Lawmakers introduce bill to let U.S. Postal Service deliver beer, wine, and spirits

Will UPS and Fed Ex — which are notorious for slipshod service and non-delivery deliveries — finally have competition?

Regular visitors here know the wine world’s frustration with UPS and Fed Ex, which view wine deliveries as something they do only when they feel like it. Service has improved during the pandemic, but there’s no guarantee things won’t return to normal – because, as one reader left in a comment, “They like to just beep their horn and take off.”

Now, we may have hope – competition from the U.S. Postal Service. A bill with 19 sponsors was introduced in May in the House of Representatives to allow the postal service to ship wine, beer, and spirits just like UPS and Fed Ex do.

Jim Tresize, who oversees the Wine America trade group, writes that the bill stands a better chance of passing than past legislation, which went nowhere. That had much do with GOP dislike of the postal service, as well as the power of the Fed Ex and UPS lobbying purse.

This time, though, says Tresize, the bill has a better chance of success “due to some important changes [in the legislation], more bipartisan support, and the dire financial straits of USPS, which could use some new business. … Wine is a bipartisan beverage, and we want to keep it that way.”

The bill also has the support of 12 trade unions and 14 beer, wine, and spirits groups, including the Distilled Spirits Council. The alcohol industry, what with the pandemic and the Trump tariff, has remained surprisingly united in advancing progressive liquor legislation.

That’s the good news. The bad news? There’s little indication that GOP post office hard-liners in the Senate will back down; the bill did not have a Republican co-sponsor in the upper chamber at the end of May. In addition, the powerful Wine & Spirits Wholesalers Association, which opposes any form of direct shipping, has opposed the bill. And the neo-Prohibitionists will likely lend their support against it, arguing that it will lead to more underage drinking.

So e-mail your member of Congress (both House and Senate) in support of the USPS Shipping Equity Act and hope for the best. We’re not asking for anything special – just competition. And how bad can that be?