This is the internet, Sir, and I am duty-bound to attack your comments, no matter how reasonable they may be.
May I begin by expressing distrust for your character and motives . . .
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You’re not very good at this!
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A few years back I started my own thread here Start my own shipping about this very topic. Between me, Marcus and Larry, we could totally employ our own driver, bear the full cost of a Sprinter van, cold chain from door-to-door and prob save money. We are fast approaching the scenario where even a smaller winery will save money employing their own delivery service, even nationwide.
Here’s the one thing - we are today paying for speed. But our customers don’t give a sh** about that - they just care that it gets there cold chain and in good quality. So why not have a service that consolidates shipments and take the speediness out of the cost equation?
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Agreed I have had wineres tell me… “I can get you your order right away for an extra charge” My response… It’s okay just wait until it is cool and safe to ship and send everything together I’m in no rush…
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They have an excellent set of producers they represent. Many of my favorite peers are in their offerings.
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Am I the only one that was picturing a new series for Frank and Mike from American Pickers?
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That’s a no go for Frank with his back issues.
I am not in the states, but if I was, then I’d be very happy with the above as well.
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In another life when I don’t have an excellent career, a loving spouse, and two youngish kids, I’d be putting some serious thought into securing a business loan and starting a new venture to do just that. Year-round, spend a week cruising through the [Willamette / Walla Walla etc. etc.] Valley, picking up smaller shipments for wineries, and then delivering them to certain pickup points. I know, I know, it would be difficult to scale and it’s nowhere near a clear business plan, but still…
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Phew, I thought you would say something crazy like become a winemaker.
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I’m in Frog’s Leap 3 bottle red wine club. I emailed them a few days ago to see if they could hold the wine and send me one case a year, rather than 3 bottles every quarter at $35 shipping. No response yet, but I may cancel my membership of 20 years or so if this doesn’t work. It may be too much of a logistics problem for them, but I don’t think I want to keep paying $140 a year to ship the equivalent of a case of wine. (particularly as a club, where I wouldn’t purchase all those varietals if given the choice)
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Curious - how much effort, if any, do wineries put into reviewing their shipping destinations to see if there are economies of scale or other ways to cut down on cost and packaging?
I have a locker at a wine storage facility, and I see shipments come in all the time from one winery for multiple people. Everyone has their own box, often times 3 or 6 bottle shippers (styro as well). Sure, some people don’t want to mix their bottles up with someone else, but it seems like there could be a few ways to reduce costs and waste. Combine all orders and send together on a pallet? Combine bottles in larger packaging if the recipients give you the ok? Probably other things you could do as well.
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Hey Todd,
It’s definitely possible. Nathan is going to reach out to you to coordinate the details. We’re switching to a new e-commerce provider and overhauling our website later this fall, which should help make customizations a lot easier. I appreciate your being part of the club for so long!
Looking forward, we’re part of a group of wineries that is constructing a warehouse in KY as a new hub for wholesale and DtC shipments, which should help make things cheaper and faster for a lot more folks, not to mention more seasonally available and less GHG intensive.
Rory
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That absolutely is fair. Though generally I am comparing winery price to the price at K&L, which is a mile and a half from my house.
I think the additional factor I most consider is maintaining a relationship with the winery.
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Marcus,
Thank you for your comments. They have been very informative regarding the business from the winery perspective. Also, since you are the winemaker commenting, I want to be clear that the topic was not intended as a shot at wineries. I understand that everyone is trying to make a living.
Kevin
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I’m realizing from this discussion that I’m very lucky to be close enough to the few domestic producers I buy from to pick up, or have delivered pretty cheaply, as well as some pretty good small retailers. I feel for those across the country that have to deal with shipping costs and weather. OTOH, all you guys with basement cellars need to stop whining, compared with the annual storage locker costs I have to pay 
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Hi Kevin,
No offense was taken on my part. Tbh, I think this is a really important topic and appreciate your honesty.
As noted above, dtc is a very important part of our ability to make the winery work. As shipping prices have been rising, it leaves Megan and I extremely frustrated. Over the past 10 years, the increases have definitely been faster than inflation.
At some point this can only lead to the choices the OP makes. Or only high priced wines can ship (this is already kind of the case) anywhere.
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We do two things.
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we hold wines for consumers until they have a full case, if they choose to. This helps with cost per bottle, but it’s also good for the planet if we ship more but less frequently.
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if someone wants to combine orders with another Berserker, we’ll definitely do that too. It saves them money, saves us a bit too.
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It would be great to have some sort of combined shipping between producers of the same region.
For example I buy a 3-pack from 4-5 Napa wineries. It sucks paying shipping on 3 bottles five times over. If there was a consolidated shipping process between wineries that would be phenomenal. I bet some of my orders are next to each other in the same warehouse.
Not sure if such a service exists or has already been mentioned up thread.
I think this was discussed on a BerserkerDay thread, and it is not legally possible. It had something to do with shipping licenses for wineries vs retail stores.
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