Who Owns The Three Tier System
November 12, 2007 – 7:04 am
Who owns the 3-tier system of wine distribution?
That’s right: “Owns it”. While a government-created and regulated system, the 3-tier system of wine distribution, whereby the producer sells to the distributor who then sells to retailers and restaurants, might just in fact be owned by one of the tiers. At least that’s the implication based on the way distributors talk about the three tier system.
At a 2005 legislative conference of the National Association of Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association, a discussion ensued of the Costco Lawsuit that presented anti-trust and commerce clause challenges to various aspects of Washington State’s system of regulating wine. Observe how Phil Wayt, executive director of the Washington Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association, discusses the impact of a lawsuit brought by Costco. Observe the language he used:
“On the anti-trust side, these include our post and hold system; our ban on quantity discounts, our cash law, our tied house restrictions, our ban on central warehousing, and our uniform pricing requirement. On the commerce clause side, these include our ban on interstate shipping direct to retailers.”
Our, Our, Our, Our, Our, Our, Our.
That’s a lot of ownership.
How does one tier in the three-tier system come to believe they own the regulations? It is important to understand that ownership and title to something almost always arises after the owner purchases or inherits the object that is owned.
One Response to “Who Owns The Three Tier System”
They own it because they bought and paid for it. They use the monopoly profits earned from the system to bribe legislators in every state to do what they want.
By Bruce on Nov 13, 2007