Winery Shipping Cost Procedures

[David_Bu3ker]

Distance also has to be factored in.

Wineries are not living or dying by jacking up shipping costs.

[ykwon]

I like how Bedrock does prorated shippping of $25 on any quantity. It makes me get a case every time!

[Brian_Tuite]

@M@tt G.

K&L shipping costs seems like a good benchmark as to what seems fair, since they are selling wines at a variety of price points and are not charging different prices when the wine in the bottle costs more. Shipping costs to my address are:
1 bottle ~ $12/btl
3 bottles ~ $4/btl
6 bottles ~ $3/btl
12 bottles ~ $2/btl

So 12 bottles shipped via ground costs around $24. This seems fair. The $30+ per bottle some are charging is for a service I don’t need/want plus extra profit on the wine.

Real shipping cost:
12 bottles from CA to East Coast FedEx Ground $45.00
12 bottle styro shipper $12.00

Edit:

I was going off 2 year old data, here is the latest

[Phil_S_t_a_f_f_o_r_d]

The mark up of shipping is super frustrating. After you get over that, as this thread notes, they won’t offer ground options either. Smart fall/spring ground shipping in styro is absolutely acceptable to maintain provenance (at least where I live in Chicago).

Another interesting one is wineries that insist on 2-Day but then ship in the heat. It still sits on the local delivery truck locally that second day for 4-8 hours in hot weather. Such a waste.

Really appreciate the wineries that pass along transparent shipping rates aligned to actual costs.

[Bud_Carey]

I don’t know if this was mentioned, but when I buy direct from a winery, they are (mostly) charging me full retail.
In many cases, for wines that go into distribution, I can find them in a retail shop for less than retail.
So… if I’m buying direct, I do NOT expect to get gouged for shipping since I’m already paying full retail.

Just my 2 cents.

[Al_Osterheld]

Many of the small wineries that do a lot of online sales would have difficulty surviving if all their wine sold at wholesale. They try to maximize direct sales, then hopefully can cover costs or make a modest profit on the rest of it. There are very few who treat shipping as a profit center and there are many who subsidize it.

Human nature being what it is, it’s better to charge a bit more for the wines and subsidize or cover the shipping. Of course, this is really shifting costs from purchasers far away to those who pick up at the winery or live nearby.

-Al

[Matt_G]

@Brian Tuite

Real shipping cost:
12 bottles from CA to East Coast FedEx Ground $45.00
12 bottle styro shipper $12.00

Edit:

I was going off 2 year old data, here is the latest

I recently squeaked a 15 bottle styro shipper into checked baggage on a flight and it weighed in just under the 50 pound limit. Not sure if it makes a difference in cost but a case doesn’t typically weigh 60 lbs.

[Steven_Lipman]

Ground shipping to Florida from the west coast is very dicey. Even with Monday shipping this usually takes 7 days and requires the wine to be stored somewhere over the weekend. Too many possible weather changes for this to be consistently safe. Even if ground is an option I have all high end wines sent (at a minimum) 3 day FedX.

[Brian_Tuite]

@M@tt G.

@Brian Tuite

Real shipping cost:
12 bottles from CA to East Coast FedEx Ground $45.00
12 bottle styro shipper $12.00

Edit:

I was going off 2 year old data, here is the latest

I recently squeaked a 15 bottle styro shipper into checked baggage on a flight and it weighed in just under the 50 pound limit. Not sure if it makes a difference in cost but a case doesn’t typically weigh 60 lbs.

My bad, missed the weight. Current rate for 40lbs is $47

[Matt_G]

Ok well that clears things right up then .

[Dennis_Kanagie]

@M@tt G.

I recently squeaked a 15 bottle styro shipper into checked baggage

Perfect wording.

[ClarkstonMark]

@Brian Tuite

@M@tt G.

K&L shipping costs seems like a good benchmark as to what seems fair, since they are selling wines at a variety of price points and are not charging different prices when the wine in the bottle costs more. Shipping costs to my address are:
1 bottle ~ $12/btl
3 bottles ~ $4/btl
6 bottles ~ $3/btl
12 bottles ~ $2/btl

So 12 bottles shipped via ground costs around $24. This seems fair. The $30+ per bottle some are charging is for a service I don’t need/want plus extra profit on the wine.

Real shipping cost:
12 bottles from CA to East Coast FedEx Ground $45.00
12 bottle styro shipper $12.00

Edit:

I was going off 2 year old data, here is the latest

I doubt any winery shipping 100’s of cases is paying those rates. $57 to ship ground to east coast.
But the smaller ones, ya maybe

[Andrew_Morris]

I get discounted rates on FedEx and the cost of a case across county is around $40. The shipper costs me about 7. I don’t want to ship in bad conditions and don’t really think styro is that likely to save it if the conditions are bad.

I don’t like “cost shifting” from locals to out of towners or marking up to cover shipping to make it seem like shipping is free. These seem like silly games to me.

We don’t use fulfillment, so I charge the price of the wine plus the actual deeply discounted FedEx rate plus the actual cost of the box. No handling fee. Printing the label and packing the shipper does take a few minutes, but I like to think that it is worth that to reach people outside of our area.

