Post Office to Deliver Beer Wine and Spirits

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading...

The post office is in a dire place. With layoffs, pension renegotiations and cuts from every angle, the government agency is strapped for cash and is looking for ways to increase its revenues. . The post office showed a net loss of $740 million for the third quarter, according to the Huffington Post.

Luckily, beer and alcohol consumption has been on the rise for the past several years. U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe wants to cash in on that trend. Postmaster Donahoe recently raised the idea of having the post office deliver wine, spirits or even beer. He thinks that as much as $50 million dollars or more could be reaped from changing post office policy to include shipping beer, wine and spirits.

  

What

Where

Search Jobs

Certain breweries or far away wineries may take this opportunity to send their goods to far away consumers, who might want the goods but may not live anywhere near the providers. This is exactly the space that the post office hopes to fill. U.S. law prohibits the post office from mailing alcohol, and so other shipping providers, like DHL or UPS pick up the slack. The loss of the post office, is literally their gain. Congress can now decide whether the post office can gain revenues in this way. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is already looking to minimize the losses that the post office faces. It remains to be seen whether they will change or add a provision to add formerly prohibited items to the list of things that can be mailed and shipped by the USPS.

Last year the senate penned a provision and passed a law that allowed for the delivery of alcohol. The shipments will have to comply with any state laws. Brewers seem skeptical, but the as merchants come to see that the benefit that they reap will outweigh the time consuming cost of fees, licenses, initial paperwork and red tape, they may sign on. Donahoe commented “ we want to be able to get profitable, just like any other business would, so that you stay strong for the future.”