DTC Shipping.. am I taking crazy pills or do these distilleries just not care?

[PhaseStep]

I've been telling people for 2 years how limited our shipping is and I'm now on the 4th craft distillery ad I've found that says they can ship to you no problem anywhere in the states.  I even went on and entered different addresses to places I KNOW they can't ship to legally and it seems to be fine.  Do they know something I don't or are they just breaking the law and hoping nobody ever cares (because tbh they won't)?

One of them claimed that they could do it because you 'legally took ownership once you bought it' so it's really just you shipping it to yourself, not them shipping it to you which is so much BS.  

[Pour Decisions]

Every state is a bit different. Also, there are third party companies that will handle this for you, look up Full Circle Commerce Solutions as an example, they ship for several brands

[FIVE x 5 Consulting]

"It's complicated"

Certain retailers (e.g. Astor Wines and Spirits in NYC, and some services based in DC) take the position that they can sell to anyone in the country, transfer title to the out of state buyer, and then ship it to them, legally.  They argue the way they argue because the legality of this scheme relies on the retailer not having nexus in other states (Astor will charge you NY(C) Sales Tax on out of state orders, despite the product not being used/consumed in that state).

Note that the retailer is the one potentially violating the law, here.  Also, it's not necessarily "DTC" (those bottles typically go from producer to wholesaler to retailer before ultimately being shipped to the end consumer). 

Knowing this, do you think these craft distilleries have any margin on those products?  I think not...

[FIVE x 5 Consulting]

What timing!  Look at this interesting post from today about "POT" (Passage of Title) sales: https://www.beveragelaw.com/booze-rules/passage-of-title-based-sales-is-it-right-for-you