Liquor online

[WhiteMamba]

Are there any good online sites with good scotch selections? All the ones I've seen charge out the nose for shipping. Any ideas or recommendations?

[The Poet]

I'd rather liquor live and in person, but whatever.

[WhiteMamba]

You're so old fashioned

[The Poet]

I thought an old fashioned was made with bourbon, not scotch.

[The Poet]

To be serious, Michael, there may be good reason for high shipping costs of scotch you found. Namely, it is illegal.

I worked for a store that shipped wine. Most states allow that interstate, some only allow it intrastate (for instance, Texas will let you receive wine from a Texas vineyard, but not one of those crappy California ones), and some ban it entirely. But that is wine, which is allowed from a licensed supplier to a consumer. When it comes to beer or spirits, that is only allowed from one licensed supplier to another one, and is prohibited to consumer addresses. Some companies will still do this, but they risk confiscation of the shipment, as well as fines and penalties.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by The Poet

To be serious, Michael, there may be good reason for high shipping costs of scotch you found. Namely, it is illegal.

I worked for a store that shipped wine. Most states allow that interstate, some only allow it intrastate (for instance, Texas will let you receive wine from a Texas vineyard, but not one of those crappy California ones), and some ban it entirely. But that is wine, which is allowed from a licensed supplier to a consumer. When it comes to beer or spirits, that is only allowed from one licensed supplier to another one, and is prohibited to consumer addresses. Some companies will still do this, but they risk confiscation of the shipment, as well as fines and penalties.

Thank you for your expert legal advice.


Are you certain the laws you cite are still valid in all 50 states today?
(That's o.k. I don't know either.)

[The Poet]

Peter, we used FedEx. This is from their site.

http://www.fedex.com/us/freight/rule..._articles.html

FYI, we got popped once, for shipping brandy to a customer in, if I remember correctly, Delaware. We got out of it by arguing it was no liquor, but simply fortified wine.

[pnoon]

These folks (http://www.hitimewine.net/home.php) ship spirits nationwide. I can't imagine they'd risk a huge online and B&M enterprise.
I do not think they use FedEx. It's been a couple of years since I've ordered from them.

[WhiteMamba]

On a few of the sites I looked at it seemed that the laws differed from state to state but I'm no legal expert and have no experience with these things which is why I posted on here to hopefully gain some wisdom.

[pnoon]

Michael, the risk (if any) is on the seller.

[rwiiames]

Wine Woot (a part of woot.com) can only ship wine to certain states. I think it is dependent on the.laws in the "receiving" state.

[AdamJoshua]

Originally Posted by pnoon

Michael, the risk (if any) is on the seller.

as always

[The Poet]

Yes, different states have different laws. I've been out of this business for over two years, but know that when I was working there we could not ship to 10 or 15 states because state laws prohibited it. Aside from the Texan law I cited earlier, we could not ship to neighboring Pennsylvania, for instance, but could to liberal California and conservative Mississippi. One New England state (New Hampshire I believe) required that we not only collect state sales tax for them but also we pay the state for a permit in order to do so. Thus we stopped shipping there, as it would have been at a loss for our slim margins.

The shipping of alcoholic beverages, no matter the shipper, requires that the package be clearly marked as containing such, both on the shipping label and with a large sticker prominently displayed on the outside of the carton. Both have to say a person of legal age has to be present at time of delivery to sign for the package. We had customers tell us it was OK for FedEx to leave the package on the porch or in the garage. We would then inform them that, though it may be fine with them, it was NOT fine with FedEx, since a signature was required. What's my point? Well, we did on occasion violate the law by not including the "Adult" notification on the shipping label and "forgetting" to put the Alcohol sticker on the box. Oops, my bad. Maybe this is how these other companies dodge the restrictions . . . which I assure you, do exist. It was my job, for 5 or 6 years.

As I understand it, there are certain Swiss and/or Spanish companies who risk violation of specific embargo laws to provide desired merchandise to interested customers. I understand a similar spike in importation of spirits occurred during the 14 years between the 18th and 21th US Amendment. I also heard something of a notorious Mexican exporter recently becoming incarcerated . . . again. Thing is, if there's a buck to be made, folks will bend or break the law.

[pnoon]

The retailer I mentioned earlier requires a 21+ signature for delivery.

[irratebass]

Michael we live in a no ship alcohol state......awesome, so beware the risk.

[WhiteMamba]

I was looking on cask.com or something like that and they said they could ship to IN. Maybe I misread it.

[Brlesq]

Originally Posted by The Poet

Peter, we used FedEx. This is from their site.

http://www.fedex.com/us/freight/rule..._articles.html

FYI, we got popped once, for shipping brandy to a customer in, if I remember correctly, Delaware. We got out of it by arguing it was no liquor, but simply fortified wine.

Shipping of wine and spirits is governed by the laws of two (2) states: The one where it is shipped from, and the one that it's getting shipped to.

The FedEx link is to FedEx policies only, not laws. If you scroll down that page, you will also see that FedEx prohibits the shipment of all tobacco products (including cigars), even though cigars are still legal to ship into and out of most states (but not all!). That FedEx policy only went into effect last week (1/5/16).

I'm in Upstate NY, and regularly have whiskey shipped to from various shops in the NYC area. But they are not permitted to ship outside the State of NY.

[The Poet]

FedEx allows only wine. UPS allows only wine. USPS allows NO alcohol at all.

Guess is just coincidence.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by The Poet

FedEx allows only wine. UPS allows only wine. USPS allows NO alcohol at all.

Guess is just coincidence.

It's all wine; right

[The Poet]

As stated by me and others, this is all due to the mish-mash of state, and even local, laws. Some states have privately-owned liquor stores, some only state-controlled ABC ones. This is due both to Puritanical moralistic and economic or tax authority reasons. There are still some dry counties scattered around the nation, where it is illegal to bring a 6-pack locked in your trunk across the county line. These blue laws give suppliers and shippers pause, as is understandable.

Perhaps I misspoke slightly by saying shipment of liquor is, across the board, illegal. Perhaps it is better to state that it is widely prohibited, with serious legal consequences attached to violations. However, the end result is essentially the same.