JACKSON, Miss. (AP) 鈥� Brandi Carter needs her wine.
As the owner of Levure Bottle Shop in Jackson, Mississippi, she sells natural wine delivered to her business by a state agency responsible for distributing alcoholic beverages to liquor stores, bars and restaurants. But delays caused by problems in a state warehouse have led Carter and many other retailers to see their inventory dwindle and their business drop as they wait for new shipments.
Carter, who also handles the beverage program for a restaurant in Jackson, said she has been dealing with delays since February, and she’s feeling helpless as traffic in her store goes down.
鈥淚鈥檝e just reached acceptance that this is our new normal, and it鈥檚 awful,鈥� Carter said Wednesday.
The state is the only distributor of liquor in Mississippi
In Mississippi, the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control department 鈥� an arm of the Mississippi Department of Revenue 鈥� is responsible for distributing wine and liquor to businesses that sell it. That’s different than other states, where individual companies handle alcohol distribution, Carter said.
During the week ending April 12, there were more than 172,000 cases that were pending delivery, and it was taking an average of 17 days for businesses to receive their orders, according to the Mississippi Department of Revenue.
Those numbers are down from the week ending March 1, when the backup appeared to be at its peak for the year. At that time, there were more than 220,000 cases pending delivery, and it was taking an average of 25 days for the process to be completed.
In contrast, the number of cases pending delivery was more than 51,000 and the wait time was three days for the week ending Jan. 11., the department said.
Carter said the backlog has resulted in a wait of four to five weeks, as opposed to a few days to two weeks before the delays began.
Warehouse issues caused the delay
Shipping delays from the state’s 40-year-old warehouse emerged in January as it went away from an 鈥渙bsolete鈥� conveyor belt system to one where pallets were used to move cases, according to a statement from the Mississippi Department of Revenue. A new warehouse management system experienced technical issues, leading to delays, the department said.
鈥淭he computer program that they implemented for the warehouse wasn鈥檛 working effectively with the ordering side,鈥� Carter said. 鈥淪o the first big chunk was the biggest problem, because things were being marked as shipped, but they weren鈥檛 shipped.鈥�
The department said technical issues have been resolved and the warehouse is operating at full capacity, with pending orders being shipped as retail orders increase.
鈥淲hile capacity at the existing facility has been a challenge for well over five years, there is not an alcohol shortage,鈥� the department said. 鈥淎s retail ordering stabilizes, we anticipate shipments returning to normal volume within the coming weeks.鈥�
Lawmakers thought about changing the system
The Mississippi legislature debated temporarily allowing out-of-state distributors to sell and ship alcohol directly to retailers. The law would have been repealed after two years, but it did not pass. The state鈥檚 legislative session has since ended.
A new warehouse set to be completed by the end of this year will be able to store and ship over twice as many cases as the current facility, the revenue department said.
Retailers, customers stymied by the backlog
Josh Sorrell, owner of Spillway Wine and Spirits in Brandon, said he used to order 600 cases in a day, but he is now limited to 100 cases per day. About 30% to 40% of the items he usually orders on a daily basis have been unavailable, he said.
Sorrell believes restoring the conveyor belt system would fix the problem. He has asked Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves to declare a state of emergency.
If delays continue, Sorrell’s concerned that business will suffer into the end of the year, when he makes a lot of his sales.
鈥淎s it gets busier, we鈥檙e gonna crumble,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 mean, it鈥檚 going to be really hard at 100 cases a day to stock up for a full October, November, December.鈥�
Meanwhile, customers are going to three or four stores looking for their specific bottle, and they sometimes can鈥檛 find it, Sorrell said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 frustrating to lose people at the door who are looking for a specific product that I can鈥檛 even get from the state,鈥� he said.
On Thursday, Lauren Roberts went to Sorrell’s store looking for Soda Jerk’s orange cream shots, but he was out, just like the supermarket where she usually buys it. So, she bought another type of drink for an upcoming celebration with her family.
鈥淲e鈥檙e having a little get-together this weekend because it鈥檚 my daughter鈥檚 prom and her boyfriend鈥檚 family鈥檚 coming,鈥� Roberts said. 鈥淪o everybody has their drink of choice, but me.鈥�
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Sainz reported from Memphis, Tennessee.
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