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Why I Am Voting No on Initiative 1183 (And Why You Should Too)
I have decided to vote against Initiative 1183 because I believe that it poses a threat to numerous small wineries, distributors, and wine stores. I believe that the effect on these businesses would be bad for the Washington wine industry and bad for me as a consumer. Here's why.
Let me start by saying that I am for liquor privatization. If Initiative 1183 were just about privatization, supporting it would be, for me, a no brainer - despite my distaste for the initiative process. However, Initiative 1183 is about much more.
First and foremost, Initiative 1183 is a battle of big businesses trying to use the initiative process to write laws that favor them/stop laws that don't. Costco, Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, and other interest groups have spent over $33M to pass/defeat this initiative. We are all pawns in this game.
While this turns my stomach, it is not the reason I am voting against this initiative. The key component of Initiative 1183 from a wine industry viewpoint is that it removes uniform wholesale pricing and allows volume discounting. This creates an incentive for retailers to buy larger volumes of wine at a cheaper cost. I believe that this change may make it more difficult for Washington wineries to compete.
Washington has a very limited number of 'large' wineries. 27 of our 740+ wineries account for 90% of the total wine production in the state. Yes, these 27 wineries will be able to slug it out in a volume discount market with wines from California and other areas.
However, the vast majority of Washington wineries are small, family wineries producing less than 3,000 cases annually. These wineries simply do not make enough volume to make a profit by selling wine in large quantities at a reduced margin, unless their business model and marketing approaches completely change.
For many of these wineries, uniform wholesale pricing is what allows them to survive. Take this away and I believe it may be more difficult for many of these wineries to sell their wine. I also believe that it puts small distributors at a disadvantage, as they are the people selling these wines. Many of them will have a tough time in what will increasingly be a large distributor industry focusing on low margins and high volume. That does not help our industry. That does not help me as a consumer looking to buy Washington wine.
I also believe volume discounting will make it harder for Washington wineries to find a spot on grocery store shelves due a decrease in the number of available SKUs (See a comment from Dave E from a small wine store on changes they would anticipate at their store in the comments section of my blog here). Spirits taking up space would compound this issue. Again, that does not help our industry. That does not help me as a consumer looking to buy Washington wine.
Finally, I believe that Initiative 1183 puts independent wine and beer stores at a competitive disadvantage. First, it makes it difficult if not impossible for them to compete on price and potentially even increases the prices of small production wines if distributors charge 'case break fees' to encourage retailers to buy in larger volume.
Secondly, by requiring 10,000 square feet of floor space to sell spirits, Initiative 1183 not only eliminates the ability of convenience stores and gas stations to sell spirits – a good thing, it also eliminates the ability of small specialty shops to do so. To wit, even large Seattle-based wine retailer Esquin has only 7,000 square feet of floor space and would not be able to sell spirits (NB: A representative from Esquin indicated that they are against Initiative 1183 as they believe it hurts small wineries). Again, that does not help our industry. That does not help me as a consumer looking to buy Washington wine.
Is my position being protectionist? You're damn right it is. Washington is not just any other state in the nation in terms of wine consumption and liquor laws. It is the second largest wine producing state and an emerging wine region with a multi-billion dollar wine industry. Isn't that something worth protecting?
Perhaps I'm wrong and the industry would be fine if Initiative 1183 passes. Perhaps over time, as the industry evolves, volume discounting might present less of a threat. But implementing this significant of a change during the worst economy in 70 years probably isn't the best time to find out.
Some proponents of Initiative 1183 have said, 'The government shouldn't tell me how to run my business.' Would you rather have Costco telling you how to run your business? This is what Initiative 1183 does. It lets Costco make laws that help their company at the expense of smaller businesses that can't afford to have laws made for them. To me, that is something we should all be protecting ourselves from.
I know some of my readers have opposing views on this initiative, and I respect those opinions. I realize that some wineries in Washington, including some small ones, might benefit by passage of Initiative 1183. However, I am trying to consider the industry as a whole – which I hold dear – as well as my own consumer interests.
My hope is that, with the series of posts I have written on 1183, I have provided you all with enough information to make your own, informed decision, based on the things that are important to you.
For me, I'll be voting no, and if you love Washington wine, I encourage you to do the same.
Note: Read a series of posts about Initiative 1183 here.
54 comments:
- Larry OlsonOctober 26, 2011 at 9:53 AM
I just don't see the doom and gloom from this initiative. The small wineries I work with and buy from consistently sell out of their wine because they make quality wine and have reasonable prices. People search them out to buy it. If a small winery continues to make a good product at a fair price, they will continue to sell it, regardless of distribution or retail will to have it on the shelf. That's the beauty of our wine industry in Washington. True grassroots, no astroturf here.ReplyDelete
- Tom PalmerOctober 26, 2011 at 10:32 AM
I love Washington wine, and will be voting yes.ReplyDelete
Costco and WalMart are not where I buy wine. The fact CSM wines will be sold there for a few dollars less then they are today is irrelevant to any wines purchases I make during a year. The selection at Costco is terrible and no threat to any serious wine shop. The people who will buy the cheapest wine always have two buck chuck, jug wines etc...
Do I want Esquin selling spirits? No. I want wine, not vodka.
Can I think of any reason a small winery is suddenly unable to sell wine to Esquin if this passes? No, I cannot.
Is there anything in this initiative that prevents a distributor from representing small, boutique wines? No.
Do I find the ads against this initiative distasteful? Yes, the "teenage" drinking thing is bogus and an insult to my intelligence.
Your virtual tasting tonight features Rulo. I love their wines and will continue to buy them. That won't change because this initiative passes.
- AnonymousOctober 26, 2011 at 10:35 AM
My experience with Micro sized Wineries leads me to think that there will be no appreciable impact. Most operate without store presence. This State has NO Business being in the Liquor Business!ReplyDelete
Mom & Pop Stores will continue with Wine displays, just no Hard Liquor...A whole different product line.
- AnonymousOctober 26, 2011 at 10:51 AM
I agree with Larry and Tom, people who drink small winery wines seek them out, whether they are at Costco or a wine shop, or the winery we seek it out. I go to Albertson's over Safeway because of the wine selection. I think this initiative might even bring more wines to Albertson's with volume discounts, perhaps from other countries. The more the merrier.ReplyDelete
Sean, on this we will have to agree to disagree. I've posted my thoughts on my blog this morning (before reading yours, so my thinking is completely my own). I am voting yes. I just don't see the negatives that some small wineries (and craft distillers) are predicting. Apparently the 100+ members of Family Wineries of WA don't see the problems either. It would be very helpful if the WA Wine Commission would take a stand on this Initiative, rather than leaving the hard work of sorting it out to the bloggers, but I won't hold my breath. However, if 1183 loses, I'll buy you a beer next time you are in Waitsburg!ReplyDelete
I agree that the state has no business selling liquor and that spirits sales must be privatized - although I never drink them.ReplyDelete
To turn a phrase from Senator John Kerry, I was for Initiative 1183 before I was against it. I originally gave the initiative a quick skim back in the summer and thought it was an improvement over 1100, despite the inclusion of volume discounting. Wanting spirits to be privatized, I drafted a post back in August that I planned to put up this week endorsing the initiative. Then I researched the issues and talked to people and my opinion changed.
In terms of the effects on small wineries, distributors, and retailers, I can only say that my decision to vote no on Initiative 1183 has been strongly influenced by talking to these people and hearing what they anticipate the effects to be for them. Even people with larger wineries who believe volume discounting might help them told me that they were voting against Initiative 1183 because they believe it would be bad for the industry. This response was not just from a few people but from the overwhelming number of industry people I spoke with - although 1183 does have its industry proponents.
Ultimately I see two possible scenarios that could play out with Initiative 1183. The first appears to be what several commenters feel will happen - a 'divided earth' scenario where Costco and large grocery stores own the high volume, low priced wine segment; small, independent stores own the low volume, higher priced 'boutique' wine segement; and both coexist in separate niches.
The second is the 'conquered earth' scenario. Smaller, independent wineries, distributors, and retailers are unable to survive because they cannot compete on price and large retailers bleed away enough of their customers and profits to make their business unsustainable. Unfortunately, this is the scenario people I spoke with felt was more likely to occur if Initiative 1183 passes.
If initiative 1183 passes, time will tell which way it plays out.
Paul G, it's a deal!ReplyDelete
but i still don't understand why, in this year's initiative, wine is targeted for deregulation? while beer is not? is it the alcohol level?ReplyDelete
Rowena, the sole reason beer is not included in volume discounting in Initiative 1183 I believe is because the writers of the initiative didn't want to go up against an even more powerful lobby.ReplyDelete
In anticipation that they are next if Initiative 1183 passes, some beer groups already contributed money against Initiative 1183. However, if the initiative included them, they would have spent a whole lot more - perhaps even matching the amount Costco has spent. This would have made it a whole lot harder for Costco to buy the ballot box.
