My friends at Beer & Whiskey Bros have inspired me to apprise our readers of the inconsistencies in policy that companies like UPS and FedEx hold. A facebook fan page has been set up in order to have policy changed. Essentially, it breaks down like this: UPS & FedEx will ship wine but not beer. This is, once again, evidence concerning the shear arbitrariness of gastronomic snobbery and the way it plays itself out. There is no reasonable or logical reason to ship wine and not beer. Please don’t make the mistake that one of their drivers did by saying that it’s a problem to get a signature; they do it for wine and guns (but beer is dangerous).
It’s not simply about getting the craft beer I love, etc. In fact, I rarely get beer in the mail. Some people do, however, and the result is that they aren’t getting their beloved beverage. In addition, the economic impact on a small business that is trying to survive in this current economy can be massive. Perhaps this is a make or break issue. At any rate, let’s look out for the little guy and small business and insist on the commensurate treatment of beer and wine, by either stop shipping wine or start shipping both. Become a fan on the page. After all, this may not affect you now, but it may in the future.
Thankfully, there are still some places that ship beer. Malt and Vine in Washington State. Bruisin’ Ales in North Carolina. But they are few and far between. I’m not a federal government fan. But it would be nice if there was 1 set of regulations and not this hodge-podge of antiquated state laws that stymie economic growth.
PS I have friended the FaceBook page and informed people to do so as well.
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Thanks, Sean. I have to say that I’m in agreement. I think we should have some set of regulations. Personally, I think we shouldn’t discriminate between beer and wine when it comes to this stuff. The laws are indeed antiquated. It almost seems like the ones in humorous books. You can’t fish off the back of an elephant on the first and third tuesday of a given month…etc.
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