Wine in Grocery store bill fails in committee

[graycrait]

http://www.nwtntoday.com/news.php?viewStory=81640

TN allows multiple gun wholesale distributors to sell guns to both mom & pop gun shops as well as big box stores like WalMart, Dicks, Academy, etc. However, in TN only 1 liquor wholesale distributor is given a monopoly to sell wine to artificially protected liquor stores who do not have to compete with big box stores. Big box stores like WalMart, Krogers, etc., cannot sell wine. Weird huh? I wonder if it really is a historical Tennessean antipathy towards alcohol or merely a clear case of "follow the money" to the state capital? In any case I can count on paying more for a limited selection of wine in Tennessee while both the wholesale distributor and retailer are protected from competition. Sounds kind of communist to me. Why isn't this same "protection" helping mom & pop gun stores? 

 

Pertinent facts:

 

1. TN has one of the lowest per capita alcohol consumptions as a state in the US. I believer only Utah and Idaho are lower.

2. TN for some reason allows a special relationship wth a limited number of wholesale distributors. Lipman Bros. has been given sole distributorship for all of "eastern" TN. http://www.lipmanbrothers.com/distribution/county-list/ This seems to be a historical concept that hasn't changed since repeal of prohibition.

3. In my section of TN allows sales only through liquor stores serviced by Lipman.

4. TN does not allow liquor stores to sell beer or even a cork screw.

5. Of 8 who voted against the Bill to allow each county or municipality to decide if wine can be sold in grocery stores, 7 were Republicans. One was a Memphis Democrat and one member of the committee in question, a Nashville Democrat, failed to show for the vote (hmmmm...).

  

I find this fascinating. Is it Tennessean high moral ground fighting the spread of booze or is it simply who gets paid the most by opposing lobbies or is it the voting constituency exerting its will on their elected politicians?

[TMF]

I'm gonna go with "follow the money."  I have been following this since Kroger started the campaign a couple of years ago.  Such an absolutely silly law.  I'm tired of hearing the argument that this will hurt mom & pop stores.  Of course it will, but that is no justification at all.  The consumers are who should be catered to, not business.  We're no better than those liberal commies in the slave states who try to outlaw Walmart because they offer low prices and no union.  I'm ashamed of Tennessee on this one.

[Worriedman]

Ramsey said they are going to proceed with passing the deal in the Senate.  You can bet that if Harwell jumped in to keep it alive in the House sub-committee (which she did) they have a deal worked out.

 

Watch, the House will tack the grocery store thing onto something else, and they will have a Conference Committee to get it out.

 

Little boy (Mathew Hill) who popped in the House Local Government Committee will get Mae Beavered next year, Beth meant for that to go forward, and she will be displeased.

[Guest 270win]

I think to be fair, the liquor stores should be allowed to sell beer, candy, ice, cokes IF the grocery stores and gas stations can sell wine.  If the liquor stores can't sell more products, then the grocery stores should not be able to sell wine.

[graycrait]

I wonder if this deal goes through that Lipman Bros will still have the exclusive rights to distribute wine to the grocers regardless of the grocers' national or multi-state reach?

[TMF]

I think to be fair, the liquor stores should be allowed to sell beer, candy, ice, cokes IF the grocery stores and gas stations can sell wine.  If the liquor stores can't sell more products, then the grocery stores should not be able to sell wine.

 

Of course.  Back in the day when I sinned against Jack Daniels by mixing it with coke, I found it silly that I couldn't find coke in the same store as the booze.  Had to have that explained to me by the lady running the counter.  Just nuts all around.

[G27]

I see the nanny-state is alive and well in TN.

[Just2Honor]

As someone has already said, follow the money. 

[strickj]

Tennessee is on high moral grounds when it comes to sins.Always has.

That said, this bill did not make it because someone's pocket got lined. That's pretty obvious.

[Bigiron]

Sad that so many of our elected officials are for sale.

[MacGyver]

While as a non-drinker I don't really have any skin in this game, I am all for any bill that removes protected classes.

 

Regardless of his political fate, I do hope we find out what Mathew Hill's price was...

[GKar]

On a local news show, Hill indicated that his turning point was a dictate that no amendments would be considered...a tact that R leaders in the legislature have trotted out of the closet more than once of late.  He voted to pass the bill in Subcommittee, then switched his vote in full committee

[Worriedman]

Tennessee is on high moral grounds when it comes to sins.Always has.

That said, this bill did not make it because someone's pocket got lined. That's pretty obvious.

 

More than one pocket, from more than one source.  The game is afoot.

[GKar]

Interesting...Lundberg (the sponsor) asked to roll it a week (?so Harwell could save it again?), and the full committee objected and prevented that.  Hill seemed willing to allow it to roll, but Eldridge and others objected and kept it on the committee floor. Lundberg indicated that amendments were not welcome, Stewart cut off all debate by calling the question, and it died right there.

[Mike.357]

Lipman has no special deal.   If they are the only distributor running to Clarksville then it must be about money.  The distributor I worked for had rights to Cookville among the rest of East TN.  We did not sell in Cookville at all.  No money to be made.  NO distributor had exclusive rights to areas of the state.  There are multiple distributors who are licenced in each of the five or six distribution areas in TN.  Lipman might have exclusive rights to Parliament brand liquors in mid TN,  just like Beverage Control has the only right to sell Crown Royal in East TN.

