They aren’t making money at that price.
It’s getting that stupid to ship.
It’s usually not the winery that’s making money but the third party shipper.
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This part, the race to $200, $300 and beyond. The majority of my collection is Napa cab with the bulk of that prior to $200+ bottles; I just don’t know how the price per bottle is sustainable. Maybe they have been shielded by all of the wealth in the Bay Area buying wines.
I’ll buy what I can going forward but there’s a point where its fiscally irresponsible to continue buying at those price points.
The shipping conversation is typically because they’re paying a 3rd party to store, pack and ship the wines + the cost of actual shipping.
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This resonates - I get more frustrated with retailers when it feels like they’re hiding the ball a little bit with shipping and handling costs, and have a decreasing list of places I buy as well. i.e. sometimes feel like the listed price is low compared to other retailers because handling/general overhead isn’t being included and then gets tacked onto the backend.
With wineries themselves, between the manpower and the licensing I get that it can be tough. Would phrase it more as I appreciate producers who really seem to make an effort (Goodfellow w/ flat rate cold chain shipping is definitely one to be praised). Get not everyone wants to/can eat costs to do that.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again - it is more expensive to use a third party shipper. Most wineries do so to farm this out and to not handle it themselves, so yes, you would expect these expenses to be higher. The question is whether wineries should be willing to offset these charges somehow so they don’t seem out of whack. Also, every third party shipper is different and charges different amounts - there might be some that are just seriously more expensive because of the services that they offer, but at the end of the day, should the consumer pay for this? Tricky question and one without answers - but it’s clear that many consuners are not happy with the increases they are seeing . . .
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Yes, of course, if you insert another profit center into the supply chain, end costs go up. You’re not just paying for raw materials and labor, you are also paying the margin for the third party company and their owners.
So that creates a wide discrepancy between these arrangements and wineries who ship themselves and actually subsidize the shipping cost to some degree. It’s nowhere near apples to apples.
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Somewhat. Carneros Inn was $1200-1500, Westinh $500 and Hilton $350.
It was very quiet. 15-20 people at Slanted Door for lunch. It is huge probably has capacity for 75-100+
How significant is foreign tourism to Napa? Because I’d have to imagine that particular sector isn’t going to be booming for a few years.
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I’ve seen some better rates. Did you visit on the weekend?
But . . . the consumer does not care about these ‘added costs’ - they just care about what they are being charged. I subsidize shipping costs even though I use a third party shipper - my costs to the consumer are oftentimes higher than I wished they were, but I feel it is important to get wines into their hands as ‘reasonably’ as possible.
It’s not an easy discussion to have here - or anywhere else . . .
Cheers
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We are very concerned about the tourism impact. Last year we had many visitors from Canada and Australia. Just received some datapoints and flight bookings to/from Canada through end of summer are down about 75% over last year. European travel (bookings to-date) are down about 45%.
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That has to be hurting the wineries too.
Tourism is key.
this past weekend
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I can only speak for myself, and relay what I have seen on this board, but I don’t believe this is always the case. As long as (some) people know what the line item is for shipping, it leaves a taste in the mouth be that a good or bad one. See, e.g., the Sandlands thread where people were complaining about shipping because of its ratio to the cost of the wines.
Good point - and I was going to mention something about that ratio - as a producer of wines generally under $50, the shipping charges seem higher as a percentage vs wineries that are charging $100+ for sure
Cheers
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Thanks. Holiday weekend - that explains the higher rates.
From a customer psychology perspective, if it was me - I’d most likely absorb part of the logo costs (even if that means increasing the price of the wines a bit), and perhaps offer customer who pick up in person something extra.
It always surprises me (incl. here) that anyone would just focus on the purchase prices. In the end the only thing that matters is the total cost of getting the wines.
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Not a winery, but — A retailer tried to charge me $58 to ship two mags from WA to CA; I canceled the order.
I just did a UPS quote for Seattle to Los Angeles for what would be a box with the approximate weight and dimensions of a dual magnum shipper, and without residential or alcohol surcharges it was $44. Add in the expected surcharges and cost of a shipper, and $58 isn’t so far off.
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I just shipped a package to Seattle from much further than Los Angeles and it was $30 to ship a 20 lb package via ups. Sure there is an additional cost for alcohol and the cost of the shipper, but most wineries aren’t paying full price for shipping either.