I was having a conversation with a friend in the industry and one of the topics that came up was the cost of shipping a case of wine (the current rate they mentioned was a multiple of what I remember just 5 years ago) and they wanted to get my thoughts on what I considered would be attractive to customers, as well as sustainable from a cost a winery would be absorbing if they choose to ship for less than cost. What shipping policies are being experienced in Napa Valley? Thanks in advance.
The ones I’ve dealt with recently tend to offer discounted shipping on full-case quantities with anything from free shipping to flat-rate in the $10-25 range. Higher end wineries don’t discount as much, and I’ve seen ground shipping be in the $40-60 range to east coast (Charlotte area). Some have wine stored in a couple regional warehouses, which can reduce the cost and transit time of shipping individual orders (though of course, they then have the cost of shipping, handling, and storage of inventory in those warehouses).
Most wineries charge $25-35 (depending with how many bottles you purchased).
I believe it’s quite expensive even though I live in the LA area so I’d prefer to find wine in my local area to avoid shipping costs. Definitely adds up if you’re only looking for one bottle and that $200 wine just became a $255+ wine after taxes and shipping.
$19 to $130.
Everyone is used to the Amazon model of free shipping though at the end of the day, the shipping isn’t free, it is baked into the cost of Prime, the product itself, etc - nothing is free. People are also trained that the cost of goods will rise. If I were a winery owner that had a large DTC business model, which I am not, I’d price my bottles with shipping basically included in the price. Simple math:
$30 a bottle x 12 bottles = $360
Shipping a case = $50
Total = $410
Why not just call it $34/bottle with free shipping? Customers “love” free shipping. This may cause some issues at the retail level but I think it is just a new floor price for that label. I’ve heard that shipping less than 12 bottles costs more per bottle, ok, so figure out that magic # and just add that to the overall cost. So many people are trained to look for free shipping.
I do try my best to break it up and look at the bottle + shipping cost and I say do I want to spend that much per bottle so I factor in shipping on a per bottle cost basis.
Recently CA to NJ from a winery (not including BerserkerDay purchases):
6 pack = $30
6 pack = $44
Scherrer is usually $3-$4/bottle flat fee doesn’t matter how many bottles
** Unless doing volume shipping I’d have to think its more expensive to ship a case of wine from CA to the East Coast than $50 as quoted above. **
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Just got Paul Hobbs offer today and it’s free shipping with a case order. Essentially would work out to buy 11 get one free, and these kinds of promotions always have me stretching in my mind to justify buying more wine to hit that free ship threshold. Not logical, but there you have it.
$20-40 for ground shipping to MN.
$30-80 for 2-day air to MN.
A couple of the smaller ones still charge a flat rate per bottle ($3-4/btl)
Sometimes see free shipping for a case, sometimes it takes 2 cases to get the free shipping, in Saxum’s case the shipping is always free.
More and more, winery owners/managers mention in their update emails that they are working on or have worked out bulk-shipping prices with a specific supplier. It’s been on their minds and they’re putting effort into it.
Ordered direct from Frog’s Leap. $17 for a 3-pack.
Full price on ground to Maryland seems to be between $6.50 to $7.00 per bottle for case shipping ($78-$84/case). I’ve paid full price and as low as $1 shipping and a lot of in between. Personally, I’d rather wineries not subsidize shipping. Price the wines appropriately and charge their full cost on shipping. If the wines are worth the price, I will pay the shipping required.
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I do shipping included on every order of 6 bottles or more. And I have a flat $20 fee below that. Does it cover my costs for shipping? Hell no, it’s often 3x times that. But they way I see it - it sure beats participating in the 3-tier system where I’d have to accommodate not one, but two middlemen’s 30-35% margin…
As was discussed in the BD threads, shipping wine sucks! And as was discussed in the Sandlands thread, it’s even a bigger challenge when your wines are 'value priced ’
If you spend $75+ on a bottle of wine and you’re purchasing cases for $1,000+, the idea of spending >$50 on shipping doesn’t seem like such a big deal. Those same shipping costs when that case is <$500 is another deal psychologically.
Cheers
Mostly $40 to $60 a case for ground to the east coast.
K&L and Winebid are probably at the top of the volume discount pyramid and they have been $38-45 over the past 2 years to DC. Before Covid, k&l was as low as $32/case.
We subsidize shipping quite heavily. The per bottle flat fee is our way of making the website work without spending tens of thousands of dollars on the site. Most people seem to build full cases anyway, which still ends up costing us more than we charge to ship them (not including labor to pack the wine or shipping containers).
Costs have risen dramatically recently, so we will have to revisit our rates soon. What really hurts is when we get 10-15 single bottle orders as gifts to separate addresses from the same person. That is rare, thankfully.
I don’t build shipping cost into bottle cost. Those who can pick up from the winery don’t need to subsidize the services required by those far away. That’s my job 
. Plus, any wines in the wholesale chain are not participating in the direct to customer shipping service. I see no reason for that to get built into and marked up into the final cost to the end consumer at a restaurant or wine shop.
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Being from Alaska I am very sensitive to shipping costs. The range of shipping costs I have paid in the past 12 month range from $0 to $16/bottle. As mentioned by others the high costs are for high end bottles. I must say though that through the years my purchases have been skewed to Wineries with lower shipping costs. Some of the lower costs are the result of the winery choosing to subsidize shipping and sometimes it is because the winery finds less expensive shipping methods.
I do really appreciate producers who offer the temp control ground method as it’s a great blend of not risky for the wines but also not paying to overnight a 60lb brick.
Even better are producers that will allow 3rd party shippers to pick up. Vine Vault charges me, I think, $55 per box (so full case in cardboard or 3 pack OWC - same price) for temp control shipping door to door from producer’s pickup point to my locker in Atlanta. So 12 months/year I can get wine picked up and not worry at all about the weather. It’s also better for the environment because the wine goes by pallet and can be packed in regular wine boxes not huge bulky shippers. And the van doesn’t go until it’s full (which doesn’t bother me, I’m not buying wine to drink right away for the most part).
I’ve gotten better about logging actual tax and shipping split per bottle in Cellar Tracker so I know true cost of bottles. For some it makes the value shine more. For others it does the opposite. Some small club shipments add $10 a bottle to price and there are wines that seem like a good deal at $50 but not at $60. Agree that more expensive bottles make it matter less, but the best thing to do is track it and apply your own value calculation to it – just knowing to compare real costs to real costs, not total cost to just the bottle cost.
Unfortunately this seems like the new normal now 