EDITOR'S NOTE StateWays E
Take Nothing For Granted
very now and then we are faced with an event, in our private or public lives, which reminds us how tenuous our hold on the life we know can be. It might be a sudden illness or death of a friend, colleague or loved one, or it might be a calamitous occurrence,
such as the recent superstorm Sandy, which afflicted almost the entire East Coast and as far west and north as Michigan. This has been happening far too frequently of late, with, for example, an increasing number of tornadoes wiping out lives and communities in the South and Midwest. As I write this, almost four days after the storm first made landfall, there are still millions of citizens without power, heat, light, water or easy access to food and gas. Although a fair number of people lost their lives (even one is one too many), thankfully the number is nothing like the horrendous figures of thousands and tens of thousands we've heard of in recent years regarding tsunamis, and even Katrina. However, that doesn't make it any easier on the people now suffering. We are all learning, once again, to take nothing for granted, especially in our modern
world where electrical power and connectivity is apparently the most critical feature holding our communities together. My own circumstances are insignificant compared to many: with my apartment cut off from power, heat and water, I was able to locate a friend who still had power and who has graciously housed me and my wife for several days. Basically, it has been an inconvenience and we eagerly await the return of power to our apartment; however, we are lucky compared to many. At the same time, it is a reminder that things can change at a moment's notice, something we all know, but rarely think about. But life goes on, and as our cover story on the Control States 2012 Fiscal Year in Review shows (see page 11), business conditions in the beverage alcohol industry are moving forward quite successfully in the control states. As I note in the story, "control state operations continue to deliver positive results. Total gross sales grew to $9.5 billion (from $9.02 billion in FY 2011), representing a 5.3% gain over the previous year (compared to a 3.5% gain in FY 2011). Overall revenue contribution to state coffers by control jurisdictions increased by 3.1% to $3.26 billion (from $3.16 billion in FY 2011). Distilled spirits case volume rose a hefty 8.2% in FY 2012 to 50.4 million cases (compared to 46.4 million cases, a 3.6% gain in FY 2011). Most tellingly, operating expenses decreased by 3.6% in FY 2012 to $1.167 billion, from $1.211 billion in FY 2011 (which also saw a 5.3% increase in operating expenses that year)."
Kudos to the control states for such compelling results. Still, it would probably behoove us all to take a deep breath every now and then and really take the time to appreciate all that we have.
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Richard Brandes, Editor-in-Chief 4
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rbrandes@m2media360.com StateWays www.stateways.com November/December 2012 ®
