Pissed off at UPS

I brewed my first batch of beer ever, a German altbier, and shipped 18 bottles to another state to enjoy with friends and family. Somewhere along the way one or more of them broke. I didn't find out about it until I called to check on the status when the package never showed up on time. They threw away the whole box so there is no way I could have sifted through and salvaged any that hadn't broke.

I put each bottle in a ziploc then wrapped them individually in bubble wrap then surrounded the whole lot with bubble wrap. It should have been more than enough. I'm guessing they threw it around not caring. Now just waiting for a claim to go through.

I'll be shipping some more so any tips you have would be helpful.

BS.

Are they letting you put a claim on that? I would be interested to see how that turns out.

Oh, I start with a couple layers of garbage bag so that anything that leaks doesn't leave the box. The real heavy duty contractor bags are great, but they are massive.

Probably because you have to be a licensed vendor in order to ship/receive beer. Or have had a previous agreed upon contract with ups to ship it.

I would just let it go. I don't think you're supposed to ship alcohol across state line.

18 bottles in one box?

UPS ships your beer bottle next to truck axles, bull semen, crime scene evidence and god knows what else. I worked there in college. You would be amazed...

Ups does not allow shipping of alcoholic beverages so if they have a leaking package it is within their prerogative to not complete the shipment. You have no standing here.

Package your bottles very well, so if one breaks it will not leak out of the package and disguise it well and hope for the best.

I wrap each bottle in bubble wrap,then bubble wrap the whole lot. Then put them inside a blue store bag,tie off,then put another blue bag upside down over that & tie off. Then line the box with bubble wrap. I use packing paper or Styrofoam peanuts to fill the empty space. That way they don't move around & can't be heard sloshing.

unionrdr said:

That way they don't move around & can't be heard sloshing.

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This is the key - you want those bottles in there firmly, no touching of glass, no moving at all. Thick walled boxes, good layer of bubble wrap around the outside, top, bottom. I like the thin/small-bubble bubble wrap to wrap the bottles in. Bigger-bubble bubble wrap for the sides, top, bottom. Paper to wedge between bottles and gaps to hold everything in place.

Also - 18 bottles in a box is kind of a lot - better off with 2 smaller, sturdier boxes IMO. Heavy garbage bacg in the box that everything goes in.

As others have mentioned - I would let it go. You were shipping something that you were not technically suppose to be shipping. It broke, it leaked - I don't think that is an argument you want to have.

I have shipped beer 75 times probably - one bottle broke, once..... I learned from it, and packed my beers better. I feel confident I could throw a box of beer down my basement stairs and not have them break now. I am under no illusion that every person working for UPS cares about what I am shipping. I wish they did - but, that is the reality.

From the UPS website:

Note: UPS provides service for other alcoholic beverages (beer and alcohol) on a contract basis only. For shipments containing beer or alcohol, shippers must enter into an approved UPS agreement for the transportation of beer or alcohol as applicable, must be licensed and authorized under applicable law to ship beer and alcohol, and may ship only to licensed consignees. UPS does not accept shipments of beer or alcohol for delivery to consumers. UPS accepts shipments of beer or alcohol only among and between selected states.

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Doesn't seem like you have much standing here bud.

Fedex...package and label at home. Google about beer trading and you will find amazing tutorials on the best packing.

Answer seems obvious. ... you need to use pet plastic bottles. Then you wont have to worry about braking them.

Very interesting comments by all. Knowing that shipping alcohol by UPS is illegal has kept me away from their services. I do, however, find the comments on packaging helpful.


Thanks,

dlester said:

Knowing that shipping alcohol by UPS is illegal has kept me away from their services.

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Not illegal, just against their policy. There's a huge difference.

The legality of shipping beer varies from state to state according to each state's particular laws.

hunter_la5 said:

Not illegal, just against their policy. There's a huge difference.

The legality of shipping beer varies from state to state according to each state's particular laws.

