4/19 UPS Stores NOT Shipping

I realize there are a lot of threads regarding shipping but I received an email this morning from someone that went to a UPS store today and apparently a new policy with the signs below posted all over the stores… The clerk said there will be no more wine shipments at all UPS stores


"UPS stores will no longer accept any drop off wine shipments, either prepaid, or unpaid for us to ship” >

just called the local UPS store in Sonoma: confirmed. they will no longer ship wine. i asked how long this policy had been in effect, and they said the policy had been implemented, “…in the last couple of weeks.”

That is very strange indeed - but this does not affect UPS shipping wine in general, correct? The UPS stores are franchises IIRC and are not owned by UPS. I wonder if you can drop them off at UPS Centers, not stores? Anyone?

Things are going to get messier and messier regarding this me thinks . . .

good question regarding UPS Centers. i’ll see if i can dig up some info there. as for UPS shipping policy:

UPS Wine Program
UPS provides wine shipping services for approved customers who are licensed to ship wine. Select the links below to learn more about our program.

Permissible Shipments
All wine shippers must enter into a UPS Agreement for Approved Wine Shippers.

All wine shippers must be licensed and authorized to ship according to the applicable federal or state laws and regulations of the origin and destination states.

Important Updates

Effective April 17, 2017

i’m hoping this doesn’t affect customers who request their wine club shipments (for example) be dropped at local UPS stores instead of residences or businesses.

Hmmmm…as the famous ChickenLittle once screamed “The sky is falling/The sky is falling”.
Or, at least, maybe it’s just sagging a bit.
I would guess that UPS will continue to do pickups at wineries and would accept shipments at UPS Centers.
I can’t imagine UPS would entirely abandon the wine shipping to FedEx. But who knows?? I don’t.
Tom

follow up for Larry:

even if the Stores were owned as a franchise, which i don’t think is the case, their in-store policies would be dictated by the company. further, if someone walked into a UPS Center/Hub and wanted to ship wine, they would have to be a licensed shipper. UPS wouldn’t take the package if they were not.

HTH

I don’t think that they will refuse wines that are shipped to them - that’s not what the policy states. But let’s hope that remains the case - that would SUCK

Cheers

Not sure about everywhere but I have never been able to have wine shipped to a UPS store. It can only be held/shipped to a UPS shipping depot (or whatever it’s called).

Also, I do have a box waiting for pickup that was shipped by a berserker day winery and arrived this week. So shipping via UPS from California was still possible last week.

it’s not going to make a difference in how (licensed) wineries move their product DTC.

i think it will more directly affect Commerce Corner transactions.

FWIW, I’ve had wine shipments sent directly to a local UPS Store for pickup by GSO in the Los Angeles region. Just had to pay a $5 charge since it wasn’t a UPS delivery.

I receive wine from any number of shippers at a UPS package store, although I have to rent a mailbox from them. As noted, they are franchisees, so don’t care which parcel service delivers the package as that service is not a UPS function (they also send faxes, provide copy services, take passport photos, etc.).

-Al

If you have a PO Box at one of their stores you can have wine shipped to that address.

That is correct (for now, anyway). But UPS Stores have never, in my experience, let you have wine delivered there if you are not a customer of the store, even if you are a MyChoice customer. When UPS rolled out the option of redirecting to a local UPS store for MyChoice customers, alcohol shipments were specifically excluded.

Yup , for me and you on LI for sure . Have a pickup at Uniondale right now .

Same here where I live in Maryland. $5 a box.

How much is a po box at a ups store ?

This would help a lot

Will wineries ship to a po box though ? I thought that was excluded due to the signature issue

I think a ups store has a physical normal address, they tout that as an advantage for business in their advertising if I remember correctly

I think my current rate for a PO box in a UPS package store is $26 per month. I use it for all of my packages, not just wine, because I would rarely be home when a package delivery is attempted. Also, it’s about half a mile from home.

-Al

I live in Omaha, NE and have a lot of my wine shipped to a UPS Store across the river in Iowa. Wineries don’t add sales tax on shipments into Iowa so the 7% savings can significant for the extra 5 minute drive especially on the Scarecrow, Schrader, Carter, and Shafer Hillside shipments I get. I do not have to maintain a PO box at the store and just pay a $7.50 fee per pickup for the convenience.

Be aware that state alcohol wholesalers and regulators (yes, they are supposedly separate of each other) are likely reading these posts.