"The Man" is blocking wine shipments from NY to CA

WINE TALK
21

I imagine this might be backlash from the fact that NY sent letters to out of state retailers telling them to not send wine into their state. We haven’t shipped to NY since and that was about ~2 years ago. I know of at least one retailer to lose their FedEx credentials for shipping to NY after these letters.

However, it might be a state by state issue. California with its retailers interest blocking NY out of state retailer shipments. As I received in DC a FedEx package from a NYC retailer originating from their NY street address. DC is very wine shipment friendly so that is why I was thinking this may be a state by state battle.

This has been a very frustrating development of the last few years.

22

damn, I have 2 cases in transit from NY right now.

23

That is good to hear Curt. I heard of one person who was not so lucky. Maybe someone who didn’t get the message or a later shipment? Or maybe the story got exaggerated by the time I heard it second hand. I don’t even remember who it was. Most everyone switched from the Martinsburg WV UPS store to one in Fairfax VA after that happened. About the same drive time off-peak, but not nearly as pretty.

24

Morrell should never have shipped the package. And whoever decided to ship it a second time using the same carrier but expecting different results should be taken out back and shot.

My (educated) guess is that a UPS employee in their Oakland warehouse thought the shape of the shipping carton indicated that the contents were probably wine. This person could just as easily have let the package be delivered and everyone would have been happy, but instead they decided to exercise what little power they have by forcing the shipment to be returned to the sender. I’m a wine retailer who has shipped a great deal of wine over the years and this exact same thing started happening to me last winter. I now use UPS as infrequently as possible. By the way, when UPS returned the package Morrell had to pay for shipping it from California back to New York. A classic case of adding insult to injury.

25

i had a pretty crazy experience with a wine shipment coming from NYC in the last couple weeks too. it was picked up, held in the UPS warehouse in NY for two days before shipping just in time to arrive here friday night after closing time. was recalled by the retailer but still sat in the warehouse here in SC over the weekend (85 degree days those days) then shipped back. it sat in a warehouse there for three days, and then instead of being returned to the retailer it was RE-SHIPPED to me without notification. arrived home to a door tag and it sat on a truck another night before i picked it up. it took us a whole day to figure out what even happened.

26

Stand by: Alabama is seizing shipments and returning them to the “shipper/retailer.”

27

Yep. Been there, done that. Got confiscated in Hagerstown at the UPS depot.

28

The owner of the UPS store in Martinsburg shut it all done. His lawyer pointed out that, technically, the wine had to be shipped to a WV resident. Of which none of use were. I looked through their record book once and recognized names from all over the East Coast.

29

Ship to residential or ABC?

30

Then make that two, as my UPS driver, “Rapping Rodney”, goes out of his way to make sure I get my wine. If I am not home to sign for it, I can meet him at the local UPS store at 6:00 to pick it up. When I worked in Akron, the guys at that distribution center were very much into wine, and we would have long discussions about the wine I was picking up. YMMV

31

Some years ago I had all my wine shipped to a licensed wine warehouse. Not had any trouble since, and not had to wait around needing to sign something.

32

I seem to be having an issue with Fed Ex right now on a Wine Bid shipment coming from CA. The package is now local, but they won’t deliver it. This is the first issue I have had and it changes everything.

33

Will they allow you to pick it up?

34

Interestingly, I received two “Local delivery restriction - delivery not attempted” notices. There was also a personalized message that said “If you need to change the address, please contact Winebid at …”. This morning I went online and changed it to be picked up at a local Fed-Ex location very near to my office. The box was just delivered to my office.

Robert, what do most people call you? (sorry for teeing this one up) I see Alf, Bobby, Robert…

35

Robert

The rest are just nicknames from poseurs trying to curry favor. [wow.gif]

36

Godfather.

37

I received two shipments today from NY retailers.

38

I eventually got my wine from Morrell via Fedex.