Archive for the ‘Three Tier System’ Category
It’s a felony to lie under oath to Congress. However, it is not against the law to lie to Congress in a letter to its members. This is the only reason why the heads of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, the American Beverage Licensees and the American Distillers Alliance have not been brought up on federal charges. As part of their successful attempt to kill the amendment to the U.S. Postal Service Reform Act…
I spent a good two and a half hours yesterday speaking to a nice sized collection of wine industry members about the Three-Tier System on the newish social media platform Clubhouse. In the Clubhouse room “The Business of Booze”, created and moderated by Bulgarian wine importer Robert Hayk of G & B Importers, upwards of 70 or so producers, importers, communicators, retailers and media undertook an examination of the predominant system of alcohol regulation in the United States. It was…
Since the Uber purchase of local alcohol sales platform Drizly for $1.1 billion earlier this month, there has been talk and speculation that the food and people delivery service will be in a position to disrupt the three-tier system of alcohol distribution. While this would be a nice and welcome development, there is virtually no chance of this kind of disruption occurring as a result of this merger. Here’s why. First, it’s essential to appreciate the “three-tier system” for what…
In a previous post, I expounded on why and how the three-tier system is retarding the growth of the alcohol industry primarily through the state mandates that require all alcohol to flow through a middleman wholesaler before it can reach the retail shelves and restaurant lists. I also discussed some of the forces that are defending this tired system, in particular many state regulators. At the end of that post, I promised a roadmap for dismantling the three-tier system. The…
One thing is absolutely clear about the alcohol industry: Its primary form of regulation, the “three-tier system,” is so fundamentally flawed that today it serves mainly to retard the growth of the alcohol industry, acts as a barrier to small and medium-sized alcohol producers from entering markets around the country, and acts to increase the political and financial power of a very small group of middlemen wholesalers. Yet, this destructive system of regulating the sale and distribution of alcohol continues…
