Yes, different states have different laws. I've been out of this business for over two years, but know that when I was working there we could not ship to 10 or 15 states because state laws prohibited it. Aside from the Texan law I cited earlier, we could not ship to neighboring Pennsylvania, for instance, but could to liberal California and conservative Mississippi. One New England state (New Hampshire I believe) required that we not only collect state sales tax for them but also we pay the state for a permit in order to do so. Thus we stopped shipping there, as it would have been at a loss for our slim margins.
The shipping of alcoholic beverages, no matter the shipper, requires that the package be clearly marked as containing such, both on the shipping label and with a large sticker prominently displayed on the outside of the carton. Both have to say a person of legal age has to be present at time of delivery to sign for the package. We had customers tell us it was OK for FedEx to leave the package on the porch or in the garage. We would then inform them that, though it may be fine with them, it was NOT fine with FedEx, since a signature was required. What's my point? Well, we did on occasion violate the law by not including the "Adult" notification on the shipping label and "forgetting" to put the Alcohol sticker on the box. Oops, my bad. Maybe this is how these other companies dodge the restrictions . . . which I assure you, do exist. It was my job, for 5 or 6 years.
As I understand it, there are certain Swiss and/or Spanish companies who risk violation of specific embargo laws to provide desired merchandise to interested customers. I understand a similar spike in importation of spirits occurred during the 14 years between the 18th and 21th US Amendment. I also heard something of a notorious Mexican exporter recently becoming incarcerated . . . again. Thing is, if there's a buck to be made, folks will bend or break the law.