What bugs me is when people compare my shipping rate to others who charge much more for wine and build in the shipping cost. It seems to me unreasonable to expect me to do the same our more modestly priced wine.

[Dennis_Kanagie]

@Andrew Morris

What bugs me is when people compare my shipping rate to others who charge much more for wine and build in the shipping cost. It seems to me unreasonable to expect me to do the same our more modestly priced wine.

Reminds me of a story about a woman who had obviously failed math…

A couple walks into a store I was working around 20 years ago. They wanted to buy a cheap twin mattress set with the frame and get it delivered. Our price was $83.90 for the set (mattress and boxspring at $41.95 each piece), $35 for the frame, and $25 for local delivery. She pulls out an ad from a competitor that has the exact same product for $249.95 but the ad says “Free Frame and Delivery”. She could NOT comprehend that she was spending more for the “free” stuff than the total of our price when added up. I tried to explain it to her 3 different ways while her husband laughed. He knew she was an idiot and found it amusing that I tried to make her understand that the set with the “Free” stuff was $250, while ours, although priced à la carte, was only 143.90!!! It was a no win situation with that woman, despite the fact that any human with half a brain could figure we were over $100 cheaper.

So Andrew, maybe you should raise the price of each bottle $10, but then give “FREE SHIPPING!!!” to any purchase of 6 bottles or more. That’s often referred to as bundling when you build the cost of associated items and services in to a product.

[Andrew_Morris]

@Dennis Kanagie

@Andrew Morris

What bugs me is when people compare my shipping rate to others who charge much more for wine and build in the shipping cost. It seems to me unreasonable to expect me to do the same our more modestly priced wine.

Reminds me of a story about a woman who had obviously failed math…

A couple walks into a store I was working around 20 years ago. They wanted to buy a cheap twin mattress set with the frame and get it delivered. Our price was $83.90 for the set (mattress and boxspring at $41.95 each piece), $35 for the frame, and $25 for local delivery. She pulls out an ad from a competitor that has the exact same product for $249.95 but the ad says “Free Frame and Delivery”. She could NOT comprehend that she was spending more for the “free” stuff than the total of our price when added up. I tried to explain it to her 3 different ways while her husband laughed. He knew she was an idiot and found it amusing that I tried to make her understand that the set with the “Free” stuff was $250, while ours, although priced à la carte, was only 143.90!!! It was a no win situation with that woman, despite the fact that any human with half a brain could figure we were over $100 cheaper.

So Andrew, maybe you should raise the price of each bottle $10, but then give “FREE SHIPPING!!!” to any purchase of 6 bottles or more. That’s often referred to as bundling when you build the cost of associated items and services in to a product.

I know. The problem is that I don’t want to mess with my local customers. They are the main part of my business. On the other hand, I’d like to increase the percent of our sales that are direct to consumer.

[Dennis_Kanagie]

@Andrew Morris

@Dennis Kanagie

@Andrew Morris

What bugs me is when people compare my shipping rate to others who charge much more for wine and build in the shipping cost. It seems to me unreasonable to expect me to do the same our more modestly priced wine.

Reminds me of a story about a woman who had obviously failed math…

A couple walks into a store I was working around 20 years ago. They wanted to buy a cheap twin mattress set with the frame and get it delivered. Our price was $83.90 for the set (mattress and boxspring at $41.95 each piece), $35 for the frame, and $25 for local delivery. She pulls out an ad from a competitor that has the exact same product for $249.95 but the ad says “Free Frame and Delivery”. She could NOT comprehend that she was spending more for the “free” stuff than the total of our price when added up. I tried to explain it to her 3 different ways while her husband laughed. He knew she was an idiot and found it amusing that I tried to make her understand that the set with the “Free” stuff was $250, while ours, although priced à la carte, was only 143.90!!! It was a no win situation with that woman, despite the fact that any human with half a brain could figure we were over $100 cheaper.

So Andrew, maybe you should raise the price of each bottle $10, but then give “FREE SHIPPING!!!” to any purchase of 6 bottles or more. That’s often referred to as bundling when you build the cost of associated items and services in to a product.

I know. The problem is that I don’t want to mess with my local customers. They are the main part of my business. On the other hand, I’d like to increase the percent of our sales that are direct to consumer.

You can always offer a discount of $10 per bottle for pick-up. It’s all about perception to a customer, not reality. “Free” is the single most powerful word in advertising. Despite the fact that delivery is actually included in the price and not free is of no consequence. You’d be surprised how many people are gullible or dumb enough to believe the word “free”.

[larry_schaffer]

Please note that is actually illegal to offer ‘free shipping’ of any alcoholic beverage - and therefore that term should not be used freely as it applies to wine.

One could say ‘shipping included’ and all is okay, though

My advice - push wineries to disclose more of their information to you. And make your opinions heard by letting wineries know that their costs are unacceptable if you feel that way - don’t just ‘pass’ but let them know why.

As I said above, to me, it is simply outrageous that wineries lose business because of exorbitant shipping costs . . .

Cheers

[R_Gilbane]

@larry schaffer

Please note that is actually illegal to offer ‘free shipping’ of any alcoholic beverage - and therefore that term should not be used freely as it applies to wine.

One could say ‘shipping included’ and all is okay, though

Is that a federal or state law? Either way I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by that. Just another example of crazy regulations…