Tag Archives: alcohol monopoly

Department of Liquor Control, Montgomery County

DLC 10% Price Hike on Special Order Wines

The General Assembly session is over and the Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control (DLC) is safe from competition for another year. As the DLC no longer has to make the case that its prices are competitive, it has decided to celebrate by raising prices by 10% on special order wines over $18 per bottle.

Essentially, this is a tax increase. The County is using its monopoly power to increase the price on these wines by 10%. Businesses have a choice of either eating the cost or passing it on to the consumer. In any case, the change flies in the face of Councilmember Hans Riemer’s much vaunted reform proposal to free up special orders. MoCo is moving in the other direction.

Justin McInerny of Capital Beer and Wine sent out the following notice in response yesterday:

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DLC INCREASES SPECIAL ORDER WINE WHOLESALE PRICES EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2016

Hi Everyone,

DLC has announced effective June 1, 2016 wholesale prices for all wines will be 25% over DLC’s cost. This is a huge, costly and burdensome increase for those of us who focus on small production, family owned and operated vineyards. Currently, the mark ups are as follows on wine:

  • 25% on special order wines whose cost to the DLC is under $18 per bottle,
  • 35% over cost for stock wines and
  • 15% for special order wines which wholesale for $18 per bottle.

Note that the percentage based markup is capricious and arbitrary to begin with. Shipping charges should not be based on how much an item costs. Shipping charges should be based on what it costs to ship the product. The DLC has no wholesale sales staff and originates no wholesale business. The DLC, like FedEx, is a delivery service which fulfils wholesale orders taken by third parties. A wine that wholesales for $10 per bottle costs the same to ship as a wine which wholesales for $12 per bottle.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO

I have made it easy for you to do something about this. Contact County Executive Leggett and the County Council members below and protest this decision.  

You can also call County Executive Leggett directly 240-777-0311, the DLC runs under his supervision.

You can also call the Councilmembers directly or e-mail them directly through the County Council website here.

Thank you for your help.

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alcohol, Montgomery County

Poll: MoCo Voters Oppose County Alcohol Monopoly

Today, I am pleased to present a guest blog by Adam Pagnucco:

A poll commissioned by Comptroller Peter Franchot has found massive opposition to Montgomery County’s liquor monopoly.

Among those polled, 69% support eliminating the County monopoly with slightly  higher levels of support for repeal–74%–among people who describe themselves as definite voters. The results indicate that residents across party, gender, age, education and ideological lines favor getting rid of the laws granting the county control over alcohol sales.

The poll question was asked in a broader statewide poll on a number of issues.  The statewide poll, conducted by Normington, Petts & Associates in September 2015, had roughly 500 respondents with 84 in Montgomery.

The MoCo residents were asked whether they favor or oppose a “proposal to get rid of the laws making Montgomery County an alcohol controlled county.”  Following are the responses from each segment of the poll with a sample size of at least 20 respondents.

(Editor’s Note: Though 84 is a small sample size with an inevitably large margin of error of 10.9%, the difference between the share of favor and oppose getting rid of the monopoly is so large that it is statistically significant despite the small sample.)

Do you favor or oppose a proposal to get rid of the laws making Montgomery County an alcohol controlled county?

Full Sample (N=84)
Strongly favor                       48%
Somewhat favor                  21
Somewhat oppose               6
Strongly oppose                  17
Don’t know                              7

Total favor                              69
Total oppose                         24

Definite Voters (N=72)
Strongly favor                       52%
Somewhat favor                  22
Somewhat oppose               5
Strongly oppose                  14
Don’t know                              7

Total favor                              74
Total oppose                         19

Men (N=51)
Strongly favor                       55%
Somewhat favor                  18
Somewhat oppose               6
Strongly oppose                  18
Don’t know                              3

Total favor                              73
Total oppose                         24

Women (N=34)
Strongly favor                       38%
Somewhat favor                  26
Somewhat oppose               6
Strongly oppose                  16
Don’t know                            13

Total favor                              64
Total oppose                         23

Age 18-44 (N=30)
Strongly favor                       57%
Somewhat favor                  20
Somewhat oppose               0
Strongly oppose                  18
Don’t know                              4

Total favor                              78
Total oppose                         18

Age 45-59 (N=34)
Strongly favor                       49%
Somewhat favor                  20
Somewhat oppose               9
Strongly oppose                  14
Don’t know                              8

Total favor                              69
Total oppose                         23

Age 60+ (N=20)
Strongly favor                       34%
Somewhat favor                  25
Somewhat oppose             11
Strongly oppose                  23
Don’t know                              8

Total favor                              58
Total oppose                         34

Education, some college or less (N=23)
Strongly favor                       38%
Somewhat favor                  14
Somewhat oppose             12
Strongly oppose                  27
Don’t know                              9

Total favor                              52
Total oppose                         39

Education, college graduate or more (N=60)
Strongly favor                       53%
Somewhat favor                  22
Somewhat oppose               4
Strongly oppose                  14
Don’t know                              6

Total favor                              75
Total oppose                         18

Registered Democrats (N=46)
Strongly favor                       50%
Somewhat favor                  17
Somewhat oppose               9
Strongly oppose                  19
Don’t know                              5

Total favor                              67
Total oppose                         28

Registered Republicans (N=23)
Strongly favor                       42%
Somewhat favor                  25
Somewhat oppose               4
Strongly oppose                  18
Don’t know                            11

Total favor                              67
Total oppose                         22

Liberal Ideology (N=29)
Strongly favor                       52%
Somewhat favor                  14
Somewhat oppose               4
Strongly oppose                  24
Don’t know                              6

Total favor                              65
Total oppose                         29

Moderate Ideology (N=25)
Strongly favor                       60%
Somewhat favor                  17
Somewhat oppose               7
Strongly oppose                    7
Don’t know                              9

Total favor                              77
Total oppose                         14

Conservative Ideology (N=31)
Strongly favor                       36%
Somewhat favor                  31
Somewhat oppose               8
Strongly oppose                  19
Don’t know                              6

Total favor                              67
Total oppose                         27

The poll has an important caveat: its small sample size.  However, it was conducted by a respected national polling firm with decades of experience and lots of clients around the country.  Furthermore, its results are consistent: every demographic asked favored ending MoCo’s status as an alcohol control jurisdiction.  Democrats and Republicans have many disagreements, as do liberals and conservatives.  But in MoCo, they agree on one thing:

End the Monopoly.

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