THE MISSISSIPPI ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE
CONTROL DIVISION IS SPECIFICALLY
FOCUSED ON PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION,
EFFICIENCY OF OPERATIONS, TRAINING
AND SUPPORT SERVICES.
BY MELISSA NIKSIC
D
CONTROL DIVISION
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM ROSTER
StateWays I www.stateways.com I January/February 2014
espite being the final state in U.S. history to
approve the sale of alcohol within its borders,
Mississippi has picked up the pace quite a bit
since then. Headquartered in Madison, MS,
the state's Alcoholic Beverage Control
(ABC) Division has experienced steady growth
for years and is ready to expand its operations
even more. While its productivity and overall
profit margins are impressive, the ABC hopes
to keep improving, and the department is looking
forward to the state legislature approving additional funds in order to continue upgrading its
operations.
Several interesting facts about the ABC: the
division is housed within the Mississippi
Department of Revenue, and has been set up
that way since 1966 (the year prohibition in
Mississippi was finally lifted). Of Mississippi's
82 counties, nearly half of them are dry.
Additionally, certain counties include split judicial districts, resulting in some wet cities in otherwise dry counties. Another distinguishing
characteristic of Mississippi's setup is that,
unlike several control states, Mississippi does
not operate any retail stores: they are all privately owned.
Compared to other states, the nature of what
we do isn't nearly as complex," states Ed Morgan,
who is currently serving a six-year term as the
Commissioner of Revenue. "Our primary focus
areas are on warehouse distribution, efficiency
and support. We don't have hundreds of retail
employees and we don't get involved with product marketing."
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