SC

More On SC Liquor Bill “Bad Actor”

COMPANY CRITICIZED FOR ALLEGED “BULLYING” AND “DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES” || By FITSNEWS || One of the special interests pushing for a carve out in South Carolina’s liquor law has a history of bad behavior in other states. Total Wine and More – a Maryland-based company which FITS referenced in this…

COMPANY CRITICIZED FOR ALLEGED “BULLYING” AND “DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES”

|| By FITSNEWS || One of the special interests pushing for a carve out in South Carolina’s liquor law has a history of bad behavior in other states.

Total Wine and More – a Maryland-based company which FITS referenced in this post about brewing liquor legislation – was referred to as a “bully in the sandbox” and a “bad apple” during its bid to expand into Minnesota.

“What they do is, being as big as they are and having as much money as they have, they test the legal bounds of how to do business,” said John Farrell III, vice president of sales for a Minneapolis-based liquor store chain that has competed against Total Wine.

Another Minnesota competitor accused Total Wine of “deceptive trade practices,” and sent a cease-and-desist letter over allegedly false claims made by the company regarding its operations.

Meanwhile one of the Minnesota cities which approved a license for the company did so with grave reservations, referring to a $1 million fine Total Wine reportedly received in New Jersey.

“Their history is troubling,” a city official told the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal. “Probably more troubling than any other liquor dealer that I’ve seen.”

Well, well …

In our post, we noted Total Wine has been “under investigation by the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED)” and that the company “currently has a case pending before the S.C. Department of Revenue (SCDOR).”

What for?  According to our SCDOR sources, Total Wine’s business model is built around defying state liquor laws so as to maintain an unfair competitive advantage over smaller retailers.  In fact we’ve got a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request we’re preparing to submit to SCDOR in an effort to unearth additional information about the company’s practices – and allegations of “cozy relationships” with certain bureaucrats at the agency.

This website has opposed efforts by lawmakers to amend the state’s existing laws “in an effort to gift-wrap an unfair competitive advantage to the major players in the industry at the expense of smaller and mid-size retailers.”

Frankly, we’d do away with all regulation …

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17 comments

wondering March 3, 2015 at 1:37 pm

So what are they trying to do in SC?

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Deo Vindice SC March 3, 2015 at 2:37 pm

Nikkize SC as a state in the United States of America. Join the movement !

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Victorious Secret March 3, 2015 at 1:59 pm

This just in . . . “What they do is, being as big as they are and having as much money as they have, they test the legal bounds of how to do business”

Of course this poo-poo quote comes straight from a competitor.

Not to mention, testing the legal bounds is done every single day by almost everyone. That’s the point of the “bounds.” You stay within the “bounds” in order to avoid activity that would be deemed, well, illegal.

For instance, paying exactly what you owe in income taxes is, by definition, the legal bound, for if you were to pay 1 penny less, you’d be outside the bounds of the law.

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TSIB March 3, 2015 at 3:00 pm

“According to our SCDOR sources, Total Wine’s business model is built around defying state liquor laws so as to maintain an unfair competitive advantage over smaller retailers. ”

Could you be more specific?

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Wino March 3, 2015 at 3:05 pm

Theirs is a tried and true method of pushing lazy bureaucrats and making them uncomfortable about excising their authority. Total wine has a reputation, but they are not the first.
We don’t need companies like this in SC. There are plenty of good firms that we should have.

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LD March 3, 2015 at 3:06 pm

Sounds like the Republican party. The GOP bullies groups (unions, poor, uninsursed, etc.) and uses deception (voter fraud, gerrymandering, family values, etc.) to get their way.

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GrandTango March 3, 2015 at 3:20 pm

Yeah…When I was in the Union, a Town Car-load of those “BULLIED” Union members showed up in front of my house wielding clubs because I had only voted once by noon….on election day…

Said they’d lose their no-show, fatcat jobs at the Union House if I did not vote Democrat…

Poor guys…Obama got even though..He took GMC and gave it to them, after they ran it into bankruptcy…and made us pay for it…LMAO…

And there were only 20 of those uninsured – who refuse to go to the doctor I pay for, for them – at the ER w/ a head cold, when my niece had an Ebola scare (thanks Obama)…and had a REAL emergency…

As for the poor, Obama sure has made them a majority. 20 million more people are on food stamps since he took over the country…and 92 million cannot find a job…

Thank goodness the GOP is not in charge..eh???…

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LD March 3, 2015 at 3:45 pm

Too much Fox News for you. Item 1-Bullshit; Item 2- more bullshit; Item 3– If you had insurance you should have used an Urgent Care Center. Not sure what Obama had to do with Ebola other than try to calm the hysteria created by your type. Item 4– I guess everyone forgets the mess Obama inherited from W, but if you are in the grocery business food stamps are a good thing. There should be jobs– the “job creators” have more money than they have ever had. The “trickle down” economy isn’t working too well is it?

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GrandTango March 3, 2015 at 4:27 pm

LMAO..I love the Slap the H#!! out of you w/ reality…then watch you S#!t all over yourselves…Hahahaha…

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Upcountry Fiddler March 3, 2015 at 4:09 pm

Total Wine is owned (in part) by a Furman alum who just paid a large junk of money to have the renovated student center named after him (Trone Center). I don’t know his political clout in SC as a whole, but he has in one corner of SC. FU one time…

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Halfvast Conspirator March 3, 2015 at 4:52 pm

The problem is the gummint meddling in the likka bidness, and beer and wine too. The entrenched have great gigs going and don’t want anyone else moving in their territory.

The gummint makes a nice bundle off the taxes so they have to meddle, and the entrenched buy off their politicians to fly cover. When someone new comes in and disturbs the balance then you get all the agita over it.

No different for the car bidness, keeping out any competition for their cushy incomes.

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HD March 3, 2015 at 5:55 pm

Looks like someone sent Folks a check, and it wasn’t Total Wine.

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Scrappy March 3, 2015 at 7:04 pm

I think the crux of the problem is this………..SC limits the number of liquor license any one business can own. Total Wine, Walmart, Costco and others would like to enter other markets in SC such as Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Hilton Head etc. They simply can’t because SC will not allow them to license new locations.

Will, you seem here lately to talk out of both sides of your mouth. One day your “free market” the next day your not. Perhaps the mom and pops are the one “paying to play” to keep the competition out.

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euwe max March 3, 2015 at 7:31 pm

Justice and “free market” are in separate cyclic lexical systems.

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Been There Done That March 3, 2015 at 8:48 pm

DOR has always been incredibly political – run by connected lawyers who are part of the good old boy system.

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anonymous March 3, 2015 at 9:26 pm

Trying to change the laws around amount of stores you can have and also they currently offer a private label which is also illegal.

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HD March 4, 2015 at 8:11 am

He could, but he has to wait until whomever is paying him and feeding him these half-truths tells him what to say.

Reply

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