Thanks for giving me an answer Sean. But I thought that last year's initiative did include beer. So if 1183 passes, then we can probably expect an initiative to deregulate beer? and if 1183 does not pass, next year's initiative will finally be just be about liquor?ReplyDelete
Rowena, you are correct that Initiative 1100 would have allowed volume discounting for beer as well. To me, this makes it quite interesting that it was taken out of 1183 but wine was left in. My belief - not based on any information or data I should point out - is that the initiative writers anticipated they would have a more difficult time getting this initiative passed if it included volume discounting for beer because beer lobbies would put in money to oppose it. This is a very, very powerful lobbying group.ReplyDelete
If Initiative 1183 passes can we expect to see an initiative in the future allowing volume discounting for beer? I would expect so.
If Initiative 1183 fails, will Costco write another initiative that just focuses on privatization? This is a very good question. Personally, I would like to see the state legislature take it up and do the job because it needs to be done. If they don't, I'd be fine with a initiative that looks strictly at privatization.
However, I personally believe that Costco made a substantial mistake by putting this initiative on the ballot so quickly after Initiative 1100. Many people I have talked with are planning to vote against this initiative because they feel like they already voted against it last year. There is a lot of voter frustration with the way corporations are using the initiative process. If 1183 fails, Costco may try again but I believe that it's chances of succeeding will be more reduced due to voter anger. They have made a big gamble - and thrown in a whole lot of money to try to make it pay off. We'll see if it works out for them.
Paul and Sean,ReplyDelete
First of all, thanks for the articulate, civil debate of the issues. As I try to teach my students, debate is not what we used to see on Crossfire or see/hear now on The O'Reilly Factor. That's just people shouting at each other.
In your statements there is use of logos, pathos, and ethos. So again, thank you for actually debating the topic.
I am a co-owner of a small wineshop in Seattle, and I can report that most of the small winemakers we have heard from are NOT in favor of 1183.
And there is something strange about the Family Wineries of Washington "endorsement." There is NO mention of the endorsement on the FWWA website, in the blog, or on the Twitter account. I do see that the FWWA board members who own wineries each endorsed 1183: Paul Beveridge of Wilridge Winery, John Bell of Willis Hall, and Tim Narby of Nota Bene. Where are all the other wineries? Why aren't they "lining up" to be on the Yes on 1183 website?
So here's your chance, Washington Wineries: post that you support it, and state how many cases you make a year.
Like Sean, I am conflicted about the privatization of liquor issue. So I say send them back to the drawing board. Keep the wine pricing issues out of it, and why not introduce something that allows for small liquor stores? With all the new distilleries popping up, it could represent a new kind of small business to have a neighborhood shop that could specialize in local spirits and wine. Giving licenses only to facilities with "10,000 square feet or more" seems pretty obvious what is being created here: giant liquor/wine warehouses with little or no individual help.
Two examples for anyone who wishes to debate. These are real stories:
1) My friend calls me from Las Vegas, saying he is at a giant liquor/wine warehouse. He says, "there's no help since there are so many selections. Can you remind me of a couple of labels? I think I recognize some of them from your shop." Sure enough, he was recognizing the labels from our shop, where I had guided him with both description of the wine and story behind the label to make a choice. If he had not had my help and guidance, would he have passed over the label in the "giant" warehouse? Probably. Why else would he know what to pick?
2) A winemaker who I know, who is a very reasonable, logical guy explained what would happen to him if the initiative passes: "Costco or some other grocery store will come to me as they always do and say, 'we want your wine.' But this time they'll say, 'and we want it at this price.' When I say 'I can't do that, I have to pay rent,' they will say, 'then we're buying none of it.' That will probably put me out of business because I count on moving about a pallet with them every year, so I will either have to drop my price, make far less profit, or fold my business."
If you sit back and consider both stories above, it is very clear to me that the "small folks" will be selling a lot less wine in the future if 1183 passes.
Tom Hajduk
@Tom HajdukReplyDelete
My wife owns a wholesale bakery with about 50 employees. She has product in COSTCO, but it is a very small percentage of her business. They have burned her company several times, once almost to the point of closing the doors, because of their business practices. They are rarely satisfied, relentlessly demanding terms after terms after terms, and quickly willing to state "get everything out of our stores now." ... She deals with them because of sales volume and product identification, but always with an expectation that they will pull the rug out at any moment.
- Tom PalmerOctober 26, 2011 at 2:03 PM
Hi Tom,ReplyDelete
Speaking from one Tom to another, I have to disagree with the doom and gloom scenario your winemaker friend passed on.
First, his peers are going to be faced with the same decision. They all have rent, oak barrels and grapes to pay for. Costco wants to sell wine, and it is up to each winery to decide if it makes economic sense to sell more wine via the Costco sales channel (higher volume, lower per unit price). It's math. It might work for some, not for others. It takes place in the business world every day. Wine is not unique here. Can we agree with this?
Second, I take issue with a winery who believes their success as a business is predicated on Washington enforcing no volume discount. Really, this is the business model they put together when they started?
What happened to offering a quality product at a good price? If you make good wine, people like Sean will make sure the public finds out about it. And then I'll drink it :)
I sample lots of WA wine from "small folks." I see very few "small folks" wines sold in Costco.
The reality is the big brands have always outspent and outmuscled the small wineries when it comes to shelf space, grape contracts, marketing etc... My advice to boutique wines?
Make good wine. Get out there and promote it. Believe in what you sell.
I am excited as well to have a place where people are having a logical, thoughtful debate on the initiative. I am for I-1183, but I, as hopefully most of the people here, have not decided my position and "that's that", I enjoy hearing other viewpoints and different considerations on the topic.ReplyDelete
First about the store size and lack of beer wholesaling. As Sean mentioned this is entirely because of the last campaign for I-1100. Costco/Safeway/Trader Joe's took on an too powerful of opponent in the beer industry.
The beer industry pumped in money against the initiative, and their rallying cry was that corner stores sold alcohol to minors at a higher rate than state stores.
After 1100 was defeated 53% - 47%, 1183 reacts to this by not provoking the cash heavy sleeping giant that is the beer industry, and removing the argument that corner stores will be the downfall of minors sobriety by requiring a square footage to be eligible (in most cases).
The first "Costco Initiative", I-1110, shows that Costco didn't want to keep Mom 'n Pop shops out of the equation, but instead they were forced to be opponents of the measure.
As for the volume price discounting, no other industry get governmental protection against volume pricing, and yet there are small, locally owned shops that survive, even thrive! The fact that Quizno's and Subway can buy turkey cheaper than Twisted Cafe hasn't shut them down.
I don't know which small wineries feel that the only reason people are buying their wine is because it's cheaper than the others. But lets be realistic here, if Costco was solely focused on bringing in the cheapest wine they could, they can already do that.
The current law prevents volume discounting, not buying cheaper product.
I understand that anytime there is a shift in governmental protection for an industry, people/businesses in that industry get worried.
But I don't think there is any real validity to the dooms day scenarios many people seem to be painting. I don't agree with people who are essentially saying "It's not fair because if people can buy liquor at the store then they wont HAVE to buy my wine instead". Created a market by limiting consumer choice never a good thing.
- AnonymousOctober 26, 2011 at 2:21 PM
This is insane. How many small wineries are there in California? A million? More? Many many are thriving. Esquin will be fine, as will the vast majority of small wineries. If a business requires the government to run liquor stores for them to survive, they should be allowed to die on the vine. Vine?! Get it?ReplyDelete
Anon, the comparison of Washington to California is a good one to bore into. California has about ten times as many wineries as Washington and 25 times the production. It also has a much more mature industry in Washington, given that about 500 of our 740 wineries were founded in the last ten years. We are a young, mere speck as an industry in comparison - although of course we kick California's butt on quality. ;)ReplyDelete
California's high volume production and large number of wineries allows them to compete across a broad range of price points. California can provide wines as easily at $3 as they can at $300. Washington cannot. Volume discounting probably helps many California wineries compete because they produce at large volumes. Washington does not.
The stratification of the California industry with numerous high and low volume producers and everything in between makes it a better place for 'Scenario 1' in my earlier comment where these producers are able to coexist. Washington may evolve in this way but I don't believe we're not there right now.
I don't believe that Washington wineries require government liquor stores to help them survive. On the contrary, I believe that liquor should be privatized and that Washington wineries would do as well or better than they are now. However, I don't believe that volume discounting should become legalized and think that it has no place in the privatization discussion. It's a shame that the initiative writers put it in there because it gets lost in the shuffle. Perhaps this was intentional?
In response to your reference to the Washington State Wine Commission from your earlier comment, the Commission is the industry's marketing organization, and as a state agency, it is explicitly prohibited by state law from taking any position regarding ballot initiatives.
Ryan Pennington
Washington State Wine Commission
- AnonymousOctober 26, 2011 at 5:46 PM
It seems to me that a lot of the concern about the smaller wineries in Washington may be misplaced. While you may see them represented somewhat in a Safeway or the like, not so much at a Costco or WalMart. In fact I would be interested to learn how many of these wineries really rely on the big retailers or distributors to sell their wine as apposed to the specialy shops, restaurants and their own retail and wine club channels. If such a small percentage of our Washington wineries make up the total volume of wine produced and sold in our state, then let the big dogs bark and bite and let the rest go on as they have done or a slightly modified version of going to market with specialty stores and distributors or direct! People that have an appreciation for great wines know how to find them. Doing business with Costco is not a pleasant experience no matter how tempting the volume may be (or claimed to be)and in my opinion, most wineries, especially the smaller ones, shouldn't lose any sleep over the perceived opportunity there.ReplyDelete
Thank you again Sean! And if you recall, in 2008, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that Washington State "could keep a ban on high-volume discounts to beer and wine retailers -- a possible boon to Costco's much smaller competitors."*ReplyDelete
Strange(?) that in the two liquor privatization initiatives backed by Costco, volume discounts for wine were written in both.
