Providers of adult beverages, including those that sell in the promo products space, could be able to ship their products directly to consumers through the United States Postal Service under a new bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Proposed by Representatives Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), the USPS Shipping Equity Act would allow USPS to ship alcoholic beverages directly from licensed producers and retailers to consumers over the age of 21, in accordance with state and local laws at the delivery location. Currently, USPS is barred from doing so.

“This prohibition-era restriction on the Postal Service is unnecessary and imposes on consumers and our small businesses,” said Subramanyam. “I’m thrilled to partner with Congressman Newhouse on a bipartisan fix to expand opportunities available to our local breweries, vineyards, and distilleries and provide a new revenue source for USPS.”

Indeed, Subramanyam and Newhouse noted that the act, if approved, would help generate revenue for the Postal Service – which has been in financial distress for years – while also giving adult beverage providers another viable shipping option.

“The wine, beer and spirits industries are at a real disadvantage in delivering their high-quality products across the country,” said Congressman Dan Newhouse. “While other carriers deliver alcohol, current law prohibits the United States Postal Service from doing so. This legislation supports small craft breweries and wineries in rural areas like Central Washington and offers new opportunities for market access through the USPS.”

Brands that provide custom or personalized beer, wine or spirits could potentially benefit from the expanded delivery service that USPS would provide, if the legislation passes. Food gifts, which include alcoholic gifts, accounted for about 1% ($261 million) of promotional products distributor sales in 2023 – the most recent year for which numbers were available, according to Counselor’s State of the Industry.

From a print industry perspective, label makers could also potentially benefit. If USPS is now allowed to ship alcohol, products like beer or wine could be included in branded kits via the Postal Service alongside food or related promotional barware products. In these cases, it could boost the demand for printed labels or inserts educating the end-buyer on the taste profile or brewing process of the drink.

There is also the possibility of increased demand for labels as smaller breweries, distilleries and wineries, who in the past might have only seen consumer demand from relatively small amounts of tourism, now have another broad network through which to ship nationwide to a larger customer base.

Both the American Craft Spirits Association and the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association support the USPS Shipping Equity Act.

“As our small, domestic businesses have grown over the past 15 years, allowing the USPS to ship craft spirits will provide access to another important delivery option for small distillers in the U.S.,” said Margie A.S. Lehrman, CEO of the American Craft Spirits Association. “Many of those distilleries are located in rural areas where support of their local Main Street matters. Access to the thirty-one thousand post offices in the U.S. would be a game changer, helping their small businesses to succeed and grow.”

Don Matson, president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, said the “act promotes fairness by allowing USPS to compete on equal footing with private carriers, creating new opportunities for rural communities and small businesses to expand through USPS’s reliable service. … It’s a commonsense reform that helps USPS meet the needs of modern society and drive economic growth across the country.”