Support the USPS Shipping Equity Act

Ask Congress to allow the USPS to ship beverage alcohol!

Did you know that the United States Postal Service (USPS) can’t ship beverage alcohol? Antiquated laws prohibit the USPS from being able to ship beverage alcohol directly to consumers in places where other carriers can.

Adult consumers want convenience when it comes to purchasing their favorite products, including beer, cider, distilled spirits, mead and wine. Direct-to-consumer shipping of beverage alcohol products is not new – but the pandemic has accelerated this growing trend. Decades of direct-to-consumer shipping demonstrate that it can be done safely and securely.

TAKE ACTION TODAY to ...

Ask Congress to allow the USPS to ship beverage alcohol!

Did you know that the United States Postal Service (USPS) can’t ship beverage alcohol? Antiquated laws prohibit the USPS from being able to ship beverage alcohol directly to consumers in places where other carriers can.

Adult consumers want convenience when it comes to purchasing their favorite products, including beer, cider, distilled spirits, mead and wine. Direct-to-consumer shipping of beverage alcohol products is not new – but the pandemic has accelerated this growing trend. Decades of direct-to-consumer shipping demonstrate that it can be done safely and securely.

TAKE ACTION TODAY to urge your Members of Congress to cosponsor the USPS Shipping Equity Act now to enable the USPS to ship beverage alcohol!

By providing another option for direct-to-consumer shipping, this legislation:

supports consumer choice,
supports businesses that have suffered during the pandemic, and
enables the USPS to participate in the modern marketplace and generate new revenue. New estimates suggest that the USPS could gain $190 million annually in revenue if allowed to ship beverage alcohol products where currently allowed by state and local law.

Ask your members of Congress to cosponsor the USPS Shipping Equity Act today!

+

Email Your Congressional Representatives

Email your Congressional representatives and ask them to support the USPS Shipping Equity Act.

The U.S. Postal Service is not allowed to ship cider, beer, wine, or distilled spirits, because of a leftover, outdated ban put into effect during the Prohibition era. The result? Restricting options for producers and customers alike, affecting many U.S. cideries where e-commerce is essential for business. The USPS Shipping Equity Act would give parity to the Postal Service, allowing it to ship licensed alcohol for commerce just like FedEex or UPS. Additionaly, the USPS Shipping Equity Act gives rural producers access to another option for shipping alcoholic beverages.

E-commerce is of growing importance to the beverage alcohol sector, and cider is no exception. Cideries will benefit from another common carrier option for shipping their products, and thriving cideries invest in agriculture, jobs and the comunity.

Please join us in asking your Congressional representative to support the USPS Shipping Equity Act.

Find your local rep

Subject:

Hello,

I write to respectfully request that you cosponsor the United States Postal Service (USPS) Shipping Equity Act to allow breweries, distilleries, wineries, cideries, and meaderies to utilize the USPS to ship products to consumers where state laws permit it.

Breweries, distilleries, wineries, cideries, and meaderies operate in every state and congressional district and are critical partners to our country’s tourism, hospitality, and manufacturing industries. Using barley, wheat, corn, hops, rye, grapes, apples, and honey, as well as other grains, fruits, and botanicals in products, the sector is integrally linked to our nation’s agriculture sector.

Over the past few years, adult consumers have become increasingly interested in having their favorite products delivered directly to their door. This legislation would enable the USPS to participate in an existing marketplace alongside private sector carriers and generate an estimated $190 million annually in new revenue.

As you review this legislation, please consider the following:

- Beverage alcohol shipping occurs today in much of the country. The Supreme Court case Granholm vs. Heald (2005) led to the expansion of direct-to-consumer wine shipping and the shipping of other types of beverage alcohol. Now, more states are considering legislation to allow adult consumers to ship beverage alcohol to their homes. Today, 47 states allow direct-to-consumer shipping of wine; 11 states allow direct-to-consumer shipping of spirits; and 13 states allow direct-to-consumer shipping of beer. (The District of Columbia allows for direct-to-consumer shipping of wine, spirits, and beer.) Yet, today, only private carriers can ship these products. Providing the USPS the ability to ship beverage alcohol products where legal would enable them to compete effectively in the modern marketplace.

- The beverage alcohol industry is heavily regulated – and would remain so with the passage of the USPS Shipping Equity Act. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) carries out provisions of the Federal Alcohol Administration Act by approving labels and formulas, collecting federal excise tax, and enforcing regulations.  The USPS Shipping Equity Act includes provisions to ensure that beverage alcohol producers may only ship to eligible consumers.  The products shipped are subject to the same rigorous standards as any other beverage alcohol product currently on the market.

- The USPS Shipping Equity Act does not make any changes to federal excise tax collection nor does it inhibit state or local authority in regulating beverage alcohol.  
     
- Beverage alcohol shipping is shown to be safe and secure. Beverage alcohol producers are responsible for age-gating on websites, noting with a clear label that the box contains alcohol, and identifying and paying for a shipping method that includes ID check. Like private carriers, the USPS has systems in place to verify restricted delivery to adult consumers. We, the undersigned groups, continue to strongly support the inclusion of language in the USPS Shipping Equity Act to require identification checks at point of delivery.

Additionally: 
     - In 2003, a Federal Trade Commission staff report found: “The states that permit interstate direct shipping generally report few or no problems with shipments to minors.”  
     - In 2022, R Street Institute conducted an analysis on underage drinking and alcohol delivery. They noted: “In the end, this data demonstrates that there is no discernible connection between [direct-to-consumer] wine shipping and enhanced underage drinking rates.”

The USPS Shipping Equity Act affirms the preeminence of state, local, and tribal law regarding the delivery, shipment, and sale of beverage alcohol and addresses liability. The legislation includes language to make clear that a state, local, or tribal government may take action against the USPS for a violation of a state, locality, or tribe, respectively, regarding the sale, mailing, transportation, or importation of beverage alcohol. The legislation further specifies that the USPS “shall be liable in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances.”

I encourage you to support this important piece of legislation that will allow for consumer choice, support businesses across the country, create a new revenue stream for the USPS, and allow USPS to compete in the marketplace more effectively.

I appreciate your consideration of the USPS Shipping Equity Act.

How we use the data you enter on this form

Do Gooder (the advocacy platform powering this online action) processes personal information from you that you enter on this form so that we can provide the functions and related services to you and The Campaigner (the organisation responsible for this online action) for their legitimate purposes, including possibly exporting it to other systems, and to effectively respond to enquiries and communications related to those services.

Specifically when you enter:

Your location data (residential address or postcode) it is used to locate your elected representative, to pre-populate your email signature and to provide The Campaigner with a visualisation of the location of the support for this campaign.
All other data you may enter, including your email address, name, telephone number, commentary and so on is used by The Campaigner to advocate for the campaign’s goals and where required may be sent to the target of the campaign.

The data collected by Do Gooder is also used by us in aggregate form to improve the service and may be held on your behalf outside your country of residence by our third party service providers. These providers are bound by contract to only use personal information on our behalf, in accordance with agreed terms. While the privacy laws of the country in which personal information is stored or transferred may be different from those in your country, we will always have safeguards in place when storing or transferring personal information. We will never sell, rent, loan or in any other way pass your information on to other parties other than to provide this service to you and The Campaigner.

The personal information collected by Do Gooder is held subject to a Data Processing Agreement between Do Gooder and The Campaigner in compliance with the EU's GDPR and Australian law.

Learn more about our privacy policy here

How is my data used?