Sean, I'd say my outlook is somewhere between your #1 and #2 scenarios. If I-1183 passes, I don't see the small producers/sellers going away, but at the same time, I see the small part of the market getting smaller, and the big part getting bigger and stronger.ReplyDelete
As several people have noted above, Costco doesn't really figure into the argument as far as I can see. They don't sell wine from small producers now, and I don't expect them to start doing so anytime soon. The mechanism for the shift in the market is different than that. What I see happening is that with passage of the initiative, the conditions will be right for entry into the market of the big-box liquor sellers - BevMo and Total Wines, among others. They offer large selections of wine, tailored to appeal to the average shopper, who choose wine based mostly on price. These are the stores will probably take market share from the small suburban wine retailers and put quite a few of them out of business. In-city wine retailers might have a chance of staying in business, just because most city-dwellers won't have any interest in driving out to the suburbs in order to buy a discounted bottle of wine.
It's the small shops who have traditionally offered a place in the market to the small wineries - the big-box stores won't be much more interested in them than Costco is now. But, with a substantial number of small shops going out of business, the small wineries will have to change their business plans and figure out how to make a living with more tasting-room and mail-order sales and less retail in the mix. Some will figure out how to do this successfully, and some will fail with a lower level of retail support.
I haven't done a great deal of research in California, but my impression matches this model - I didn't see many small wine shops in the suburbs. In fact, ignoring Kermit Lynch's store, which is a special case, I only saw one small wine shop during my whole trip last summer, it was in the middle of Berkeley, and it certainly didn't look like a prosperous place. Obviously, California has lots of operating wineries, and there is a lot of diversity in their business models and markets. There are even some small wineries that go somewhat to the European model of being family-owned and maiking inexpensive, decent wine. Like in Europe though, they looked like very mature operations, something that is notably absent in the Washington market. As Sean speculates about, can our young, tender wine industry develop into a strong, mature one in a large volume-low price marketplace? Maybe it's possible, but we'll probably lose many more wineries - even many of the good ones - along the way than we would under the present regulations.
I am in favor of 1183. The bottom line is let's compete. I want nothing to do with Costco and most of the deep discounting but if I need to I want the opportunity to do so. Don't tell me as a business owner and a maker of wine what I can or cannot charge for my product. Let the market determine that. Besides, I am tired of not being able to find the great small producer spirits that I long for and must buy from distillers when I am in that state because our antiquated post prohibition system will not allow me to buy those products using our current system. Let's step forward into the modern age of business and alcohol in Washington for the future.ReplyDelete
- Neil CooperOctober 26, 2011 at 9:16 PM
I am a newbie in the wine world as you know Sean, but not necessarily in business. As a conservative capitalist... I too say get the government out of the way and let's PLAY BALL! Antiquated laws to protect the small often do more damage, as many above have stated: make a quality product, put it in a quality bottle, and sell it with pride! Customers will come back.. and they will tell their friends as well! -coopReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 26, 2011 at 9:22 PM
Voting Yes on 1183 will make hundreds of small store owners lose their jobs. If this initiative passes, 4 members of my family will lose their job, because all of the bigger retail stores will be able to sell, running my family out of business. Our country already has a major unemployment rate, and voting yes on this initiative will raise that even more.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 26, 2011 at 11:38 PM
Thanks for keeping us on top of the intiative. I am in the same lines as Tom Hajduk and Dave E, but i would like to add something to the discussion...We are a nation of convenience...Put everything in one place and let the hordes of people come running!!! Why isn't anyone talking about corporate america and it's greed. Costco, Walmart, Sam's Club...you name it, they've got it...allowing them to bargain on volume discounts on wines and liquour makes my head spin and cannot be good for you or I (IMPO)
I know costco does sell some small WA winery wines and will continue to find more as long as we have small wineries allowing it. The question I have goes out to the small winemakers out there...who do you want selling your wine?...A corporation that knows nothing about your wine, nothing about your product and nothing about you? Or would you rather have a retail wine shop who can tell the customer about the wine, where it came from, how they met the winemaker and walked through the vineyards with him/her, and most importantly....how the wine tastes??! You aren't going to get that from a Costco...but as I stated above...we are a nation of convenience! This idealogy and mindset will hurt the small wine shops and eventually run them out of business. It won't be sudden but it will eventually happen.
Charlie and Neil, do you care about your product and what your label stands for or do you just want to try making the cheapest juice and sell it to people who don't know the difference? Because that's what your going to have to do when dealing with costco and corporate america.
- Chip McLaughlinOctober 27, 2011 at 2:12 AM
This has truly stirred up a lot of controversy, but I think that it's great that people are taking the time to research and learn what this initiative is about. Although I agree with many points made from those above, including those from some dear friends of mine, I still can't vote in favor of this.ReplyDelete
People have mentioned that if you produce a great product, that this won't hurt them. That can be both true and false. For some of these people, like my friends from Red Mountain, they have a large portion of their sales being generated through direct to consumer sales, which is great. At that point, you are pretty correct: produce a great product and you don't necessarily have to worry, (even though I have seen many of your wines in supermarkets before). But, for other friends of mine, (and not just those in Washington) they do rely on sales to Costco, Safeway, Fred Meyer, etc. As companies like Fred Meyer, Albertsons and Safeway continue to expand their services by hiring wine stewards and such, they are making valiant efforts in providing consumers with better products. I have friends throughout the Northwest that sell wine to Costco. I have personally seen them at Costco signing bottles, trying to sell wine. So, to say that people don't rely on such outlets is false.
If this initiative passes, many people will not only lose their jobs, but some could lose their businesses as well. This not only hurts wineries, but also small, independent retailers. Nobody can deny the fact that consumers are looking for wines at better price points. This is the reason why people are creating second labels, or declassified brands. In fact, most of my friends that own wineries have declassified labels or are planning on launching one soon, and that includes all of you that I know personally, who have commented on this thread. As long as people are looking for these types of wine, big businesses are going to keep working on satisfying the customer. These corporations are not stupid; they pay attention to details. As much as you may not want to agree with that statement, it's still the truth. With that being said, the passing of this initiative would allow bigger businesses to buy larger percentages of these wines as wineries are looking for ways to generate the quickest return. Independent retailers can't rely on only selling premium wines; it's just not possible.
As for a buyer's perspective, you would not believe how many times I have called the Costcos of the world to enquire about pricing on specific wines to see if it was a viable option to bring into shoppes that I have been a buyer for. This type of business is not sustainable for independent businesses!
My biggest thing is that people TRULY look at all of the details involved with this initiative before voting. It's more than just the privatization of liquor.
First, Sean thanks for your research on I-1183. Love the discussion going on here.ReplyDelete
Second, I agree with Chip, "…TRULY look at all of the details…"
One of the details is shelf space. When grocery stores start selling liquor, Washington wineries WILL lose shelf space. I know that many local wineries depend on that shelf space for income and for brand exposure (it takes a great deal of effort to win that space in the first place). While I love visiting wineries, most of the wines I purchase are at my local grocer. If I-1183 passes, how many of those bottles of Washington wine will be displaced by bottles of liquor and volume discounted wine? Having shopped at grocery stores in California, I suspect many.
Also, I'd love to see small, independent liquor stores selling specialty spirits. But requiring a business to have 10,000 sf of floor space won't allow that to happen. No, I don't want the mini-marts and gas stations selling liquor. But couldn't the pre-existing WSLCB stores be grand-fathered in somehow or sold to private owners? Sure, I shop at Costco, but I'm not worried about them.
I started off as a fence sitter on I-1183. After reading and thinking about all of these comments, I'm now against I-1183.
So as we look at other wine states, say California, has their lack of a Liquor Control Board and the presence of Costco driven all the small producers out of business? Yes, prices going down will drive some out of business, and I hate to be cruel, but businesses have to have a sustainable business model that will allow them to compete and thrive.ReplyDelete
So I do buy wine at Costco. But I also buy at a number of other locations because Costco doesn't have what I want. This makes me believe that there will be a continuing place for distributors; one in which they continue to work in the interests of the smaller producers and work to get their product onto store shelves. What won't continue is their existence because of an outdated three-tier model that is mandated by the state. In other words, they will have to provide real value.
FUD, fear, uncertainty and doubt. I feel that a lot of the concern about these changes cook down to 'we know the current system is bad, but we understand it'; 'the new system may be better, but we're scared because we don't know'.
- Bob WhitelatchOctober 27, 2011 at 10:42 AM
It's time to get the fox out of the hen house. I refuse to sell wine to the WSLCB; they don't go thru Distributors, they have a central warehouse and they always want a special price, and them they undercut the rest of my customers. They should do what Government agencies are supposed to do, enforce the regulations, and I as a producer should be able to do what every other producer in the state does, set my price and chose my customers. That has worked well in the other state in which I sell wine.ReplyDelete
As a small wine shop owner, I totally understand the customer wanting to come into a store just for the wine and not the pint of Monarch vodka sitting in the aisle. I don't want that in my shop and frankly, I don't even want to see that focused in my grocery store.ReplyDelete
However, when there was discussion that this initiative was going to be brought up again, as a small wine shop owner my attitude was, "If you can't beat them, then I might as well join them," And with that thinking I thought if push comes to shove, I might take advantage and consider bringing into my shop, a very small and rather limited, high-end grape brandies.
