There is good news and bad news at the Alcohol Beverage Control Division. The good news is ABC tax collections greatly improved in March. The bad news is the backlog of cases remains over 170,000 cases.
ABC reports the warehouse backlog at 172,176 cases last week. The backlog peaked at 220,027 cases in early March. Unfortunately, the backlog is still more than triple what it was at the beginning of the year.
The warehouse continues to ship cases of wines and spirits at unprecedented levels as it operates six days a week.
Shipping times have improved as orders are shipped 2 1/2 weeks later. At 17.6 days, the cycle time is a full week less than the 25.6-day shipping time reported on March 1 but far above the normal cycle time of three days. Posted below is warehouse distribution data from the DOR's website.
One problem facing ABC is for the last month, it is shipping roughly as many cases as ordered. When the crisis began, Ruan shipped 30-50% of cases ordered, thus creating the 200+ case backlog.
ABC shipped more than 100% of cases ordered for several weeks but as ordered surged in the last few weeks, Ruan made little headway as seen below.
Week/Cases Shipped/Cases Ordered/Difference
2/1/2026: 29,578 - 66,283 = -36,705 2/8/2026: 47,148 - 61,178 = -14,030 2/15/2026: 60,018 - 54,166 = 5,852 2/22/2026: 71,046 - 55,578 = 15,468 3/1/2026: 85,972 - 83,020 = 2,952 3/8/2026: 86,505 - 90,856 = -4,351 3/15/2026: 89,934 - 81,118 = 8,816 3/22/2026: 90,301 - 78,015 = 12,286 3/29/2026: 85,372 - 86,070 = -698 4/5/2026: 69,823 - 86,643 = -16,820 4/12/2026: 89,536 - 86,713 = 2,823As the backlog grew, ABC tax revenue fell. ABC collected $8 million fewer taxes in January and February this year compared to the same two months last year. However, ABC tax collections rebounded approximately $2 million in March so ABC revenue is down $6 million for 2026.
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Ruan Transport shut the warehouse down for a week in early January to take inventory. With the warehouse closed, Ruan replaced the software 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.
11 comments:
A fella could have a pretty good time in Vegas with 170,000 cases of wine.
MS needs to legalize at home distilling.
That's like saying good news in Jackson. They filed one pothole.
Why is no one calling out the governor and legislature for sitting on their hands?
My conversations with a couple Jackson store owners is that things are not getting better. They are still receiving partial orders which are significantly delayed.
"Why is no one calling out the governor and legislature for sitting on their hands?" Tate is the definition of a lame duck. Legislators are not going to take up controversial issues in an election year. Perfect storm.
How are all the fatcats at ABC holding up?
KF, they’re not going to reach 170,000. If Chris Graham applied even basic supply chain thinking, he’d cancel the backlog of purchase orders and have customers reorder now that shipping issues are resolved. With Mardi Gras and spring break behind us, that level of demand likely isn’t there anymore. Also, when you’re doing December inventory or making equipment upgrades, you shut down for a few days and pause new orders—otherwise you just create a bigger backlog you can’t fulfill.
Can anyone explain how the system works for companies like Costco that sell their own brands? I went there yesterday, bought some bottles of their store brand wine. Is their liquor also getting stalled at ABC?
What if these orders can't easily be cancelled due to each order being entered and proccessed by multiple systems in different bureaucracies?
It's not at all like a real business where accounts receivable, shipping and inventory control all have the same big boss a few layers up the totem pole.
They get their alcohol the same way everybody else does: from the ABC. That picture I keep on posting is from Sam's in early February.
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