Let my WDC shipping end in May. No regrets. Would have one so anyway since all the best deals no longer apply in my state, but at least I don’t have to lament on missing out on them lately.
They have shifted some promotional efforts to card linked programs; perhaps those are better targeted than broadly available - and stackable - coupons. However I think the core Stewardship driven biz model is flawed. Letting ‘members’ get $10 bottles be shipped for free doesn’t work with current FedEx costs, even if that “$10” bottle is only a $6 wine. And even then, eventually the low information WDC customer does eventually notice there is a big difference between the prices their site charges, vs. other vendors whether bricks & mortar, or online.
My guess is they do just fine on average gross margins (pre-shipping expenses) even with the coupons. I agree though, the combination of their shipping model and coupon structures is crazy. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had 4+ separate packages from them delivered on the same day. They should either change the coupon structure so I have an incentive to order more at once, or change the shipping structure to consolidate across orders. Hopefully the new warehouses they’ve invested in were built with the awareness that storage+order consolidation is clearly a better strategy.
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To be fair, not even Amazon consolidates separate orders placed concurrently. That being said, they have orders of magnitude more warehouses and logistical challenges than WDC. But it’s a bit telling that this is an obvious operational optimization yet their IT and logistics systems can’t handle it.
I don’t think they can ‘optimize’ their way out of this. My feel is they’ll have to adjust the Stewardship proposition - maybe make it so that it only works on $75 minimum orders or something. Or alter it so that they only ship out once 6 bottles or something like that have been accumulated and ordered (like Amazon’s single delivery day), but that would come at the expense of giving customers some storage, which itself is a pain.
Still I enjoyed it while it lasted. And some props to WDC for the website as it’s pretty good I think. Sure it’s not K&L, but compared to other retailers, it’s very respectable.
WDC NY warehouse find, a couple left as of posting this. 2018 Azelia Barolo Cerretta @ $67 - ordered two earlier and can confirm that it is the Cerretta bottling.
damn good find, but shows two available then doesn’t let me check out. oh well
I’ve been hoping Almaviva’s second wine, Epu, would be available in the US some day, and that day is finally here! It’s available on First Bottle Wines for less ($55) than I purchased the 2015 for at the winery. Good deal!
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So nothing on cash back portals for WDC ![[head-bang.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/b1cd199e4b2b2988b5107c3c9598fd28dc92a776.gif "[head-bang.gif]"){kind=small}
anyway Zachy’s is, at least, trying
their “4 ways to save sale” have some discounts and extra 20% plus free shipping for orders over 2.5K, code EXTRA20SHIP
here:
https://www.zachys.com/4-ways-to-save
Some pretty good deals to be had with the extra 20% off…got excited then saw the $2,500 minimum lol.
“Orders must ship immediately”.
Count me out.
Yeah Zachys is tough if not local
$2,500 is about what they charge to ship to me 3 states away
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Topcashback is 5% for WDC. Always worked for me.
Just a heads up — I used a Zachy’s AmEx offer on Zachys DC and the offer went through. I know that, in the past, others have said that it wouldn’t work so maybe terms got switched it up. YMMV, obviously.
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Not exactly wine, but First Bottle has Heavensake Junmai Daiginjo sake for 35/bottle. That plus the amex offer of 60 off 200 is a very nice deal if you are in the market.
A $10 referral code for any first time buyers:
did anyone successfully use the EXTRA20SHIP code at zachy’s? I can’t get it to work. It’s still advertised on the homepage so I don’t think it expired.
$2500 minimum
Zachys website yesterday was slower than dail-up in the ‘90’s
1200?