Now, I do not qualify to sell exclusive spirits because I do not have 10,000 square feet of floor space (of course to "protect the children"). So not only am I screwed by Costco because I cannot compete with their wine prices, but I get screwed again because I cannot compete with them for floor space to sell spirits.
I will be voting "no," however I will also take the same attitude as when Wal-mart came to town and everyone cried how Wal-mart will ruin the small mom and pop businesses. My attitude will be that as long as we provide customer service, wine knowledge and some of the hard-to-find wines, Costco/Wal-mart (same thing, different sign) won't put too much of a dent into our armour - - or at least, I hope.
Ah, Washington - as a Californian in the wine business (who's also worked in Washington) I can appreciate both sides of this discussion. I remember one of the first times I worked the WA market seeing a wine shipper from a California retailer outside of a WA store - it was cheaper to purchase the wine in CA and pay shipping to WA than it was to purchase it in WA!!! Distributors in WA have it much easier because they're paid upon delivery - that is one of the explanations for the much larger number of distributors. As far as volume discounts, yes, the Safeways and QFCs and Costcos will have better pricing on "commercial" brands, but the hard-to-get wineries will still sell their wines for the same wholesale price - it's up to the individual store owners to determine the retail price, and that's where the game will get interesting.ReplyDelete
One of the replies commented on the dearth of "good wine shops" in Berkeley - well, yes, there's Kermit Lynch, but I can agree that on a per-capita basis, there are signifiantly more "mom and pop" good wine shops in both WA and OR than there are in CA. Our business has developed to a tiered market, and we have the top-end stores throughout the state (K & L, Wally's, Wine House, Wine Exchange, Beltramo's, etc) that have phenomenal selections, we have smaller local "mom & pop" stores that can still have an interesting selection, and we have the vast majority of local liquor stores that sell the same tired merchandise from the large distributors - in CA that's Southern and Youngs.
As always, there are valid arguments for both sides - but I think the vast majority of Washington wine consumers will benefit from passage of this ballot proposition, and believe it or not, the wineries will continue to grow and prosper as word gets out about the great wines being produced in Washington. Good luck!
- AnonymousOctober 27, 2011 at 12:26 PM
The small wineries will continue to sell primarily out of their tasting rooms (where they realize the most profit per bottle). The small wineries are not in Costco now, so not being in Costco later is not an issue. The small wineries will continue to sell to restaurants as they currently do. I think they will have a MUCH greater chance of expanding their sales at the new liquor stores, as those stores won't be beholden to the state for purchasing decisions. I see it as a win for the consumers & win for the wineries. And as tax revenues will remain the same (or increase, with the wider availability of products), it is also a win for the state. Sure, it's also a huge win for Costco. But since I and pretty much everyone I know shops at Costco (and Costco is a massive employer in our state, paying fair wages and offering decent benefits) to its employees,isn't that yet another win?ReplyDelete
My sincere thanks to all who have contributed thus far to what has been a very interesting and hearteningly civil discussion! I am profoundly grateful.ReplyDelete
One question I would be interested in hearing winery owners' thoughts on is what your experience is at present selling wine to other state's where volume discounting is allowed, such as California. While you can't (legally) do it here, there are obviously wineries in Washington working in other markets that allow volume discounting in other state's around the nation. How well is/isn't this working? Have you found it to be a useful tool in your toolbox in those states or more of a hindrance?
I open with a quote from the most recent report on the California wine industry that I am aware of:ReplyDelete
"Falling profits and valuations of winery operations will push the smallest and most specialized operations out of business or make them candidates for acquisitions." (Sonoma County Economic Development Board 2010)
And the report also notes that consumption of wine has INCREASED. Therefore, price and market share are the two biggest factors for success.
Yes, there are a lot of wineries in California. But it's only the high volume ones that are growing. The small producers have either gone out of business, selling their vineyards to larger producers, or are still in business and also selling their work to larger producers. One is NOT seeing an increase in small winery labels in California stores because of de-regulation.
California may look successful, but quality has definitely taken a hit in terms of what is available without actually driving from winery driveway to driveway. One of my favorite sources is a 2008 New York Times Article, which notes that in 2008 there were 2,687 bonded wineries in California. And before you think that helps the argument of "California must have benefitted," here's the most important quote excerpt from the NYT article:
"The 25 largest California wineries produce 90% of the state's wine."
The smaller facilities are only 10% of the market, and in many cases, smaller wineries/vineyards have to sell their grapes and juice to the enormous wineries/corporations to make ends meet. One of the larger companies, for example "The Wine Group," (which makes Two Buck Chuck) makes over 25 million cases a year. So, no, the small wineries are not "thriving," they are "surviving" by selling their stuff to the big wineries.
Here's more context from economic report for Sonoma County Wine County in 2010, which was produced for investors in the wine industry, not by the wine industry itself. It is very telling about the climate right now:
"Falling profits and valuations of winery operations will push the smallest and most specialized operations out of business or make them candidates for acquisitions. Wineries that manage to diversify their offerings-especially with lower-cost wines or with wines grown in lower-cost areas—will be better positioned to maintain profit levels in the near term."
Yes, some of the issue is that the economy is bad. But interestingly enough, the report makes a strong point that consumption has increased. So, the wineries with "big market share" and who can "capitalize on their pricing affordability" will survive. The others will not.
Here's the conclusion of the report:
"A lack of diversification between high-priced and lower-priced wines would hinder Sonoma County's winemakers' transition into a structurally changing wine market. Producers from lower-cost, wine-growing areas of California have been able to increase retail market share during the recession and the initial recovery period. They have also been able to capitalize on their pricing affordability in order to enter into new distribution channels—including national restaurant chains and airlines—that will increase their exposure to new wine drinkers."
Bottom line: the wineries that already have the bigger market share and the profits to make a large volume of discounted wine will survive, the others will not. It's an ominous line and delivered with such neutrality, but to repeat the report's conclusion again: "Falling profits and valuations of winery operations will push the smallest and most specialized operations out of business or make them candidates for acquisitions."
Passage of 1183 lines things up for exactly the same situation. Right now the small wineries are just making it.
Folks, gas has gone up. Shipping charges have gone up. How much more pressure can we put on small businesses? How are they to get their product out there to consumers and still make enough money?
Incredible dialogue here everyone. I truly appreciate all of the though and time most of you have put into this.ReplyDelete
I too am very on the fence about this though what I've been reading here is tipping me towards "No". I realize that there is a lot of FUD being discussed. However, looking solely at the physical realities of this (i.e. loss of shelf space for local producers, etc.) I believe that this particular initiative is NOT the right one to begin the deregulation process. Now the question becomes, how do we get the right one place? Is it something that the WA state brewers, wineries, and small distributors can collaboratively work on? I'd love to see that happen and you'd have my full support!
Here's the thing: The state shouldn't be in the retail business, but our legislature has been completely inept at getting out. That means it must be done through initiative. LAST year's initiative didn't have the 10K square foot limit that would hurt your mom 'n pop wine shops. Distributors did two things: Put on a fear campaign of teens dying fiery drunken deaths and put their own confusing liquor privatization initiative on the ballot. The idea wasn't to get it to pass, it was to get Costco's to NOT pass.ReplyDelete
So THIS year's initiative has the 10K limit, because that's what opponents said they wanted. Vote YES on 1183 to get the ball rolling...legislation is a process and this will get it going in the right direction.
Unknown: voting for 1183 will not get things going in the "right" direction. It will get things going permanently in the corporate direction, removing power from smaller organizations and businesses and giving it to a few if not one large one. Once we go down the road, it is one way and there is no coming back. This is related to how citizens just bailed out the banks and the citizens paid for it. You think that's coming back to us someday?ReplyDelete
Last year's initiative had three major points that people did not like:
1) taking away state control liquor revenue was not compensated by some sort of reciprocal income.
2) Small liquor stores were allowed, and the anti-initiative campaign made it sound like there would be liquor stands on every corner just like coffee stands.
3) Small wineries and small distributors would be hurt by "split case" charges (small wine shops would no longer be able to order 1 or 3 bottles of this and that for customers by request) and non-uniform pricing (larger stores can leverage their buying power because they have large amounts of capital).
This year's initiative was indeed written to dodge the opposition from last year, and the supporters of 1183 hired some brilliant, very high-paid out of state people to run the campaign using polarizing vocabulary and very clever tactics. But the initiative is still not good for the state or the diversity of the wine industry. And voting for it will not be a baby step towards better things. It will be selling our state and wine industry to someone else.
Only a refusal of 1183 will mean the right kind of change down the road is possible. If we don't like the state running liquor stores, let citizens, small business people, and corporations write a new initiative. I'm on board with that. Any lawyers out there who want to have a go?
