Jackson Jambalaya

 An effort to provide relief to ABC customers suffering from the warehouse meltdown died yesterday in the legislature.  

ABC warehouse manager Ruan Transport shut down for a week in early January to take inventory. While the warehouse was closed, Ruan replaced the software system and conveyor belt systems. The software was not tested and did not communicate with ABC's MARS software. Ruan replaced the conveyor system with a pick a pallet system. The result was a total meltdown as shipping times skyrocketed from 48 hours to nearly a month as Ruan shipped less than 50% of cases ordered for a month, crippling casinos, restaurants, and package store owners alike. *

The Senate passed SB# 2838 in February and transmitted it to the House of Representatives which in turn dutifully referred the bill to the State Affairs Committee. Committee Chairman Hank Zuber amended the bill to include relief for restaurant owners, casinos, and package stores across Mississippi. History and text of bill.

a) A legally authorized purchaser may purchase alcoholic beverages from a legally authorized seller, and the legally authorized seller may sell and ship alcoholic beverages directly to a legally authorized purchaser. A legally authorized seller may use any method to ship, transport and deliver the alcoholic beverages to the legally authorized purchaser. 

ABC customers would be allowed to use direct shipping for up to two years.  

The amended bill passed the House on a vote of 112-2.  However, the Senate did not concur with the bill so it went to the conference committee.  

The House and Senate were not able to reach an agreement in conference so the bill died.  The House conferees were Shanda Yates, Hank Zuber, and Brent Powell while the Senate team was Josh Harkins, Walter Michel, and Jason Barrett.  

Kingfish note: This would have been an interesting experiment.  Several package store owners said the bill would not work as the shipping costs would be "exorbitant" and distributors had no infrastructure in place in Mississippi.   Such may be true but the bill would have given ABC customers something they do not have now: a choice.  The choice might not have worked out for them but hey, that's part of the free market.  The sentiment from the Senate was ABC and Ruan will get everything caught up while the problems will disappear when the new warehouse opens nearly a year from nwo.