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[burnett AT pobox.com]

On Tue, 24 Jan 2006, Steven Champeon wrote:

> Yeah, they'll ship to NC. Fedex will apparently deliver a box stickered
> with "Contains alcohol: must be 21 and obtain signature", though I'm not
> sure it's legal according to the ALE:
>
> http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/Index2.cfm?a=000003,000005
>
> In fact, seems according to GS 18B-102.1a-e that it's a Class I felony
> and carries a $10K fine. Lordy. 18B-109 explicitly states that it's not
> legal to have any alcoholic beverage shipped to anyone in-state unless
> that person has the appropriate ABC permit. And, of course, 18B-308
> outlaws the sale of alcoholic beverages in the same room as a bingo game.
>
> http://www.nccrimecontrol.org/div/ale/chp18b.pdf
>
> Looks like maybe the laws against out-of-state liquor/wine vendors selling
> to NC residents are unconstitutional:
>
> http://www.phillipsnizer.com/library/cases/lib_case258.cfm
>
> So, the official word seems to be "no go", but I've heard that neither
> Fedex nor UPS nor the USPS will call the cops if you happen to order
> something online and have it shipped to you. YMMV. Perhaps it's only
> applicable to shipments larger than the allowed limits for transport
> defined in 18B-303a? Any lawyers specializing in the import of alcohol
> here? (Too bad Tom Beckett isn't here anymore - he'd be the perfect one
> to answer this question).

Anecdote here, relevant and first-person (as opposed to "I heard this 
guy at a party say once that....) but not recent:

A friend of mine who lived in California once decided to send me one nice 
bottle of whiskey (25-year reserve Royal Lochnagar single malt) for 
Christmas. Worried for the safety of the bottle in shipping, she labeled 
the FedEx slip accurately as (unspecified) alcohol, glass bottle, fragile.

(Without looking up 18B-303a, I will assume a single bottle is smaller 
than the "allowed limits for transport".)

She received a note back from FedEx that the bottle had been seized by the 
state of North Carolina as illegal to ship to a private residence. She 
never got the bottle back.

> You *can* have an ABC store buy a case of anything if you pay in advance.

I believe that that is limited to the approved list. At least, that is 
what the ABC store told me when I asked if they could special-order a 
single malt Scotch that was not on their current list.

best,
Steve B