Ryan - maybe the Commission is prohibited from taking a position, but I cannot see why you are prohibited from hosting an informed discussion. To all the no-sayers on this board, please take a moment and look at the story in today's Seattle Times regarding the law - already passed - that will go into effect if 1183 fails. Most of your arguments fall apart in that scenario. It may be true that the devil you know is less scary than the devil you don't know, but I remain solidly in the yes camp. Open up the market. Costco will sell a tiny percentage of wine and booze cheaply. The rest will have plenty of other places to go with their brands. And consumers will be able to find what they want, where they want, and when they want.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousOctober 28, 2011 at 10:54 AM
With permission i have passed along a comment by Paul Portteus..ReplyDelete
"I would consider voting "Yes" on the bill if it was straight forward bill putting private enterprise in charge of liquor in WA but this bill is not simple. It goes into areas of importation and distribution that should not be subject to public vote and would be better addressed by our elected representatives. This area of the bill upends the 3 tier system which is an anti corruption device to keep any tier of Producers, Distributors or Retailers from dominating any other tier and monopolizing the industry. All states agreed to this to end prohibition. Costco and other corporate giants will under this plan be able to import, self distribute (central warehouse) and retail all wine and liquor bypassing the existing distributor system. If all the national and international brands sell direct to these corporate giants the existing distributors will not be able to sell these products as they will buy them at the same cost or more as Costco. Without the large brands to distribute the distributor tier will be in deep trouble as they need the big brands in order to carry the smaller ones in their books. I believe this initiative if passed will be overturned by the courts because it affects too many separate issues bundled together. It is a Trojan Horse initiative that purports to "get the State out of the alcohol business" when what they really want is to self import, central warehouse and allow retailers to sell to retailers and of course sell and distribute booze! Sorry, I'm voting "NO".
All, this was just posted by an anonymous commenter on my post about Volume Discounting. I'm including it here as well given its relevance to the discussion.ReplyDelete
"A number of posters have maintained that Costco isn't really interested in small wineries. Well we produce less than 4,000 cases a year, spread out between a couple of brands and almost 2 dozen skus. We have a wine in several Costco stores right now that we only made 400 cases of. Could we offer it at a lower price? NO. Could we live without the sales to Costco? YES, but in this economy it would really hurt. I'ts not easy moving those over $35 wines, no matter how great the quality."
- AnonymousOctober 28, 2011 at 1:44 PM
Voting "Yes". I am with Paul G. and Family Wineries of Washington on this vote. Perplexed by the difference of opinions held by those in the Washington Wine industry. Bothered by the ad compaigns. Love Washington wines and admire the growers and winemakers and educators who have helped me. It is just time to get the State out and allow the market to work. There will be those that buy at Costco & Trader Joe's, but I am confident of the consumer market for well-made fair priced wine at groceries and wine shops.ReplyDelete
I'm just lost, since when did we feel the free market was a bad thing?ReplyDelete
Lets walk through a scenario here. Costco/Safeway/Trader Joe's wants to carry several WA wine SKUs, because their customers like it and buy it.
I-1183 passes. And these larger retailers come around saying "We really want to carry your small winery wine, but we want a discount" and you say "Can't do it, my margins are too thin".
This, apparently from what I'm reading here, is the case for EVERY small WA winery.
Therefore I am supposed to believe that Costco/Safeway/Trader Joe's will STOP carrying any local WA wine because they can't get a larger discount on it? That if I-1183 passes, anytime I am in the store I will only see Ste Michelle and Columbia WA wine?
Does this actually make sense to you?
- Chuck MillerOctober 28, 2011 at 2:19 PM
William Pollard wrote: "But couldn't the pre-existing WSLCB stores be grand-fathered in somehow or sold to private owners?"ReplyDelete
Actually, they are grandfathered in, even though none of them are over 10,000 SF. So they can continue in those locations, but someone would have to purchase them, I assume.
Catie wrote: "Now, I do not qualify to sell exclusive spirits because I do not have 10,000 square feet of floor space (of course to "protect the children"). So not only am I screwed by Costco because I cannot compete with their wine prices, but I get screwed again because I cannot compete with them for floor space to sell spirits."
Costco showed last year that they were willing to have small stores also be licensed. I wouldn't blame Costco for getting 'screwed' by the square footage requirement, this was changed in response to the opposition's concerns, not Costco trying to push small stores out.
Many other good points have been made here on both sides. I'll bring up one FUD element that I haven't seen discussed, wherein the opposition is claiming that there will be four times as many stores, and yet no additional enforcement personnel. This is just another scare tactic that doesn't stand up to rational thinking. Who do they think will be getting these additional licenses, Toys R Us? No, they will go predominantly to Costco and large grocery stores. Those stores already have a license to sell beer and wine, and adding liquor requires no more enforcement than they have today.
I've cast my vote in favor.
- Craig LeutholdOctober 28, 2011 at 2:37 PM
As the owner of a fairly large independent Washington winery I believe that initiative I-1183 would benefit our winery but I am still voting against it.ReplyDelete
Here's why:
1. In every state where spirits have been deregulated the number of choices of wines on large retailers shelves decreased by an average of 40%. Why you ask? Simple- Shelf space. The retailers reduce the number of wines to make room for spirits.
2. Less shelf space means less choices for consumers, almost always at the expense of the small independant wineries.
3. Volume discounts only help the very large wineries as they have the deep pockets and ability to "buy" shelf space.
4. I have a fundamental issue with one large group of retailers being able to hijack the initiative process solely for the purpose of profit.
5. I am all for privitization of the sale of liquor but I think it should be done through a franchise program where any individual or business can bid for the right to sell liqour and pay a fee to the state to do so.
I do believe there is an upside to I-1183 and that is that wine shops and independed retailers that cannot carry sptrits will see a potential increase in their business as they will pick up some additional customers who are looking for a broader selection of wines.
Boy are you all wet on this one buddy.
Fist to respond to Tom H's comment, the Board of Family Wineries of Washington unanimously supports I-1183. We made this recommendation to our members in asking for an advisory vote. The response was overwhelmingly in favor. Note that this does not mean all members of our organization support I-1183. That's democracy.
As for your comment that this is bad for consumers. Huh? Ok, wineries can have differences of opinion on whether or not this is good for them. But explain to me how a volume discount could possibly be bad for consumers.
As far as the changes proposed, nothing prevents me from discounting my wines right now - as long as I do it uniformly. And nothing under the current system prevents Costco from kicking the snot out of small retailers under the current system. This is in fact why I don't sell to Costco and don't plan to regardless of whether 1183 passes. There's wine out there for $3 (so called two buck chuck which costs an extra $1 per bottle to ship to Washington). There's decent wine out there for $10. I couldn't sell bottled water profitably for that price. I'm not going to compete on price with these guys, period. "Posting off" my prices (temporary price reductions) are purely and simply an erosion of my price point. That's a one way trip. So why is having my hands tied on creative pricing arrangements good for me?
These laws were written by and for the people who deal in high volume and low margin. And by people who make their living delivering, not making, wine. Think about it Sean, A wholesaler has has 150 brands and sells two bottles of each brand to a store. That's half a pallet of wine. I have one brand. How far can I drive two bottles of my brand at $0.55/mile and not be in the hole on the transaction, even if I eat the cost of my time? So why shouldn't I be able to charge for delivery, or waive such a fee if someone increases their order to, say, a case?
The fact is, many retailers don't carry wine right now if it's sold in Costco. I totally understand that and that's why I don't sell to Costco. A good friend, on the other hand, says, the heck with small shops, he'd rather sell to Costco than thirty small shops. Why is it a problem for me if he wants to pursue that business model? I do hope that specialty beer and wine shops will one day gain an exception to the 10,000 square foor rule.
Protectionism is an absurd concept. You can't "protect" anything in a global economy, least of all the washington wine industry. You can encourage it with sensible policies, investments in research and infrastructure, and laws that don't penalize the strengths of small wineries (context, locality, identity, customer service, and nimbleness) in favor of those models that depend on on high volume and low margin. If protectionists had won the day in 1969 and rejected the California Wine act, we would have no modern Washington wine industry, and Washington consumers would still be drinking wine made from apple peels (As you are probably aware Sean I am not, as a mater of historical fact, making that example up).
I certainly hope I-1183 passes. When wineries realize the benefits of this small ray of freedom they will be more amenable to questioning the rest of the restrictions (some would argue protections) on our indusry including co-advertising bans between wineries and their customers and co-mingling of ownership and different license types. The legal bars that have been built around the young tigers of the Washington wine industry were not put there to protect us from those on the outside
John Morgan
Lost River Winery
Secretary/Treasrur Family Wineries of Washington State (Speaking for myself)
Why is no one saying anything about the the opinion piece in the Seattle times Oct 27, that says voting NO will not retain the current system but allow a private buyer of the system? It appears we are about to be fleeced again, but this time without any notice and paperwork already signed by the Governor. Here is an excerpt from the Oct 27, 2011ReplyDelete
"One more reason to vote 'yes' on Initiative 1183"
ONE of the best reasons to vote for Initiative 1183, which would end the state liquor monopoly, has been little mentioned in the debate so far. If I-1183 fails, the state will likely subject itself to a private liquor monopoly — a dubious adventure in crony capitalism.
The bill to do this is already law: Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5942, quietly signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire months ago. Under this law, the state would turn over all liquor wholesaling in Washington to one private monopolist. This company would be the exclusive supplier to the state liquor stores, probably for 10 years.
