So can someone explain to me the inner workings of shipping costs and offered options from the perspective of a winery? When I go to a local UPS or FedEx, I have several options to send my package. I can send ground, second day, next day, same day. However, I have noticed that a lot of wineries only give options of 2 day or overnight. I get that they want the wine to spend as little time in transit as possible, but why would a winery not at least give the option to go via ground. This question is especially intriguing to me when a release is during reasonable shipping months(like November and March). What is the motivation for offering only the most expensive choices?
Secondly, how is it that, say, Napa winery A can offer a 3 pack in OWC of their wine for, say $42 two day FedEx shipping – but Napa winery B (i.e. In basically the same location as A) has the same 3 pack OWC for their wine with $60 two day FedEx shipping? It seems like these costs are picked right out of the air, and quite randomly.
Regarding your second question, some wineries ship more volume, and thus get better rates. Also, some wineries don’t make money off shipping. Also. some wineries incorporate some of the cost of shipping into the price of the wine.
Many wineries use third party shipping/fulfillment companies to handle their logistics and those charges are higher than if you or I head into a FedEx or UPS store.
Shipping is a tough charge to swallow, I don’t know why more wineries don’t move to an Amazon Prime model for their wine clubs and offer reduced shipping as a perk in exchange for an enrollment fee. I know that if there was an e-mail with a single click order for a mixed 6 pack or case & I didn’t have to navigate shipping & logistics, I’d join.
I’ve had two just this week alone, Continuum and Scarecrow each offer only 2 day or overnight shipping. There are a lot of wineries that do this, it always irritates me.
Shipping is the least favorite part of the job/business. All wine basically weighs the same; so pricing is all volume based. It’s not as black and white. As for actual shipping; at Larkmead, I believe we only offer 2-day; if Ground, it needs to be Cold Chain.
Paying for 2 day shipping also bugs me, but sometimes managing shipping windows for ground can be difficult. Getting packages shipped to Minnesota, there’s usually several weeks or even months that are ok to ship. But sometimes the weather changes instantly from too hot to too cold. I appreciate wineries that are willing to monitor the weather and send out ground packages during this slot. I imagine it can be a headache.
There are far more wineries that subsidize shipping than there are ones using it as a profit center. What drives me nuts is when a central coast winery will only ship 2-day to southern california. Ground would deliver it over night at a far lower cost.
Guessing you don’t buy a lot of high end Napa cabs . . . Scarecrow, Schrader, Maybach and many others that I buy do not offer ground. And this year, Cayuse (not a napa cab) no longer offers a ground option either.
I think this is especially annoying to those who live in California.
Ground shipping interstate is overnight delivery.
Maybe the wineries don’t know that.
This is a topic that always intrigues me from the consumer viewpoint, and your questions are really good ones.
A couple of things:
Some wineries handle shipping and handling themselves and others use third party shippers. If handled oneself, it may be ‘easier’ to only use one or two options wrt to shipping companies to make one’s life easier
Some wineries choose to only offer next or 2nd day air because it then mitigates the greater possibility of wine being ‘heat damaged’ during shipping. A good thought on the one hand; sucks to pay the big $$$ for the consumer on the other.
Some wineries, I am convinced, attempt to use shipping as a ‘profit center’ to some extent. As a consumer, you can easily figure out how much a wine shipping container costs, and what the shipping costs are for a specific weight anywhere in the US. Overlay that with what you are being charged and you’ll see what I mean
They may ‘claim’ that they are being charged heavily by a third party to handle their fulfillment - guess what . … you can always shop around!
It continues to blow me away that wineries lose business over shipping charges . . . it really does. Likewise, it is amazing that some consumers don’t understand the ‘fixed costs’ associated with shipping wine, which is heavier than, say, a couple pair of pants ( ) and therefor will not usually be $2.99 as you might find from Amazon
I for one eat some of the cost of shipping because I think it’s the ‘right’ thing to do from a customer service standpoint . . .
I guess if a group of members didn’t like the shipping options a winery offered they could rent a truck and go pick up their orders themselves. I mean, if you get enough people together it would probably cost only a couple hundred each and 6 or 7 days to drive back & forth across the country.
When it comes to luxury automobiles, the saying goes “If you can’t afford the maintenance, you can’t afford the car”. So if you can’t afford the shipping, maybe you can’t afford the wine.
“Whine Berserkers” - seriously, complaining over an extra $20 for shipping several bottles that run $150 each!
K&L shipping costs seems like a good benchmark as to what seems fair, since they are selling wines at a variety of price points and are not charging different prices when the wine in the bottle costs more. Shipping costs to my address are:
1 bottle ~ $12/btl
3 bottles ~ $4/btl
6 bottles ~ $3/btl
12 bottles ~ $2/btl
So 12 bottles shipped via ground costs around $24. This seems fair. The $30+ per bottle some are charging is for a service I don’t need/want plus extra profit on the wine.
I normally get shipments from K&L but I happened to be in the area last week on business. I also happened to have my empty WineCheck (how convenient! ) so I brought home a case of various adult beverages not available here at home. I was charged $12 for a shipper, despite the bill approaching $1000. No dice in negotiating. It made me laugh to think that within the next couple weeks they’ll ship me several of those. I can’t complain really, you gotta pay to play but it did give me a chuckle. Either I get a good deal on styro shippers in spring and fall, or I overpay for one when I need it onsite. Bonus: I had Alaska First Class on the flight home so the bag checked free anyway.
TLDR: Don’t forget packaging costs are greater than $0 but probably less than $12/case.
Some wineries delay Fall orders via ground until early November in the SE and SW. At the winery where I work we offered $25 flat rate shipping on any quantity during the latest release. Followup orders go at no extra charge. Navigating shipping rates is probably one of the toughest dilemmas for wineries and customers. We offer a variety of choices: ground, 2nd, overnight, and cold truck (when available).
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) and therefor will not usually be $2.99 as you might find from Amazon 
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) so I brought home a case of various adult beverages not available here at home. I was charged $12 for a shipper, despite the bill approaching $1000. No dice in negotiating. It made me laugh to think that within the next couple weeks they’ll ship me several of those. I can’t complain really, you gotta pay to play but it did give me a chuckle. Either I get a good deal on styro shippers in spring and fall, or I overpay for one when I need it onsite. Bonus: I had Alaska First Class on the flight home so the bag checked free anyway.