The fulfillment house folly, what exactly are we accomplishing?
Recently, several states including Alabama, Kansas, and Tennessee passed bills requiring that fulfillment houses shipping wine become licensed. Under these laws, a winery can only ship wine via its own premises or a licensed fulfillment house.
If a winery ships from an unlicensed fulfillment house, it […]
Fulfillment House Licensing: The new way to undermine direct to consumer shipping
How Licensing fulfillment houses will create an administrative octopus and threaten to kill off avenues for direct-to-consumer shipping.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) shipping of wine greatly increased during COVID. Conventional wisdom indicates the growth of DTC shipping will ride the wave of momentum […]
Governor Cuomo and the Cocktail Calamity: The Follow-up Sequel to Cuomo Chips
Sometimes it is really hard to follow Governor Andrew Cuomo’s reasoning. Does he desire to make policy choices that hurt the hospitality industry or does it occur on accident?
We all remember back to last summer when his feelings got hurt […]
I was once a radical and then the world changed
During March 2020, I got a call from Julia Momose, one of the preeminent mixologists in America and the owner of Kumiko, a place famous for world renowned cocktails. Like many restaurants she was hit out of the blue by COVID. She wanted to […]
WILL THE BULLY STATE PREVAIL OVER THE CONSTITUTION?
Recently, several states introduced legislation requiring out-of-state fulfillment houses to obtain a license in their state, even though a fulfillment house does not generally perform business activity in the state. In Alabama and Kansas, bills requiring out-of-state fulfillment house become licensed passed both houses, […]
Kansas closes in on the Constitutional abyss
Kansas became the latest state to engage in the most recent ugly trend in the liquor world, introducing laws […]
Captain Lamberth and Tennessee’s Ship of Fools
Tennessee State Representative William Lamberth, provided testimony on why wine shipped from fulfillment houses should be made illegal in Tennessee.
Here is the direct excerpt from his testimony:
“Large fulfillment centers have someone’s complete customer list, handles all their marketing and distribution, they have the complete ability […]
Drizly shows favorable laws and the free market work
Yesterday’s announcement that Uber would acquire Drizly for $1.1 billion should be greeted with great applause by those in the liquor industry.
On a personal level, I am ecstatic for my good friends at Drizly, I hope they can cash in their equity for […]
Whitmer takes the path of least Constitutional resistance
Several liquor bills (Senate Bills 934, 1138, 1139, 1140) in Michigan were recently vetoed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. When presented with the bills, Governor Gretchen Whitmer decided to exercise her pocket veto, which allows a governor to veto legislation by failing to act on […]
Predictions for 2021
Today, I pay ode to the late John McLaughlin and make predictions for the new year. Enjoy it will be a wild one!
Prediction 1: The Supreme Court makes a move on wine retailer shipping. Lebamoff v. Whitmer, which appeals the 6th Circuit’s ruling allowing Michigan’s discriminatory wine retailer shipping […]