Telling the Story of the Damage Inflicted Upon the Alcohol Industry

[Erik Owens]

https://tomwark.substack.com/p/telling-the-story-of-the-damage-inflicted?utm_source=AfternoonBrief&utm_medium=newsletter

 

It’s hard to know if the die-hard-at-all-costsupporters of the three-tier system and its legal requirement that producers and retailers use wholesalers actually appreciate how much the alcohol industry hates this regulatory system.

There is the “bubble effect” that we all know too well: a person stays true to beliefs, not questioning them or hearing opposing positions, due to the media bubble they encase themselves within. Usually the “bubble effect” applies to national political issues and political parties. 

But wholesaler middlemen and their trade association representatives live 24/7 in a world where the only evidence of alcohol distribution is via the three-tier system. They work with producers that use wholesalers. They sell to retailers who must (by law) use wholesalers. They buy from importers who must (by law) use wholesalers. They interact with state regulators who protect and advance the three-tier system.

Wholesalers don’t engage with producers who sell directly to consumers alone. They don’t interact with consumers who try everything they can to get around the restrictions and limited inventories offered by their local retailers that must work with wholesalers to procure their inventory.

Moreover, it’s common knowledge that those producers and retailers who work with wholesalers are very unlikely to criticize the three-tier system since they can’t risk wholesalers (who wield all the power over them) retaliating against them. So, they generally stay quiet about their utter distaste for the System and those who protect it.

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