For the first time in my life, I tried to buy wine online. We’d had a tasty Malbec in a restaurant and, in part inspired by a friend’s small collection of favorite wines, I decided to buy a case of the Malbec from an online distributor that also has about twenty stores in the Chicagoland area. The distributor’s website listed the Malbec as “In Stock” at several of their stores and “Available for Home Delivery.”
Round 1: I selected “Home Delivery,” put 12 bottles in my Shopping Cart, entered my address and credit card information, and clicked “Purchase.” Next day I received an apologetic email from the distributor saying they did not have enough bottles in stock and so had to cancel my order.
Round 2: I checked their website again, and emailed the distributor that several of the stores were showing more than 12 bottles in inventory and asked whether those numbers were accurate. Next day I received a friendly email saying that the numbers were accurate — but the state’s regulators allowed only one of their twenty stores to ship wine to customers’ homes. The one store that was allowed to do so had fewer than 12 bottles. Sorry.
Round 3: I sent a follow-up email, thanking the distributor for the clarification and expressing some surprise at the restriction. I asked if some of the other stores’ bottles could be transferred to the store that was allowed to ship to customers. Next day an apologetic email saying that was impossible: once a bottle was in a given store’s inventory, state regulations prohibited it from being transferred to another store. So sorry again.
So glad to know our wise and benevolent rulers are protecting us from the ravages of laissez-faire capitalism.