Why would the state create a private monopoly to sell to itself? For money. For lots of money, up front, to help the state with an immediate problem. The original proposal, from political operative Tom Luce of Tacoma, suggested that investors would be willing to pay the state $300 million for such a concession. In return, state and local governments would have to live with sharply lower liquor revenues for the following decade.......
We need to understand the details of this.
- AnonymousOctober 30, 2011 at 10:27 PM
In response to John Morgan:ReplyDelete
Volume discounting negatively affects the consumer when you factor in case break fees, and as you say "So why shouldn't I be able to charge for delivery."
Also, the Family Winemakers should disclose that a number of us small wineries have withdrawn membership due to their support of this year's and last year's initiatives.
Hi Sean, I am afraid you have let yourself be completely bamboozled on this one. I only need one word to rebut your entire argument: California. Small wineries are doing fine in California without these so called "protections" and to the benefit of wine and liquor consumers throughout the golden state.ReplyDelete
Paul Beveridge
Wilridge Winery
Washington Wine Folks,ReplyDelete
I'm a small distiller on Bainbridge Island, and I've been examining this initiative since it came out. I've got 25 years in the beverage alcohol industry, and working with retailers, distributors, manufacturers and state agencies. I was asked by 2 different state legislators to put together my views in this initiative and its impact to the state, which can be found here:
I've attempted to look at this issue not so much from a distiller or wine maker's issue, but more from the vantage point of a state resident. I am against this initiative because the numbers promoted by the various parties don't add up, and much of the structure of the resulting beverage alcohol landscape will be worse off than it is now, in my opinion. I realize that there are aspects in 1183 that would make it understandably attractive to SOME winemakers.
Here's a couple of facts for everyone to ponder. The markups for retailers and distributors in the OFM numbers were based on estimates given to them by DISCUS, the Distilled Spirits Council Of The United States. The estimates given to the OFM are 15%-20% low based on what west coast grocery store alcohol retailers and spirits distributors are changing in those markets today. I spoke with the OFM yesterday to confirm this.
OFM turned away numbers from both the retailers bringing this initiative to a vote, and distributors seeking to stop it, because they rightly did not want to open themselves up to criticism by using industry numbers provided by parties seeking to benefit by steering the research one way or the other.
DISCUS collects and provides raw industry data to many state and federal government agencies and is considered a "safe" source.
You can draw your own conclusions on the impact of this. OFM is great about taking calls and answering questions. On my request they provided me with all of their original materials, documents and correspondence used to create their report.
Retailers and distributors are more reluctant about giving figures, but with a little work these too are obtainable.
Overall, when markups go up in one class of alcohol they tend to follow with the other classes as well. Higher prices don't help anybody make sales unless you are producing at the bottom end of the spectrum.
Here are some other links to studies looking at the impacts of privatization in places where it has happened.
Making it easier to ply our collective trade here in Washington would be better for all of us, but it has to be better for the state's residents as well. Letting the fox run the hen house doesn't seem top me to be the way to accomplish it.
- AnonymousNovember 1, 2011 at 10:07 PM
Both my Seattle and Portland Distributors have "delayed" their usual fall orders pending the outcome of I-1183. When I inquired as to their plans for their usual fall orders, they each independantly made a similar statement of "holding off to see if this initiative passed". We agree that shelf space will shrink considerably because many of the retailers I/they sell to today have plans to expand shelf space for hard liquor and reduce space for wine because they will make more from the hard liquor sales. Sure, they (retailers) will still sell (WA) wine, but they will be much more selective and it will largely be based on price discounts. I produce 1,500 cases a year and I am voting NO (due largely to the pricing segment of this initiative) despite my desire - as most all of you - to get the State out of the liquor selling business.ReplyDelete
Voted YES as did the other two voters in my family. Lots of reason for that action. The State system is an archaic relict of Prohibition and we're one of (what?) three states in the Union that have a 3 tier system.ReplyDelete
I am a champion for WA wines and our small wineries, but having the state in the business does not guarantee they'll get shelf space. Just getting you bottle on the shelf doesn't guarantee anyone is going to pick it up and buy it. That's just life. The small producers have the opportunity to build a business but no guarantee of success. Marketing is a big piece of this. If you like your small wineries, seek them out, join their wine clubs, place special orders, talk to your local wine store about stocking your favorites. To think that the competitive landscape and the availability of certain wines will change much is a mistake.
While the "market" is not perfect is the sense that it doesn't fully control which wines get placed before us in stores, its feedback loops are pretty good.
Small wineries have challenges and opportunities when I-1183 passes. Whether it's the WSCLB or Costco that's selling wine and spirits, a winery has to figure out how to market (create demand) and satisfy that demand (distribution). To assume that the news system is inherently worse than the old is missing the point.
The WSLCB throws off significant revenue to fund other aspects of state and county government. I-1183 won't change this. What is will change are the infrastructure costs associated with maintaining that system. This goes to utterly unsurprising announcement that the State rejected the bids to take over the distribution side of the the WSLCB's activities. Their financial motive is to hang on to this.
I'm not opposed to getting the state out of liquor sales, I'm just opposed to this proposal. It's a bad law benefiting Costco and other larger chain retailers at the expense of distributors and smaller non-chain retailers. How? Under this proposal, Costco could control every level of the distribution and sales channels. They can re-sell to other retailers & restaurants. 1183 hands these guys the keys to the liquor kingdom. Privatize yes, but not under this bad, lopsided legislation.ReplyDelete
I have voted YES, as has my wife. Any message we can send to state employees which reads, "WE ARE TIRED OF CARRYING THE LOAD", gets my yes vote. As a taxpayer I take offense to cashiers working at government run liquor stores, making nearly 20 bucks an hour, while garnering full benifits for themselves and extended family members.ReplyDelete
I just posted an article, asking the President of the Family Wineries of WA President, Paul Beveridge here:ReplyDelete
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Quick Start Guide to Better Health
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This first step will serve as a springboard to more fitness and dietary changes in your life. And once you learn these movements, the more challenging habit changes will be easier. But even when you become more advanced, or if you are right now, these simple exercises provide a refreshing break during the day. They can also serve as a fast workout for those inevitable times when your schedule is too hectic for longer workouts.
Still, if you do nothing with this book other than take away these exercises and this chapter's action plan, you'll be doing something powerful for your body and mind.
A note on terminology: A "repetition" or "rep" is one complete movement of a given exercise. A "set" is a given number repetitions done in sequence. Start by doing one set for each exercise--if you feel good, you can add a second set. Do two sessions this week.
Desk Exercises
Muscles strengthened: Quadriceps (thighs)
Press your tailbone firmly against the back of the chair. If the chair is adjustable, move the height so your thighs are parallel to the ground. Lightly grasp the armrests or the edges of the seat pad. Keeping your back straight and looking straight ahead, slowly extend your right leg with your foot flexed toward your shin. At the top of the movement, your leg should be fully extended, but don't forcefully lock out your knee. Slowly return to the starting position. Do 10 repetitions, then repeat with your left leg (this is one set).
Muscles strengthened: Biceps, triceps, chest
Sitting upright in your chair, grasp your hands together in front of your chest, and firmly press them together. Make sure you continue to breathe throughout the exercise. Hold for 10 seconds and then relax for 10 seconds, then repeat four more times.
Muscles strengthened: Chest, triceps, shoulders
Stand about three feet from a wall, and place your hands flush against the wall, about shoulder-width apart. Slowly lower your body toward the wall by flexing your elbows. When your elbows are aligned with your torso, push back up. Do 10 repetitions. Make this exercise more challenging by using your desk: Stand several feet away and position your hands on the edge of the desk, shoulder-width apart. Then repeat the raising and lowering of your body by flexing your elbows.
Muscles strengthened: Shoulders
Sitting upright in your chair, flex your elbows so that your left hand is in front of your left shoulder, and your right hand is in front of your right shoulder. Your elbows should be slightly flared out to the sides, just below shoulder-level. Lightly clench your fists with palms facing forward. Next, fully extend your elbows without locking them out, with your hands moving toward the center over your head. Slowly return to the starting position. Complete 10 reps. To make the exercise more difficult, use a book to press overhead.
Muscles strengthened: Mid-section
Sit upright on the edge of your chair, grasping the arm rests or the edges of the seat pad. You can also stand with your hands on your hips, feet shoulder-width apart. Next, pull your stomach up and in as far as possible--think of pulling your belly button toward your spine. Hold that position for the count of five to ten, then release. Do 5 to 8 repetitions.
Flexibility Exercises
Muscles stretched: Back and sides
Sit at the edge of your chair with your back straight, and interlace your fingers with your palms facing away from you. Reach your arms straight above your head, then lean to the left from the waist and hold. Next lean to the right and hold.
Muscles stretched: Upper back
Sit upright and bring your right arm across your upper body at about shoulder level. Your elbow should be slightly flexed. With your left hand, grasp under your right arm just above the elbow. Gently pull your right arm across your chest, toward the left, and hold. Don't shrug your shoulders--keep them relaxed. Repeat with your left arm across your upper body.
Muscles stretched: Neck
Sit or stand with your head upright. Slowly turn your head to the right as far as comfortably possible and hold, then turn slowly to the left and hold. Next, let your head fall gently toward your chest and hold. Avoid tilting your head backward--it weighs about 10 pounds, so this can put too much stress on your upper spine.
