Regulatory Compliance – Should I block sales?

I was just a symposium and went to a few sessions regarding this. People are choosing to comply with regulations in quite a few creative ways. Here is what I would suggest.

#1 - Comply with all regulations.

#2 - Working under the impression that you won't get caught? If you have any idea that you won't get caught then you need to know that tracking sales into the permit required States is easier than ever these days. The authorities look at shipping reports. As you know FedEx and UPS all require us to identify wine shipments so tracking is easier than ever.

#3 – I would not immediately block sales that come in from States where you are not permitted to sell/ship your products. I would allow the club registrations and sales to come through in a way that notified me of the request. Upon receiving the notification I would contact the person making the request. I could personally explain to them why we were not able to complete the sale.

Plus, I would offer to keep them on the mailing list for immediate notification when we had the required permits and were able to sell/ship to the respective State.

The problem is in identifying the States where you have a market or demand for your product. You may not get the permits right away but if you turned down a few sales from a particular State that may be enough demand to cover the costs of getting the permits and filing the respective reports.

I didn’t block the sale. I didn’t make the sale. But there really seems to be no other way to monitor the demand.

Good lucks – one thing I know – things will change so please stay current.

Theresa Dorr
Active Club Management
925-447-CLUB (2582)

www.activeclubmanagement.com
www.acmwineclubsoftware.com
www.wineclubsoftware.net