(The Center Square) – The state agency responsible for managing the commonwealth’s liquor market will charge its most popular importers a $1 storage fee starting in 2026.
The decision came earlier this month when the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board decided it could no longer absorb the cost of storing inventory from best-selling brands that manufacture alcohol in other states.
Called “bailment” vendors, these manufacturers use state-owned warehouses to stockpile inventory before it’s ever bought by the control board and transferred to its nearly 600 liquor stores. Sometimes, that leaves the commonwealth footing the bill to maintain excess inventory that never makes it to the shelves.
Shawn Kelly, spokesman for the board, told The Center Square that market conditions have made the practice untenable. He pointed to eight other states that charge a $1-per-case fee, which amounts to 8 cents per bottle in a standard 12-bottle case.
“Given the current economic climate, the PLCB is no longer able to continue absorbing these operational costs as it has for the last 13 years,” he said. “The $1 per case fee is intended to help offset the operational costs involved with warehousing services provided to bailment suppliers.”
Except, not everything is sold in a 12-bottle case, according to a coalition of liquor distillers and winemakers, who say the new fees will cost them between $15 million and $17 million annually.
The coalition includes the Wine Institute, the American Distilled Spirits Alliance, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, and the Pennsylvania Wine and Spirits Association.
They say the fee will be the same whether it’s a 4-pack of canned cocktails or a 12-bottle case of wine. And, it comes during a time when tariffs, manufacturing costs and competition from the hemp and cannabis industry, have never been more pressing.
And unlike the other states, the coalition says, the board charges penalties related to inventory controls and has the authority to raise product prices independently of each other. Other states use a standard formula.
“As representatives of the world’s wine and spirits producers, we strongly opposed this new fee that will undoubtedly increase prices for Pennsylvania consumers,” the coalition said. “Further, this fee was imposed with barely any notice and no opportunity for producers to discuss its consequences, ask questions or propose alternatives.
Now is not the time to impose new fees on wine and spirits in Pennsylvania. PLCB’s business partners and the public deserve a transparent accounting of agency operations before facing new fees that will raise consumer prices on alcohol.”
Instead, the coalition says, the board is trying to make up for slumping profits and tax collections to the tune of $72 million. Combined with $180 million spent on a spotty technological upgrade, they say the fee is only papering over financial missteps.
Kelly said the fee will help the state avoid a surplus industry and offset rising warehousing costs. Prices on the shelves will rise only if the suppliers say to do so.
