Shipping is getting more expensive and I find myself passing on allocations I used to buy due to the cost of shipping
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while often times not an impediment for myself it is certainly an incentive to order more from a release to drive down the shipping
Most definitely. I skipped the last Marcassin offer for that reason. Rochioli is getting there as well.
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Iām guessing you really donāt want the wine and/or the wine is overpriced already.
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From a winery perspective, itās getting worse and worse.
If you are selling > $200ābottles of wine, itās not a big deal as a % of total cost. But if your bottle prices are < $75, itās becoming more and more challenging to further subsidize these costs.
I will say that some of the shipping costs Iāve seen quoted on this board are truly outrageousā¦ I do not believe wineries are using these as āprofit centersā per se but many 3rd party shippers seem to really jack up pricing.
And until somebody truly says to the winery that theyāre not gonna accept this, the wineries will continue to charge what they do.
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I can get European wines at a cheaper price on the East Coast than on the West Coast. That is not surprising. What is surprising is that East Coast retailers (including FL) can get wines to me in WA for less shipping costs than retailers in OR or CA.
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I think this is right, on the margin. Take a somewhat expensive wine and then add $10/bottle or more and it becomes that much less attractive.
Overall the cost of shipping has contributed to a decrease in purchases, which is a good thing in my case.
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I did want the wine, but it was/is at the top of what I was willing to pay. The shipping cost but it over what Iām comfortable paying
Again, this is just perspective. Sometimes I wonder if wineries actually sit down and do the numbers or think like a customer? Itās a mystery to me why shipping isnāt free on a case.
Letās do the math: I pay $54.23 for most all my East Coast full case shipments. Yes, I have great discount with FedEx, but any winery can negotiate that. Itās expensive still, of course, but itās $4.51/bottle - I think within the realm of acceptance.
My shipping is free for a case. So I eat that $54.23. Bad, right? Well, on a $32 wine, my wholesale price would have been in the $12-17 range. Even using the highest wholesale price (which you never get 'cause they wanna pocket as much as they can), $17x12 = $210. This way, DTC, still gets you $120 ahead even if you eat the shipping. And these customers pay ahead of time, not drag it out 60 days like most distr. Whatās the cost of liquidity?
So, Iām sorry, winery math aināt fully math-ing for me. I know it sucks, but the alternative is way, way worse. Just include it and remove the barrier for the customer on a case. Every abandoned cart at checkout, is a potential lost customer and a barrier for re-buy.
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That and once you factor in samples, market visits, and everything else that goes into selling the wine through the 2nd tier youāre still substantially ahead.
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One more thing, wineries always bi*ch about the cost of making wine and shipping (and I get it), but the reality is that most of them also use:
- The most expensive custom crush facility they can possibly get their hands on.
- They use fulfillment centers that charge an arm and a leg to package and ship their wines.
- They ship using expensive third party compliant shippers.
- They buy glass from Saverglass and complain about the glass prices.
- They buy sniffed 48mm corks from Lafitte at $1/cork and complain about the cork prices.
- They ground transport everything because theyāre too lazy to get in the truck and actually drop the bins off or pick up the grapes.
Etc, etc. There are ways. You just gotta work at it a bit. Itās a game of inches.
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You forgot the cardboard prices.
The name of the game is profit margin and not gross profit. Itās why Frito-Lay, Unilever, and every other conglomerate jack up prices until the breaking point whereby suddenly consumer demand is unexpectedly āsofteningā.
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@Adam_Frisch does that include your shipping materials cost? What about your time to pack and ship?
Cheers
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No, it doesnāt include that. Materials are about $3, box, Iād say. Maybe $5 at the top. I donāt count any of that - or my time. I suppose I should, but I donāt. If I counted my time, Iād make less than working at McDonalds, so why depress myself further? 
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At this point in my life (already overstuffed cellar and looking to pare down on wine purchasing anyway), if thereās a wine Iām on the fence about, seeing shipping + tax total in the cart has led me to back out of many purchases
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I hear you - but again, if the price point of the wine is āreasonableā, then shipping becomes a huge issue for the producer. Hope this makes sense . .
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I would say the rising cost per bottle is my reason for not buying v the cost of shipping. If I bought something that cost X a couple years ago and now itās XX, Iām questioning buying it. Most of that is out of Napa and the wild price increases.
Thereās too much wine around the world to get hung up on one overpriced region.
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But how much is that damn wax capsuleā¦? 
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The only cost Iām worried about is the final cost per bottle. I almost backed out of my 001 purchase when shipping cost for 3 bottles was over $50. So yeah as a percentage its not that much but really $50 for 3 bottles? An btw, for 6 bottle it was over $100. Give me a break! I can ship a full case coast to coast for over half that price. 
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