I have done a lot of shipping (as a retailer) and received a lot of wine, and I’ve never seen a box like that. I even purchased packaging to ship as a retailer and was never offered such a thing.
The price you mentioned seems reasonable for two boxes, inserts, and cost of shipping.
I’ve heard that Burgundy is dead at Binny’s.
-Al
Could be. I’m one of those probably in the minority where my opinion of Burgundy is that I “don’t get it”. It’s nice, but a $100 bottle or a $2,500 bottle (I’ve had the latter several times) just doesn’t blow wind up my skirt. Good for me, so I’m not spending that kind of dough. Bordeaux is bad enough. 
Just shipped a case ground from WineBid for $45. Seems reasonable. Last week, 8 bottles from ZachysNY at $35. Also reasonable.
There are some outliers, but most of the retailers and auction houses I buy from have done an admirable job controlling shipping costs all things considered. I wait, not always patiently, for shipping season and rarely, if ever, do 2-3day shipping.
This thread should be changed to “Outrageous Shipping Charges” as this phenomenon isn’t unique to wine. I’m used to pay $50/case shipped ground across the US. higher or lower by 20% might warrant a discussion, but in general, shipping stuff is expensive!
Most of these shipping costs mentioned are close to true non subsidized (via producer / retailer) shipping costs.
Add mags, price goes up and additional boxes required. Ship via 2-3 Day and rates go way up.
I put this in the Beta thread when people were complaining about shipping costs (I am not ITB at all, just a buyer). I think its just UPS/Fedex increasing prices because of fuel, labor costs, etc.
From my previous post 1 month ago:
For fun I just put in a 6lb package 2 day from Napa to my home in NJ on Fedex.com - 2 day comes out to $106.70
I figure a bottle of wine is a bit over 2.5lbs so 6lbs plus a box/stuff inside, etc.
So I got charged $50 or $55 for 2 bottles from Beta which is about half of the published cost. Expensive yes, but I doubt its a profit center for the winery. Maybe he gets a discount for volume shipping but I would think shipping wine probably comes with a few extra insurances and costs to the shipping so who knows.
I’m surprised to see so many people disappointed with prices to ship a couple bottles by plane accross the country. It’s inefficient and expensive. I generally only ship in quanties of 10 or 12 and almost always within my state and shipping from retail has always been pretty reasonable.
When calculating shipping costs, remember the costs of the shipping box and the insurance as well.
The cost of a pick up and for the delivery is basically the same for a case or a bottle, so it is the transit costs in between and discount structures you are objecting to.
Get ready Fed Ex is raising rates.
The insane shipping from Benchmark is exactly why I will not be ordering from them. I was interested in a single bottle and it was $48 to ship one bottle to New York.
This is ALL shipping nowadays, and it’s killing small businesses. Giants like Amazon, Wal-Mart, Wayfair, etc get minuscule rates because of volume, everybody else is paying surcharges for fuel, Covid, staffing, mileage, residential, plus greatly increased rates on both weight AND dimensional weight.
It’s stifling.
It’s not getting any easier to ship wines - that’s for sure. Our costs have gone up a bit - though we have chosen to ‘eat’ some of those costs.
Just note that there are plenty of wineries like me that use 3rd party shippers and therefore can charged some for their services - BUT rates are not that much more than if we decided to take it all in house. Wineries that are using shipping as a profit center and claiming that it’s due to ‘3ed party shippers’ are simply not being as fair with you as consumers as they should be. Period.
Rant over . . .
Cheers
Our shipping rates are currently about $145 for 2 day air on a case going cross country.
Being in Alaska… believe me I feel your pain. I am sure most of you are aware that some wineries and retailers do better than others. For me in Alaska, where it all comes by air, my cost for shipping a case varies from $0 to nearly $20 per bottle. needless to say this has a bearing on what I buy and from who.
I must say I’ve never heard of a winery using shipping as a profit Center. Name some.
It doesn’t sound like he’s saying some wineries are, just that if they were it would be unfair.
My comment was TIC, in memory of a departed Berserker.
-Al
IMO Benchmark has always had eyebrow-raising shipping costs. I just cant bring myself to order from them any more because of it.
Paid $66.28/case yesterday from Portland, OR to Virginia for ground shipping via FedEx to residential. That’s certainly higher than in the past but is perfectly reasonable in the current shipping market.
Yesterday I paid $5.999 for diesel. It was the first time it’s been under $6/gal since Russia invaded Ukraine.