Form Check
When doing these exercises and stretches, keep these tips in mind:
- Don't hold your breath. Keep breathing normally during each exercise; holding your breath can spike your blood pressure.
- Keep your spine in its "neutral position." To find this position, lie on your back and arch your lower back (this is called extension). Then round the lower back (flexion). The neutral position is midway between these extremes.
- Move in a slow and controlled manner. This will help avoid injury and maintain good tension in your muscles.
- Hold stretches for 15 to 30 seconds. This will allow your muscles to adjust to the increased range of motion.
- Don't bounce. This could cause a muscle to spontaneously tighten because its defense mechanism is trying to protect it from overstretching. Not only does this defeat the purpose of stretching, but it could cause a strain.
Workout Guide
Desk Exercise
Chair leg extension
10 each side
Isometric hand press
Wall push-off
Overhead press
Drawing-in maneuver
Side bend
Cross arm
Neck stretch
Quick-Start Cardio: The 10-Minute Energy Walk
An energy walk is a faster-paced walk done with an exaggerated arm swing. You'll eventually go for longer walks--and possibly jogs--but for now the aim is to get moving, and there's no better way to do that than going for a walk. Why walk? Because walking raises your heart rate, which burns calories, makes your cardiovascular system stronger, and tones your leg muscles. It's also a wonderful stress reliever. "I still walk to and from work once or twice a week," says entrepreneur Brian Scudamore. "It's a great unwinding mechanism."
Plus, there's no learning curve, and it's low-impact, so there is minimal stress to your joints. You can walk alone to enjoy the solitude of your own thoughts or go with business partners, employees, and friends for some social time or to brainstorm issues at work. Or maybe invite along a client--exercise can be a great bonding experience. Walking also doesn't require much special equipment or clothing--although you should wear shoes with thick flexible soles to provide a cushion for your feet (consider investing in a comfortable pair of walking or running shoes, for around $70).
Aim to walk three times this week. Before you head out the door, keep these tips in mind:
- Use the first two or three minutes to warm up at a slow pace, then increase your speed to a pace that feels brisk--but you should still be able to carry on a conversation.
- To maintain good posture, look straight ahead and keep your back straight.
- Your hands should be in a relaxed, cupped position, and your elbows constantly flexed to about 90 degrees.
- Allow your hands to swing up to about chest level, but don't let your arms flare out from the sides of your body.
- Keep a slight flex in your knees--locking out can cause injury.
- Strike the ground with heels first, toes pointed straight ahead.
- Wear sunscreen.
- If you make an appointment to walk with someone else, you'll be much more likely to make the scheduled time.
Quick-Start Nutrition
To get a quick start on eating healthier, two simple adjustments to your daily routine are all that's required right now. You can find a more comprehensive dietary plan in The Entrepreneur Diet, but these changes will immediately make a difference in your nutrition.
Drink Ice Water with Meals and When Thirsty During the Day
Your body will warm the water, and this will require a caloric expenditure. In fact, when compared with drinking water at room temperature, consuming eight ounces of ice water can expend about 9 extra calories. Doesn't sound like much? If you do that three times a day, it adds up to nearly 10,000 calories in a year--that's almost three pounds with virtually no effort.
Beyond the calorie-burning benefits, making water a habit makes sense. Water helps foods break down to their basic elements; provides a cushion for your body's organs, including the brain; and regulates your temperature through perspiration. Water makes up between 45 to 70 percent of body weight, and is the most plentiful chemical material in your body. For purposes of controlling or losing weight, some research indicates that water can promote a feeling of fullness when it's consumed with a meal or incorporated into food.
For Jennifer Melton, co-founder of Cloud Star natural pet products, water is an integral part of her workday. "I always keep a glass of water at my desk," she says. "It gives me energy and sustains my energy throughout the day. When I start dragging, sometimes the easiest thing to do is drink a glass of water."
Save Five Bites
Portion sizes in recent decades have greatly expanded. Offerings in fast-food restaurants, for example, can be between two and five times the original size. In the 1950s, a Burger King hamburger weighed 3.9 ounces, but now you can order a Double Whopper at a hefty 12.6 ounces. Restaurants use bigger plates, and pizza is made in larger pans. Even frozen diet meals from Lean Cuisine and Weight Watchers have touted larger package sizes. These larger portions pack more calories and prompt you to eat too much. A small size of McDonald's french fries sports 210 calories, while the supersize version contains 610 calories. Given that Americans spend nearly 50 percent of their food dollars outside the home, it makes sense that by the mid-1990s people were eating 200 more calories per day compared with the late 1970s.
One reason behind the trend is that price competition has caused manufacturers to offer larger items. Also, restaurant owners say it comes down to value--customers want more food for their dollar. Whatever the reason, it's clear that we're getting more food placed in front of us than we used to, and that leads to excessive eating.
Here's what to do: to help control your portions, at one meal during the day, simply save five bites of your food. You can mentally account for the bites, or you can actually partition them off to the side. Do this whether it's a restaurant, fast-food, or home-cooked meal. If you think this sounds trivial, consider this: If the average meal has 350 calories and you usually take 20 bites per meal, you'll save about 90 calories per day or 32,000 calories per year--which equates to more than nine pounds a year.
If you're in a restaurant and it's convenient, ask for a doggy bag before you begin your meal--set the five bites aside. You can snack on them later in the day (make sure to refrigerate, if necessary). The point is to reduce the portion size of the food that's in front of you, right now.
As you get comfortable with these changes in lifestyle--adding movement to your day with exercises and walking, and starting to gain control over your eating habits--you'll enjoy the powerful feeling that positive change can bring to your life and your business.
Download our Quick-Start Nutrition Checklist for a quick and handy way to chart your progress every week.
To read the entire on-the-go go plan for fitness, weight loss and healthy living for entrepreneurs, buy The Entrepreneur Diet today from EntrepreneurPress.com.


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Next NPR CEO is longtime 'Sesame Street' honcho
The man who helped bring "Sesame Street" to a global audience for the past 11 years will take over as president and CEO of NPR, the public radio network announced Sunday.Gary Knell, the longtime president and CEO of Sesame Workshop, will start at NPR on Dec. 1.
Knell succeeds Vivian Schiller, who resigned under pressure in March after a former NPR fundraiser was caught on camera calling the tea party racist. The episode led some conservatives to call for an end to federal funding for NPR, but Congress ultimately retained the funds as part of a budget deal in April.
Schiller was also criticized for firing analyst Juan Williams over comments he made about Muslims.
Knell, 57, told The Associated Press on Sunday that he wanted to "depoliticize" NPR by highlighting its commitment to hard-hitting local, national and international journalism across multiple platforms. He said he does not believe that NPR is biased and wants to try to change the minds of those who perceive it as such.
"I think NPR needs to do a better job of telling a story," Knell said. "It's about journalism, it's about news. It's not about promoting one political agenda or another."
NPR's board of directors voted unanimously to hire Knell after a national search that included help from an outside firm.
"Gary is an extraordinary leader with extensive experience in public media, programming and education," board chairman Dave Edwards said in a statement. "As CEO of Sesame Workshop for more than a decade, he has led a large, complex organization through a tumultuous media environment, helping it grow by providing innovative, engaging content in new and creative ways."
At Sesame Workshop, Knell created co-productions in South Africa, India, Northern Ireland and Egypt and made the organization's programming available on a variety of digital platforms.
"Despite the fact that it may appear that I'm a guy who's doing puppet shows, that's not really true," Knell said. "It's a complex media organization that's global in size."
He said NPR was one of the few organizations that has a "bigger impact on the world," and that's why he was interested in the job.
Nikki Usher, an assistant professor at the George Washington University school of media and public affairs who has studied NPR extensively, said Knell was a smart hire.
"Public broadcasting is a world that sort of demands that you know a lot about the way that things get financed," Usher said. "I think it's a really good decision to go with someone who's inside public broadcasting because of the difficult situation that public broadcasting is in."


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|XP is just a number
A Beginner's Guide to Using Mail::Audit and Mail::SpamAssassinby shockme (Chaplain)
|on Dec 19, 2001 at 09:40 UTC ( #133023=perltutorial: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
2002-04-09: The code has been updated to reflect changes in the SpamAssassin module. Any changes have been noted in the comments, and the code as it originally appeared has been retained in the comments as well.
My purpose in writing this tutorial is not to extensively cover the capabilities of Mail::Audit or Mail::SpamAssassin. My purpose is to show how I implemented these tools in order to address my filtering needs. I believe that my needs are not unique, and therefore, I hope this tutorial proves valuable in providing a step-by-step guide to using Perl for your mail filtering requirements.
Much of the following is taken from the applicable CPAN pages and Simon Cozens' page, as well as a conglomeration of other pages, including the CPAN page for Mail::Procmail, which is not actually used here. To the authors of these pages, I am eternally grateful.
The History of My Problem (Or Identifying The Itch)
Recently, in the space of about 30 minutes, I received in excess of 15 email from the same person carrying the same subject and body. Over the course of the next week, I received over 200 such email. Over the following month . . . well, you get the picture.
I use fetchmail, Procmail and Mutt for processing my email. Naturally, fetchmail retrieves my email, Procmail filters my email into the appropriate folders, and Mutt reads my email.
