The Shipping/Pricing/Minimum Order Qty Discussion Thread

What are you comfortable with?

The Myriad Syrah thread got derailed with talking about minimum order quantities vs shipping charges vs pricing product higher to cover costs. I thought it was a better idea to start a new thread and keep the drifting the Myriad thread. So have at it.

It’s a multiple choice poll and surely flawed.

Stephane Hebert!*


*The new Brett Favre

The main thing for me is don’t line item out the shipping cost. Please roll the shipping cost up into the bottle cost. I know this is simply moving cost around & in some eyes being less transparent. Appease my feeble brain & trick me.

Depending on the variety what would your price per bottle comfort zone be? Would the price increase to include actual shipping costs preclude you from purchasing? What’s the happy median?

For me my comfort zone is below $50, closer to $40, then I have to really think about what I am buying. I know for some people here money isn’t an issue. For me it is a big one.
Being someone who can pick most of his wines up I would prefer shipping to be a separate line item. Every dollar saved can be spent on more wine.

The thing I have about shipping being part of the pricing structure is that for larger quantities it becomes a profit center which is something most of us seem to not be in favor of.

If the shipping is built into the price, then do locals pay the same price? Do East Coasters pay the same as Californians buying CA wine?

Give me a fair rate based on your cost for UPS/FedEx and packing materials and itemize it.

And don’t let the shipping notice hang up in the outbox.

I haven’t thought that far ahead, but I will. The most recent example (and I’m not trying to pick on them, it just was recent & fresh in my mind) of a place I didn’t order from was Sandlands. I was allocated 2 bottles of Chenin Blanc at I think $28 per. The shipping was $25 to move that wine from NorCal to Seattle.

Since I wasn’t allocated anything else, I passed. The shipping was pretty much the cost of another bottle. If they had charged $35 a bottle, made say a 3-4 bottle minimum & made the shipping “free” I would have ordered.

Please note- this post is not to say eff you Tegan you lost my business. They only have a little wine & are probably just passing their cost to me- the presentation just didn’t make the order appealing. I wish I had some Sandlands & hope I get a bigger allocation someday where I can mitigate the shipping cost with a larger order.

Pay to ship the shit to your house for god’s sake.

I can understand that scenario completely and have passed up on a lot of offers when the numbers didn’t work out for me. When a Winemaker prices out his wine I figure he knows what it is worth. If he were to raise that price $12 a bottle to make me feel good about free shipping I would still pass because I already know what he thinks the wine is worth but now it’s overpriced. I’ll just wait until a subsequent offer makes the cost of shipping less painful.

I’m pretty new getting into wine I think I need more info to have a better opinion. I just ordered 4 bottles shipped from ca to ny. The shipping was $21.50. Is around 5 bucks coast to coast standard? Does it cost more for wineries to ship then wine stores? Sorry if this has been hashed out before just trying to learn.

Shipping costs from carriers are based on volume and how well you negotiate with the carrier. Some companies will mark up shipping to cover boxes, shippers, tape, etc. Some will also look at shipping as a profit center and mark up above costs.

When you factor in the cost of a styro shipper and actual shipping costs that would likely be a correct number. The bigger the operation and the more shipping they do the better rates they get from UPS/FedEx so comparative pricing is tough sometimes. I recently sold a bunch of wine on Commerce Corner and the FedEx rates were $45/case to the East Coast from CA. Add the cost of Styro Shipper, which I didn’t charge for, and the price per case was more like $60.

I don’t really pay attention, but I do wonder why Rhys gives me $0.01 shipping to the east coast, and Alban charges me $18 a bottle to go the same distance.

the adult signature alone is $4-- with Fed Ex

Come on, B!
Like, at the end of this thread, we will all come together in 100% positive agreement and group hug!

Ha! Not on your life.

I do consider the cost of shipping I to my purchases because there are some wines I can but locally for less with a case discount, like Lillian. There are some wines that I really enjoy that I can not get locally like Myriad, Bedrock, Sandlands, Drinkward Peschon (the list goes on for us SC wine buyers) so I have to be willing to pay a little more for shipping.

