Hypothetical Beer Shipping Question...
avengethis
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 1,193
I know you are not supposed to ship alcohol through USPS and I in no way will be doing this, however if somebody wanted to...Who has had luck doing it and what sort of packaging where you using?
Comments
of course only one bottle at a time. what i did was wrap the bottle in either cloth or news paper, then put that in a Zip-Loc bag. that was then placed in the shipping box with more newspaper and/or bubble wrap.
beer bottles are pretty dang thick, i've had UPS deliver beer of the month samplers to me before (from merchants). full cases of 24 bottles in a big cardboard box and the only packing materials inside were cardboard dividers between the bottles. no bubble wrap, no packing peanuts, nothing. but the box was the perfect size for the bottles and they could not move around....
just thinking out loud here....
but (3) 12 oz beer bottles seem like they'd be the perfect size to fit into a gallon ziploc bag.
hmm & i'd bet you could wrap 1 sheet of bubble wrap around each bottle too before placing it in the bag and still be able to "zip it" shut. might be overkill but if you're worried about the zipper popping open, packaging tape across the top of the ziploc should probably keep it nice and tight.
of course you'd want to fill up all extra space in the box, bubble wrap/packing peanuts/crumpled paper/etc.
now a couple other general "good shipping" practices:
empty space in the box is your biggest enemy. if something can rattle around inside the box it's more likely to get broken; you do not want things to shift inside the box, this is true for *anything* you ship, so make sure it's surrounded on all sides by packing materials.
also someone on here had a nice tidbit (forget who it was) but they said something along the lines of "pack the box so that you'd be comfortable dropping it off your counter onto the floor....that's the type of beating you should expect a package to get while in transit with "normal" shipping services."
ENTER UPS
every 3 bottles (.750l) weighs aprox 11 lbs, so 10 bottles including box, pkg material, etc weighed aprox 38 lbs. This is too much weight for the UPS/USPS to handle CAREFULLY. I dont enclose bottles in plastic bags cause I figure if anything breaks, its cutting through the plastic anyway.
I dropped off at UPS store and asked the small gal if she wanted me to put the box anywhere, she said no. Last I saw of it.
I checked the tracking number and this is what I saw
Oakland, CA, United States 13/01/2015 4:52 Departure Scan
13/01/2015 2:29 Origin Scan
13/01/2015 0:43 Your package was damaged in transit. We will notify the sender with details. /
All merchandise is being delivered UPS will notify the sender with details of the damage
United States 12/01/2015 20:20 Order Processed: Ready for UPS
Needless to say my heart skipped a couple beats, I didn't know what I would get on the other end. Hell I wasn't sure if all of it would be confiscated. So all I could do was wait.
When I picked up the pkg, it was a different box, when I opened the box, my 3 smaller boxes were gone, what I found was each bottle repacked in a homemade cardboard sleeve. Some bottles still had bubble wrap some did not. Also inside the box was the heavy duty brown paper as filler. I quickly began my inventory, I was one bottle shy, only 9 bottles. Thankfully after sifting through everything I realized the bottle lost was a Vodka which was the lowest priced item out of all shipped. I could live with that. So I hope my story helps. What I would do differently next time is lower the weight of the box to only 25lbs max. I would still pack bottles in bubble wrap and smaller boxes. I really don't know how they broke the box, it was solid, Hit it with a truck?? Dropped it off a loading dock??? I suspect everything was repacked due to a bottle being cracked and leaked, but I didn't smell anything? IDK. Was just happy I received 9/10. I probably wont file a claim ;o)
One more thing, I took the really high end htf stuff with me on my return flight. 5 liters is allowed. YRMV
(Just came up with a thought, one could place smaller interior box inside a contractor grade plastic bag, this way any broken glass stays inside box and bag will probably contain liquid.)
This, of course, is hypothetical..........................
One more note, Bandy mentioned a very clever aspect, with the sloshing.. add something that rattles, nails in a cigar tube,,m&m's in a peanut can.
http://www.uhaul.com/MovingSupplies/Boxes/Kitchen-moving-boxes/Wine-Shipping-Kits?mid=169
even if you do the bubble wrap/ziploc bag method for the bottles....it's hypothetically possible that one of the bottles (maybe like the one in the center of the bag) could break and cut the ziploc, leaving your box a little soggy. (d'oh).
so maybe try doubling up the ziplocs or something, or just use a bigger box (never heard of any hypothetical problems with LFRB) extra packing materials, etc. to avoid any hypothetical problems with the smaller sized boxes.
also, uline has a few different "bottle" specific shipping materials available: http://www.uline.com/Grp_237/Wine-Shippers-and-Supplies
Pretty cool. I just dropped a LFRB off today. Lots of bubble wrap, tape, and paper. Keep everything as far away from the sides/top as possible. Cross your fingers. I forgot about the cigar tube to cover the sloshing sound. Was glad the counter lady did not hear so well.