 

The trade off of being able to sell beer, set ups, and other non alcohol items is not good for liquor stores.  None of them have space for those items, certainly not enough space to make up for a 30% drop off in wine sales.

 

Most of the TN liquor and wine distributors are family businesses.   None of them except for Lipman and maybe a couple of others are in any position to do business with grocers.  Distribution would be done by national companies.  The downside is that money will leave TN.  I am not sure how that benefits the state at all.

 

And of course it came down to lobbyists and their influence.  Everything is about money.  In this instance it is not necessarily a bad thing.   If you think you have collusion to set prices now wait until a Diageo is in charge of how much you are going to pay. 

 

I am glad it got shot down but of course I have a self serving interest in all of this.  

[GKar]

Ramsey says it aint dead yet.  Plans to shepherd Senate version thru, and will undoubtedly be twisting House arms to resurrect it over there.

[BigK]

I don't really care where the money goes or where it comes from. Anyone profiting from laws that protect their business at the expense of the voting populace can just figure out a new business plan.

If they lose some business, so folks can pick up a bottle of wine when they shop for groceries, so be it. If I had my way, I'd take away their exclusive rights to sell liquor too.

At the same time, I think it's ridiculous to tell liquor stores they can't sell smokes, beer, corn dog, or whatever, too.

[TMF]

Lipman has no special deal.   If they are the only distributor running to Clarksville then it must be about money.  The distributor I worked for had rights to Cookville among the rest of East TN.  We did not sell in Cookville at all.  No money to be made.  NO distributor had exclusive rights to areas of the state.  There are multiple distributors who are licenced in each of the five or six distribution areas in TN.  Lipman might have exclusive rights to Parliament brand liquors in mid TN,  just like Beverage Control has the only right to sell Crown Royal in East TN.

 

The trade off of being able to sell beer, set ups, and other non alcohol items is not good for liquor stores.  None of them have space for those items, certainly not enough space to make up for a 30% drop off in wine sales.

 

Most of the TN liquor and wine distributors are family businesses.   None of them except for Lipman and maybe a couple of others are in any position to do business with grocers.  Distribution would be done by national companies.  The downside is that money will leave TN.  I am not sure how that benefits the state at all.

 

Too bad I guess? 

 

It's not that I'm trying to be insensitive, it's just that I don't see how the private interests of those businesses should dictate law.  I don't care if it's a big company or small mom & pop business.  That argument is like the argument about shrinking the TSA and how it would put so many people out of work despite their existence being pointless and obsolete.

[GKar]

The argument up here in the fingertip is that TN is losing considerable revenues as folks just step across the state line to VA and buy wine in grocery stores.  Of course, if they had any real integrity as to the "best practices" aspect of that argument, they'd also realize that folks can just walk across the state line and carry in ANY park in VA, and the local governing bodies can do nothing about it...

[JPR1959]

You can buy beer in liquor stores, but it has a higher alcoholic content.  I think wine should be allowed to be sold in grocery stores.

[JayC]

If you think we're paying less for liquor, beer, and wine in TN because of these silly distribution laws...  you're kidding yourself.

 

How about the law that doesn't allow the owner of a product to switch distributors unless they take their product off the market for a year in the entire state?  How exactly does that not keep the price artificially high?

 

Lipman has no special deal.   If they are the only distributor running to Clarksville then it must be about money.  The distributor I worked for had rights to Cookville among the rest of East TN.  We did not sell in Cookville at all.  No money to be made.  NO distributor had exclusive rights to areas of the state.  There are multiple distributors who are licenced in each of the five or six distribution areas in TN.  Lipman might have exclusive rights to Parliament brand liquors in mid TN,  just like Beverage Control has the only right to sell Crown Royal in East TN.

 

The trade off of being able to sell beer, set ups, and other non alcohol items is not good for liquor stores.  None of them have space for those items, certainly not enough space to make up for a 30% drop off in wine sales.

 

Most of the TN liquor and wine distributors are family businesses.   None of them except for Lipman and maybe a couple of others are in any position to do business with grocers.  Distribution would be done by national companies.  The downside is that money will leave TN.  I am not sure how that benefits the state at all.

 

And of course it came down to lobbyists and their influence.  Everything is about money.  In this instance it is not necessarily a bad thing.   If you think you have collusion to set prices now wait until a Diageo is in charge of how much you are going to pay. 

 

I am glad it got shot down but of course I have a self serving interest in all of this.  

 

[JayC]

The 'beer' isn't considered beer under TN law anymore.

 

You can buy beer in liquor stores, but it has a higher alcoholic content.  I think wine should be allowed to be sold in grocery stores.

 

[Grand Torino]

After living in Arizona for three years I had forgotten how far behind the times Tennessee is compared to other places. This was just one reminder.

[Volzfan]

Tennessee is on high moral grounds when it comes to sins.Always has.

That said, this bill did not make it because someone's pocket got lined. That's pretty obvious.

Typical TN politics and politicians!

[Chucktshoes]

Typical TN politics and politicians!

FTFY. It isn't any different anywhere else.