We never get any love - the country hates us.
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They have been crossed off my list for a while now. Wouldn’t even let me arrange for a 3rd party to pick it up because of what state I live in. Seems absurd but hey there’s plenty of wine shops.
It’s almost certainly due to what Al said – no state cares if you’re a tiny po-dunk retailer shipping to their state, but when you hit the size of K&L, enforcement becomes a very different issue. The same is true of state insurance regulators (which my previous company had to deal with once we reached a certain size - a complete nightmare that took years and many $$$ spent on lawyers).
K&L is by far the biggest online retailer - back in 2017 they were 2x the size of JJ Buckley and 4x the size of wine.com:
Who are the top 10 online retailers of wine in the United States, as measured by top-line sales? | Wonder
It would hardly be surprising if they hit the $100m mark in online sales last year.
And if you look at the states they ship to, it includes Alaska, North Dakota and New Hampshire. If all they cared about was revenue vs. hassle, it seems unlikely they’d bother with those states. It is far more likely the states have issued Cease & Desists, etc.
Wow. Major bummer as I use my Las Cruces address frequently to get around their not shipping to TX.
This is exactly what happened to us.
K&L received a cease and desist letter from Iowa and Illinois (among many other states). They could no longer ship to those states. It wasn’t a matter of paying to get a license to ship there.
IMO, it was the state protecting the 3 tiered system.
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funny how a lot of people blame the retailer without knowing all the facts. the above post says quite a bit doesn’t it?
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Customers are really under-informed on how few states retailers can legally ship to. It’s roughly a dozen.
When retailers ship outside that limited number of states, they risk legal action. If they’re doing it, it’s a calculated risk.
If you’re upset that retailers won’t ship to your state any longer, it’s because your elected representatives and local government have made it impossible. If you don’t take actions to change protectionist behavior in-state, the consequence is that you lose choice. The retailer isn’t to blame.
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Yes. As noted, K&L is a bigger target. You should all be wondering when your next favorite out-of-state retailer will be forced to stop shipping to you.
Don’t feel bad guys. It’s legal to ship to Connecticut, and they still won’t do it.
Retailers and wineries have much different rules. For us wineries there are more options - we can ship to about 40 states, perhaps a few more. But is it cost effective for a winery like myself to have an annual license that needs reporting, renewing, and feeing for a state like maybe North Dakota? I’m probably not gonna generate the $200-500/year dollars it costs to maintain a DTC license there.
Yep, the US has the most messed up system. It should all be one federal rule, rather than every states own little fiefdom.
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Did some folks have futures orders that were either canceled or stuck in some weird shipping purgatory?
Anyways, loved going thru the inventory clearance and insiders advantage wines. Despite the website not being flashy, it was pretty easy and straight forward to navigate.