The Truth About Wine Shipping is Simple

wine_onlineIf you’ve ever wondered what the reason are that wholesalers across the country vehemently oppose the idea of allowing consumers to buy wine from out-of-state wine stores and have it shipped directly to them, all you have to do is look at the latest report by Wine Intelligence on online usage by wine buyers.

For many years, wholesalers across the country, as well as some particularly anti-consumer and parochial wine stores have argued that it’s dangerous to allow retailer to consumer shipping: minors will buy online—Taxes won’t be paid—Local retailers will be undercut on price by out-of-state retailers that would also have to collect taxes and charge shipping costs (this last one always made me laugh)

None of these bogus reasons explain why wholesalers ruthlessly oppose consumers being able to buy the wines they really want from the sources that actually have them.

The reason is that, as Wine Intelligence explains, 10% of wine buyers buy their wine online. That’s a pretty big number. More importantly, this number has increased by 100% in the past 4 years alone.

To put it all in perspective, wholesalers and parochial retailers oppose consumer choice and dismiss consumer needs for the simple reason that they want protection from having to compete in a modern marketplace—a condition that is a function of greed and laziness.

If you are a consumer, what’s the proper response to wholesaler and parochial retailer’s efforts to stand between you and the wine you want? Easy. Find a retailer that will help you ship the wine you buy out-of-state to yourself. In other words, just buy it and ship it.

If you are a retailer that actually has the customer in mind and want to commit the simple sin of serving a marketplace, what should your response to wholesaler and parochial retailer efforts to stand between you and your customers? Easy. Join the National Association of Wine Retailers to help the lobbying effort to turn by greed and corruption. And if you can help an out-of-state customer ship to themselves the wine they buy…then be a good samaritan.

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2 Responses

  1. Bill McIver - July 23, 2015

    LOL….we were writing the same stuff twenty years ago, Tom. Hope you’re still having fun. You don’t have to write much new copy…all you have to do is pull stuff we wrote years ago trying to get small wineries to fight for market access. Most sat on the sidelines. Bill McIver, the gran pooh bah of direct shipping.

  2. Walter Blood - July 24, 2015

    I don’t understand this issue. I have been buying wine from out-of-state retailers and having it shipped to me for over 15 years. Most of the retailers charge my state sales tax. I realize some states make this impossible or difficult, but that is a state-by-state matter as a result of the constitutional repeal of Prohibition.


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