Beware them out of state shipping costs

Beware of absurd wine shipping costs, with certain out-of-state stores. Be careful before “approving” your orders and double check the out of state shipping costs as some stores use “third party” shipping. They say that they have to, but for a case of La Lagune, 12 bottles, to be delivered to Virginia, the shipping amounted to $100. Not ordering from HDH again.

I went to UPS’ website and uploaded a 45 lb box that was 17"x14"x15" (a styro 12 pack shipping box size) from HDH to a commerical address in Richmond, VA (I don’t know your exact address so I used a hotel on the east end of the state). It didn’t have any “alcohol” as a choice in shipping options so don’t know if that adds any costs or not.

Here’s the result

ground - $59.12
3-day - $112.65
2-day - 167.01
and so on up to next day am - $368.07

Add in about $15 for a shipper box cost and you’re up to about $75 for ground. Add in a margin for 3-party shipper charges and you’re at $100.

It may be a tiny bit high, but I wouldn’t call an extra $25 excessive or something that warrants never buying from them again. Seems somewhat reasonable cost to me.

FYI I believe there are extra/higher charges if a residential delivery , too.

Just to note, folks in business shipping the same sorts of packages daily get rates significantly discounted from retail from the various common carriers, often as much as 50%. I regularly receive wines shipped full-case from the east coast (to a commercial address in Ohio) where I am charged under $40.

Sometimes it comes in the form of a rebate at the end of the year, that way they can show customers ‘nope, here’s the invoice to prove what I pay’ then they get 10 grand back at the end of the year. The golf ball companies used to do this.

Well actually this was done by my sister, and she claims that she never got the shipping cost amount, before they authorized shipping. So that’s part of my complaint as well. But for a case of La Lagune 2014 to cost $100 more, basically removes the incentive to buy out of state for lower store pricing, as the shipping makes the per bottle price the same if not more than it would have been, had the wine been ordered locally.

Yup (bolded part). That is exactly why I don’t buy certain inexpensive wines that have shipping charges added on top. It’s just not worth it. It’s also why I consolidate at auctions into as big a box as possible and I don’t have them ship 1-2 bottles at a time.

I’ve long ago learned to check what shipping costs are prior to buying. I’ve had a couple stores stick me with hugely excessive shipping prices and I don’t do business with them anymore.

hdh quoted me $85 for 6 bottles ground to ohio. it’s a shame as i won’t shop with them anymore

Agree that at some points retailers perceive shipping as a profit center and it is annoying. (Crush, e.g., has done this for a long time.)
3rd-party shipping, I fear, is another matter, however. More and more pressure not to ship, so many of the places I used to order from now do have to use 3rd-party, and those folks of course want their cut. I actually don’t doubt this is true in the case of HDH, which used to be quite inexpensive and given the volume they do, it was in their interest not to raise prices. Other places I won’t name in NYC and Boston have recently made the same change and all are now more expensive and indeed new calculations must be made when ordering from them.

There is a reason I no longer order from outside of my local region. Been screwed over by any number of wine shops on shipping costs. Several years ago it cost me $80 to ship 4 bottles from Los Angeles to a business in Connecticut.

A few retailers are still manageable, but not many.

I stopped ordering from people who required third parties to ship to SC, it makes it too expensive. K&L and Winebid would require this. I figure I save a lot of money this way.

Wine Library charges $30 to ship a case from NJ to Ohio. I doubt they’re not recouping their cost.

$100 to ship a case of wine by ground, I assume, is flat out obscene.

Last year we, and most other “retail” wine stores were required to get new contracts from UPS and FedEx. The contracts were a result of lawsuits filed by several states putting the policing of shipments on UPS and FedEx. The contract allows us to ship to 8 states and the District of Columbia. It also contains penalties and if you sign up, you agree to have UPS or FedEx check your books without a warrant or subpoena.

The work around is third party shippers for the time being, but if certain states and the major distributors get their way, you will only be able to buy wine locally by 2020. Those wines sold on mailing lists will have to go through the major distributors as direct shipping outside of businesses states will be illegal, so their prices go up.

Two years ago, a case of wine to NJ ground was $46 to $48 from CA, including packaging. UPS and FedEx have increased rates, added a fuel surcharge like airline and trucking companies use. This last December, the two weeks before Christmas, UPS added a surcharge to cover part time employee hiring.

So you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Just because some wineries or retailers offer discounted rates, please do not believe that they are getting a kickback or deal. Some companies decide to eat some of the costs as a form of their business.

Shipping costs truly are going up each year, regardless of whether you ship direct or you use a third-party shipper.

It cost me well over $50 to ship a case. To the east coast, whether I ship direct or through third-party shipper. Those are my true costs and I’m not making any profit on it. If I choose to charge my customers last, it is eating into my profit or is being considered an extra discount to my customers.

The bottom line is it is not getting cheaper, but more expensive, to ship wines.

I’ve always been okay with shipping cost as I looked at it as a cost of loving good wine and living in a state that is a good wine wasteland. As shipping and wine cost continue to move up I suppose I’m glad my age and approaching retirement are forcing me to drastically reduce my purchases.

Crush and Morrell are $10-15 a bottle also.

Yes sad but true. Just another reason to curtail new purchases to a few favorites and drink up what is in the cellar. No wonder wine collecting as a hobby is going to soon be just another playground for the rich. Who knows, maybe it will go out of fashion and people will start collecting impossible to find Bourbon and quit building $50,000 collector wine cellars in every high end home. When you have a monopoly (or near it in the wine/spirits industry) the temptation to control everything for higher profits is just too alluring I guess.

I think this is a complicated issue given the changing state of the law as it relates to out of state shipping for retailers. It seems as though the law is changing rapidly, even at times from month to month. The large distributors are also investing huge sums in lobbying efforts to halt out of state shipping.

Virtually all of the wines that I purchase out of state cannot be found locally, which I am assuming is a large reason why many of the folks here buy wine out of state. From my perspective, I genuinely appreciate being able to buy these wines. I do keep on eye on shipping costs and take advantage of various opportunities, such as the library pass at Wine Library (which is a pretty amazing deal depending on how much wine you ship). I also buy a fair amount of wine from Crush and have found their shipping costs to be reasonable. I had a case shipped from Crush to FL in November and the total cost was $47.64, which amounts to about $3.90 per bottle. At the end of the day, we each have a choice as to whether we want to do business with a retailer and shipping costs are certainly a component.

Cory

To the extent possible, if the shipping situation through common carriers and/or third party shipping agents and the regulatory environment are not corrected, there may be market opportunities for new businesses or new segments of old businesses to cut down consumer costs.

Recently I bought 3 bottles of wine from an out-of-state retailer that initially told me the shipping cost to my home would be $60 through its regular ground drop to the area via a third party and then local delivery charge. I was shocked. When I asked who the third party was, it turns out the arrangement is with my wine storage provider and the cost to ship to storage to me dropped to $10.

Hopefully this is not just an isolated anecdote and there will be enough wiggle room within the overall landscape as it evolves to create channels for low cost out-of-state shipping to consumers again. For the time being, like the rest of you, I have increasingly confined my buying to local shops and want to understand shipping costs up front.