Fetchmail serves my needs well, and I rarely have any complaints with Mutt. Procmail, however, is another story.
Procmail, for those who are unfamiliar, relies on recipies for filtering email. For example:
will filter all email from email@example.com into the friends folder. This is known as a recipe, and must be called from ~/.procmailrc.
When I began experiencing the aforementioned flood of spam, I configured the following and placed it in my .procmailrc:
Naturally, I expected all email from firstname.lastname@example.com to be routed into oblivion. However, for reasons I have yet to determine (and believe me when I say that I worked long and hard on this problem), it did not work. I continued to experience the flood of email into my incoming folder.
The real reason I couldn't solve this problem is because, in my oh-so-humble opinion, Procmail's receipes are too damned difficult. Navigating this maze is the equivalent of a 4-hour college course.
And, frankly, filtering email just shouldn't be that difficult.
Identifying the Solution (Or Finding a Back-Scratcher)
So, I began searching for a solution. I mean, I know enough Perl to get through the day. And Perl does excel at pattern matching. And filtering email is nothing more than pattern matching, right?
A quick search of CPAN led me to Mail::Audit. Perfect! A Perl module to filter email. Additionally, the author has provided a fairly detailed example of using Mail::Audit.
As I began writing the script, it quickly became obvious that, while I could easily identify and route my email, I had no mechanism for filtering spam. And, the repetitious email that started this whole adventure was spam. I needed a solution which would allow me to separate the spam from my legitimate email, while filtering my legitimate email into the appropriate folders. I certainly did not want to reinvent the wheel and have to figure out all of the patterns and tricks of the trade used by spammers. Following tilly's advice that I should assume that Perl has what I want, I once again hit CPAN.
A little more searching lead me to Mail::SpamAssassin, a plugin for Mail::Audit that has a very high success rate for filtering spam. SpamAssassin is available as a command-line utility, a daemon, and (obviously) a perl module.
Now all I needed was to modify my script to bring these pieces together.
The Script (Or Scratching The Itch)
Following is the commented script in its entirety.
Procmail Modifications
The following modifications were necessary to my .procmailrc file in order to get this baby rolling. There may be better or more efficient ways to do this, and if so, I welcome the input.
At this point, we're happening. A simple fetchmail -d 90 (or whatever), and we're good to go. fetchmail will retrieve the email, Procmail will receive it and invoke the fetch.pl script, which will filter the email accordingly.
Conclusion (Or The Itch Has Been Scratched)
I've been running this script for a few weeks now, and Spam::Assassin is proving to be very reliable. I'd estimate its accuracy somewhere around the high-90th percentile, and on many days, it's 100% accurate. In conjunction with the other filters I've added in the script, all spam that I receive is currently being filtered to the spam.incoming folder.
For me,
makes far more sense than
or whatever the hell the correct Procmail syntax might be. Who has time for that? Give me a good old Perl script any day. After all, filtering email just shouldn't be that hard.
Back to Tutorials


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So, I popped into CeBIT this morning. Afterall, I love a gadget as much as the next girl. I don't think I'm exactly their target audience, but there were still somethings that I found interesting. Here they are:
- Wacom Tablets: now, this isn't new, but when I had a play with one this morning I was thinking to myself, how much more fun would it be to do wireframes using a device like this and software more like Illustrator. Does anyone out there do this? I can see a few problems with it, particularly if you needed to have multiple people working on the files…. but I bet for some projects it would be amazingly fun. (And much less with the old wireframe RSI)
- Maxtor OneTouch Mini Edition External Hard Drive: I've been putting off buying some kind of hardware to backup my lap top and have been using boring DVDs instead. And now I know why. I've been waiting for this little darling to arrive. It's the iPod Nano of external storage. I *must* have one. Immediately.
- The Open Source Guys were out in full strength. I've been thinking about doing something with an opensource project – as in, contributing some time to a project to help it be a little more user friendly. Had a chat. They're very friendly. I'm going to look into this more. Anyone out there do any work with any open source developers? They gave me a CD so that I can play around with their open source version of Photoshop and Illustrator… I shall report back :)
- VOIP was everywhere. I was looking for something I could use at home. Didn't find anything.
- PTG Global and Hiser were there. They didn't have any fun showbags though.
OK. That's my quick, on the fly report of CeBIT from a non-hardcore-techy perspective.
Have you been? What did you think?


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Posted 11 years ago
(1 item)
Found these at a goodwill. Been doing some research and haven't really been able to find anything out about how much they might be worth. Notice that the cards are still in wrapper and still have their 10 cent tax stamp on both sets. From the bridge card it says these were given complimentary from Brown and Williamson Tobacco corporation. Really love the gold edging on the cards in picture 4 ..still in excellent condition. If anyone can tell me more about these cards I would really appreciate it.


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If you're a curser, an Oakie or an acorn, you're already a fan of The Curse of Oak Island. And if you're not, you really need to catch up, already (Oak Island's Eighth Season Off to a Rocky Start). After eight… Continue Reading →
I'll readily admit it: I'm a Curser (Or is it an Oakie? What about Acorn? The term seems to change every day!). Regardless the nickname, I've been a fan of The Curse of Oak Island for a long time, now…. Continue Reading →
It takes a certain type of personality to endure the continuous hardships brought on by being a treasure hunter. Not only is the every-day work difficult, but there's so many other obstacles that must be overcome, especially when it comes… Continue Reading →
Oak Island's 225-year-old mystery has sparked the imagination of millions throughout the years as its long-held ties to historical heavyweights have been many, including the Ark of the Covenant, the Templar Knights, Blackbeard the Pirate, William Shakespeare and many, many… Continue Reading →
As The Curse of Oak Island winds down its seventh season, William Shatner returned to the History Channel last week with an all-new season of The UnXplained. His visit to Oak Island was an interesting cross-promotion between two television series,… Continue Reading →
In case you might have been hiding under a rock, for four weeks and endless commercials, the History Channel has really hyped up The Curse of Oak Island's Season 7 with multiple recap shows (including Top 25 Finds, The Top… Continue Reading →
Origin stories can be tricky… especially 223-year-old ones shrouded in mystery. The Curse of Oak Island returned with the two-hour season premiere, "Rick's Big Bang Theory," which hopes to finally uncover the history behind the mystery.
The secrets of Oak Island have seemingly existed for hundreds of years. According to some, buried treasure lies there (or at least existed there many years ago). Conspiracy theories have linked the location with former slaves, a previous U.S. President, the… Continue Reading →
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Rams have won 3 straight and owe a big thanks to rookie punter, special teams
ST. LOUIS – Johnny Hekker is beginning to make his mark as one of five rookie punters in the NFL.
The Rams' punt team's statistics don't give much reason for pause, ranking in the bottom third in net average, percentage of punts inside the opponents' 20 yard line, fair catches forced and several other categories. But what coach Jeff Fisher likes is Hekker's ability to help the Rams overcome their anemic offense by repeatedly "flipping the field" to help the defense.
"I wouldn't say I'm good at too much, but I try to be all right at a couple of things," Hekker said Wednesday as the Rams prepared to host Minnesota on Sunday.
The best returners aren't getting far if they do catch the ball. The Rams are tied for sixth in the number of returns attempted against them and tied for 12th with an average of 10.2 yards allowed per return.
In its 15-12 victory Sunday at Buffalo, the best punt return team in the league, Hekker punted eight times. Returner Leodis McKelvin averaged 10.2 yards in four returns, 8.5 yards below his average.
"Well, considering the quality of returners that we've faced, it seems that week after week after week, I'd say they've done an outstanding job," Fisher said. "I mean, week after week we're putting a lot of pressure on Johnny to put the ball on the boundary to angle kick, which is difficult. And it seems like with consistency the guys are getting down and making the plays."
Learning to kick directionally - away from the returner and toward the sideline - has been the key to his success. Hekker averaged just over 41 yards per punt while at Oregon State, including 44 per attempt his senior year.
Instead of booming the ball as far as he can, Hekker has worked diligently since joining the Rams at attempting to pin the returner against the sideline or kick the ball out of bounds but still get good distance on the kick.
Long snapper Jake McQuaide appreciates the approach.
"He's doing a great job punting the ball, matching his hang time with his distance, which is a huge deal for the other guys that have to cover it," McQuaide said. "He's not just hitting line drive punts that the guy catches it he has 20, 30 yards of space and he can make us all miss. And he's doing a great job at direction. He's doing a great job of doing his job, being a pro and he's done it from Day 1 of being here."
Hekker has seen plenty of action. The offense has a 33.3 percent success rate in converting third downs, ranking 28th in the league. Though Fisher feels comfortable with Greg Zuerlein attempting field goals from as far as 55 yards under any circumstance, the Rams have called on their punter 70 times.
One of those times was a run that lost 9 yards. Three were passing attempts - all completions - including one for a touchdown in a 19-13 victory against Seattle. The other 66 times, Hekker has worked on his real job of punting.
"I just got to be consistent, punt balls with good hang time, direction and distance, try and squeeze the returner up against the sideline so he doesn't have very much room," he said. "Just doing my best to make sure, when there's a tackle to be made, that our guys are going to be in good positions because the ball's in the right spot."