The minor uproar over a $173,000 contract to help teach state store employees to display better manners has raised several more serious issues.

When it first came out this week, the story provided fodder for jokes — and complaints — about the state store system. Some people suggested a simpler and cheaper plan to deal with unfriendly or unhelpful workers; tell them to shape up, and fire them if they don't.

Employees of the wine and liquor stores run by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board should be courteous and helpful, as should workers in any business. But most other businesses would handle the matter with reminders and warnings. If that didn't work, they'd find new employees.

Some critics of the $173,000 "be nice" contract suggest that since the state stores have a monopoly in Pennsylvania, there is little motivation to be friendly or helpful to customers. After all, customers treated less than courteously have no options — they can't go to the wine store across town because they all are run by the PLCB.

Even if most employees of the state store system are friendly — which they probably are — the story provided an opportunity to re-examine the basic issue of why the state is in the retail and wholesale wine and liquor business.

Is this a core function of state government? The near universal answer is "no." The state's involvement in the sale of wine and spirits dates back decades, to the repeal of Prohibition. Since then, nearly every other state has privatized the sale of wine and spirits. Not Pennsylvania.

Past efforts to privatize the state store system have been defeated by a combination of union pressure applied to Democrats and protests from cultural conservatives directed at Republicans.

Several governors have proposed selling the state store system, to bring about the enhanced service and selection of private business, while also bringing in as much as $1 billion to state coffers.

But Pennsylvania remains stuck in the past when it comes to the sale of wine and liquor. The state store system has seen improved selection in recent years, but it still does not offer the selection or employee expertise found in other states.

The LCB's good-manners training story resurfaced, with a twist, a day after first appearing, when it became known that the Pittsburgh consulting firm that won the $173,000 contract is owned by the husband of the PLCB's Western Pennsylvania regional manager.

The company, Solutions 21, appears to be a legitimate management consulting firm, and boasts a respectable client list. And the LCB says it was aware of the connection, but awarded the contract to Solutions 21 because it submitted the lowest of five bids and was qualified.

So the contract and the potential conflict of interest are less problematic than the apparent need for courtesy training or the fact that a state agency is in the business of alcohol sales.

One aspect mentioned in one of the stories published about the "be nice"contract suggests that in addition to being trained to be more friendly and customer-oriented, the employees will be taught to be more knowledgeable about the products they sell.

Beyond being friendly and helpful, which are matters of common courtesy expected of any employee, the issue of store clerks not knowing the product they sell is a big issue and one that cannot and will not be fixed by the PLCB.

In most other states, employees of wine or liquor stores are enthusiasts who know their products. In specialty wine stores elsewhere, employees generally have a solid knowledge of most of the wines they sell and often have firsthand experience through a comparison tasting offered by wholesalers. In a Pennsylvania state store, that is hardly ever the case.

The $173,000 contract for teaching state store employees to be more friendly and helpful has provided some entertainment and fodder for talk radio. But any attention focused on the state store system is a reminder of how far out of step Pennsylvania is with the rest of the country when it comes to convenience, selection, competition and customer service in the sale of wine and spirits.