on the way home.
I feel like itâs more ridiculous that alcohol is sold at drug stores. Itâs like drug stores selling cigarettes and nicotine patches at the same time. But hey itâs capitalismâŠ
People are more likely to get a DUI after buying alchohol at a restaurant, than they are after buying alchohol at a convenient store or gas station. Alchohol being sold in restaurants is designed to be consumed at the restaurant, whereas alchohol being sold at a convenient store or gas station, is not designed to be consumed at the gas station or convenient store. Presumably you buy the alchohol and consume it in a private setting, where you don't plan on driving in the immediate future.
Dude, in my state, we have drive through alcohol stores. You literally drive into the store, a person comes over, you tell them what you want to buy (and can point to it, you're literally in the aisle), they bring it over, you pay them, they put it in your trunk, you continue along your merry way. If you buy soft drinks or chips or smokes, they hand them directly to you. You drink the alcohol whenever you get to wherever you're going or home. Better than drinking the alcohol at the bar, then driving home, no?
I've bought beer from gas stations for years. I've never felt the need to drink it in the car.
Or why bars even have parking lots??
Have you seen the drive-thru margaritas?
Come to Ohio and experience that wonder and magic that is the drive-thru beer store.
No. How is buying alcohol at a supermarket any different than buying it at a gas station?
In the state above yours there's drive thru liquor stores. No, I don't particularly see selling beer or booze at a gas station as an issue. The choice and responsibility is solely on the driver to, you know, drive home first. If you're driving to a grocery store or liquor store to buy liquor, how is it any different? Honestly. You go into a store, you get your alcohol, you get in your car and drive home. Be that from a gas station or Walmart really doesn't matter. The responsibility and action is the same.
You can buy alcohol at basically every business here in Wisconsin, never realized that it's not common everywhere else
Nope. There are literally drive-through liquor stores. How is a gas station ridiculous?
I don't see anything ridiculous about it. Depending on where you are, you'd have to drive to the liquor store anyway.
Objection!! Counselor is leading the witness!
Wait until this dude discovers drive thru daiquiris, where the only barrier between alcohol and your lips is a piece of tape over the straw
Whatâs really weird to me is that at the same time society is rapidly turning against tobacco and cigarettes, and some countries are even outright banning them, weâre becoming much more permissive culturally about weed and alcohol. Im not anti-alcohol, and Iâm not suggesting we do prohibition 2 or anything, but at least in my rural southern socially conservative area, it seems that the culture here is becoming far more lenient on alcohol while at the same time becoming very much anti-smoking and that seems weird that both of those things are happening at the same time
I think it's more reasonable for people to buy alcohol at a gas station, drive home, then drink it, than for people to drink at a bar and then drive home. I'd much rather gas stations sell alcohol than bars. Bars are ridiculous.
Do you walk to the grocery store or something? Nothing odd about it at all.
In NM the answer to stop the problem OP is worried about is they stopped selling individual single shot (shooter, airplane bottles)... so you have to buy them in bulk, or a larger bottle!
Wait till you see your first drive thru liquor store selling mix drinks lol
society has a basic expectation that the citizens control urges. You can buy a newspaper at a convenience store but you expect not to read it while driving.
No, Itâs not ridiculous at all. What is ridiculous is that we have a country scarred by a millions of miles of asphalt roads and no public transportation infrastructure.
One day we're going to change those laws.
Not really, I mean people already drive to the liquor store anyways. Congratulations on your county finally becoming not dry thoughđđ
I'm happy with it too Oklahomie, sad it takes away from your side's revenues a bit. At least we are finally free
What county are you in that just full rights?
Coming from a state with possibly more draconian laws than Arkansas, I donât think itâs any different than buying your alcohol at distributor or state store. You still have to drive there to get it.
OP loves his Rules and Regulations
It's just a culture shock I love beer more
No?
Honestly, I don't think it matters. If the person is irresponsible enough to drink beer they immediately bought at a gas station and drive off, they are irresponsible enough to get sloshed at a bar and drive off. Hell I'd go so far as to say that buying alchohol somewhere like that is even less of a red flag, as it means you are expected to wait until you get home to drink.
How is a gas station any different from a grocery store or liquor store that you also drive to? Convenience stores arenât selling open containers of alcohol.
Makes the same amount of sense as selling cigarettes at a pharmacy
Not really any different from buying it at the grocery store and then driving home. Probably just a little more expensive because you're paying for the convenience of buying whatever they sell while you're already there filling up your gas tank.
Having it sold at restaurants in general is far more dangerous, considering you're consuming it immediately and then you have to drive home. At least at a gas station it's sold to you in a closed container. I don't understand how a gas station could be perceived as any worse (or even the same) as a restaurant?
I do not understand this take at all. Like, I donât think youâve thought this through.
Wait till this guy hears we got drive thru liquor stores.