I do try to cap it at $50 a case because past that the wine may not be a great deal and something like Bedrock becomes less of a great qpr. When ordering less than a case, I do get a little pickier about how much I am willing to pay for shipping.

Recent orders and costs
A nine pack of Myriad at $4.44 per bottle to SC which is very reasonable to me.
A three pack of Dirty &Rowdy at $8.33 per bottle. That is getting a little high but I am wailling to pay it. As my allocation goes up, price per bottle shipping should go down.
A six pack of No Girls at $6.33 a bottle. Not bad. They charged tax though which almost killed the deal for me. I know everyone is supposed to but when I factor that it, it added another $5.50 per bottle.

I do not think it would be fair to include shipping in the purchase price because it makes it more expensive for locals who can pick up. The wine would cost the same for me just more for locals. I am not into wine entitlement theory.

When it comes down to it, we are paying good money for something that lasts for a little while and we literally piss away. It all has a cost and associated costs like shipping, tax, cellar and which wines glasses you want to buy. Factor it in, decide what your comfort level is, and get to work ordering.

Guidelines I follow:

1. I buy what wine I want to buy.
2. I hope shipping is reasonable but if I want the wine I suck it up and order.
3. I prefer to buy the quantity I need but I usually can deal with a minimum order.
4. Only occasion where I did not to order wine has been only wanting a few bottles coupled with high shipping cost. My assumption is I really didn’t want that wine because of rules 1 and 2.

Moral of the story is neither a minimum or higher shipping costs deter me from buying wine I want.

as a consumer, i prefer “free” shipping on wine orders (i.e. shipping built into the bottle price), though like Brian i’m within driving distance to pick up most of the wine i want to purchase. the tipping point on shipping costs for me is when it’s presented as a line-item and the winery is using said costs as a profit center. the advantage of being ITB and having worked in shipping/receiving departments is that i’m fairly well-versed to the prices the common carriers charge to move wine from here to there, as well as costs associated with materials, labor, etc.

having said that, and being ITB, i can totally see why each winery makes different decisions as how to handle the shipping costs passed on to their customer. with so many different business models in play (e.g. in-house fulfillment vs using an outside fulfillment center), and so many varying views on how shipping costs play within said model, there really isn’t one, single “correct” way to make everyone happy while attempting to remain profitable and viable.

I’ve spoken my piece on the Myriad thread, but I’ll say it again here, probably somewhat differently . . .

1. I’m amazed that consumers scream bloody murder about shipping costs for some producers but not others. There are some board faves that, to me, charge crazy high prices and folks just suck it up, but with others, they scream. Interesting . . .

2. Wineries DO have plenty of power in determining shipping costs. There are multiple fulfillment houses to choose from, and some are cheaper than others. Don’t let them tell you otherwise please - to me, that’s demeaning . . . so based on this, I’m not a fan of wineries saying ‘there’s nothing we can do’. That’s a cop out.

3. Wineries have a choice whether to make shipping a ‘profit center’ or not. Pure and simple.

As a small winery owner, my goal is to get my wines into my customers’ hands as inexpensively and timely as possible, taking into account them myriad of factors that come into place. I tend to ship all my wines temp controlled year round to all places East of the Rockies as that’s a service that my third party shipper offers - at an additional cost to me that I do not pass on. It takes longer for the wines to get there, but to me, it’s worth it. I also normally include shipping when someone places a case order - it just seems to be fair that if a good customer is going to support me, I will support them back. It’s probably not a great ‘dollars and cents’ decision because my wines are not that expensive, but it just seems right . . .

Really looking forward to more feedback - and true honest feedback from as many consumers as possible . . . Based on what I’ve seen thus far, I’m doing it all wrong - I should raise my prices $5-$10 per bottle and always include shipping . . . of course, my wines would be too expensive for most and I wouldn’t sell any, but what the hey?!?!

Cheers!

Larry,

Which is the most reasonably priced of the fulfillment houses? We still pack and ship ourselves, but I’d at least like to weigh my options. Sorry for the drift.