I am going to be in St Joseph, Missouri, in August for a friend’s museum opening. This is my home town and there will be lots of friends coming in for this. Needless to say, the best wine list in town is dreary at best. But corkage is possible and cheap. So I want to send wine. But boy overnight shipping from the west or east coasts to Missouri is expensive! Is there any other way to do this? (I am flying Southwest and bought my ticket before a charge for checked bags so I could take some with me. But taking an entire case would be physically difficult for me as I cannot lift a case any longer.)
Skycap, $20? Or are there places other than the airport where you will have to lug it?
Try https://www.pirateship.com/. Discounted FedEx and UPS labels. I’ve been 100% happy with them but have never sent alcohol. I think you’d have to hide it was wine even if shipping to yourself?
David’s idea is the right one. Especially given that your private shipment of wine is always at risk of being seized (although I suspect that with your contacts with local retailers you could have them do the shipping lawfully for you)
well, it’s getting the case out the door at all - not just getting it from the cab to where bags are checked - and then getting it from baggage pickup, into the rental car (and I’ll have to take a shuttle from the terminal to the car rental place) and into where I’m staying. Hey, I’m a weak old woman! With a bad disk c5/6 so I don’t lift cases of wine for more than 5 seconds.
Buy one of those do-hickeys Todd sells. It is clumsy, but for the kind of portages you are talking about, it will work. It certainly made my life easier when I used to take cases of wine home from France. There are more expensive do-hickeys that look even easier to use.
A Wine Check or any of the higher end rolling wine luggage makes it easy to roll the case around, but you still have to lift it into and out of the car on each end.
I would hire a car to take me to the airport. The driver will load/unload the box from the car. Skycap in DC to get from car to bag check and in MO to get from bag check to taxi. Bellman at hotel to get it from the taxi to your room.
Might cost more in tips than sending it UPS ($40 for 3-day ground on pirateship.com plus $5-6 for a home pickup), but nothing illegal about taking it with you. Plus if it’s going in this weather I would take it with rather than send it 3-day.
Very happy with the 12 bottle vin valise I purchased not too long ago - very very maneuverable. I have wine checks as well and have used them - but when traveling with other bags - and a 3 year old - the lack of maneuvering is a big deal.
Call Uber, ask the driver to get the wine check down your stoop, tip him on the drive to the airport, When he gets it out of his trunk at the airport, wheel it to check in. At the other end, look helpless at the luggage return and someone will help you get it off the conveyor. Wheel it to the cab or Uber and you’re done.