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Exactly, there are stories on beer trading forums where people actually repackaged and removed broken bottles. I guess there is some luck involved as well in terms of who actually handles your beer

You can't really be pissed at UPS for not aiding in a federal offense. Don't get me wrong, I trade beer all the time, but I know it's illegal. That's why I use FedEx

To clarify:

UPS = United Parcel Service; not illegal, but against policy

USPS = Untied States Postal Service; illegal

zmanzorro said:

To clarify:

UPS = United Parcel Service; not illegal, but against policy

USPS = Untied States Postal Service; illegal

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It's illegal regardless of who actually transports. Sending alcohol across state lines without proper licensing is illegal whether you're a government agency or private company. But thanks for your attempted clarification.

Hopinista said:

It's illegal regardless of who actually transports. Sending alcohol across state lines without proper licensing is illegal whether you're a government agency or private company. But thanks for your attempted clarification.

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Ding Ding Ding ! We have a WINNER !

Its against federal law to ship alcohol across state lines unlicensed period.

Thanks for playing ! lol

Cheers

Hopinista said:

It's illegal regardless of who actually transports. Sending alcohol across state lines without proper licensing is illegal whether you're a government agency or private company. But thanks for your attempted clarification.

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Only if you cross state lines, as you stated. Shipping to a buddy or homebrew competition on the other side of the state is not necessarily illegal.

People seem to be getting confused between policy, state law, federal law, & intrastate vs interstate.

Hellll, it's only beer .... UPS and FedEx bust up $2500 guitars (nothing like recieving a new Gibson LP with a broken headstock )

hunter_la5 said:

Only if you cross state lines, as you stated. Shipping to a buddy or homebrew competition on the other side of the state is not necessarily illegal.

People seem to be getting confused between policy, state law, federal law, & intrastate vs interstate.

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I'm not confused here. If you read OP. He clearly said to another state.

once upon a time I stated that what was in the package was yeast samples, which technically they are/could be. There is an article in Zymurgy, May/June 05, and another issue maybe from sometime last year about shipping entries to competitions. You may have been over packing...

Regardless of legality and the armchair lawyers that have come out of the woodwork here, OP, you do not have a claim. Be pissed but 18 bottles in a shipment is actually too much. How large was the box? It sounds like they were overpacked unless you had a specific package for beer bottles. I have one left that will ship 12 12 oz bottles standing straight up. The bottom line though is something had to have leaked out of the zip lock bags or there would have been no reason to discard the shipment.

Consider this a tutorial in shipping beer. Many home brewers ship beer often, look at the trading thread as well as discussions about competitions outside their home state/city. It is crucial that you contain all beer in packages that won't leak into the box. I've gotten lazy and gotten lucky, but my laziness will only catch up to me.

FedEx did ship me 2 boxes of beer I shipped from my parents' to myself. One box leaked, they still delivered. It was clearly leaking and clearly beer. Again, I feel I got lucky because the bottle broke due to weather & there was about $150 in beer in that box.

Hopinista said:

I'm not confused here. If you read OP. He clearly said to another state.

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Exactly. He wrote, "... to another state" which I interpret as crossing state lines.

pm5k00 said:

Answer seems obvious. ... you need to use pet plastic bottles. Then you wont have to worry about braking them.

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+1

Pet plastic bottles might not look as nice as glass, but a lot more likely they will arrive intact

If your shipping beers to friends or family I think this is the way to go.

Cheers

Hopinista said:

I'm not confused here. If you read OP. He clearly said to another state.

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Yes, I understand that. But there were several instances in this thread where people claimed unilaterally that it was illegal to ship beer via UPS. This is simply not true. It's only illegal to ship across state lines (like in the OP, as you mentioned), or in states where it is specifically banned by state law.

Hence the need for clarification.

I didn't say you specifically were confused. Others clearly were.

fuelish said:

Hellll, it's only beer .... UPS and FedEx bust up $2500 guitars (nothing like recieving a new Gibson LP with a broken headstock )

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Hellll its only beer ? are you feeling ok ?

Hellll its only a guitar ! sorry I could not resist.

its really all a matter of perception !

Cheers

fuelish said:

Hellll, it's only beer .... UPS and FedEx bust up $2500 guitars (nothing like recieving a new Gibson LP with a broken headstock )

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Not always UPS or FedEx fault! As the old saying goes, if you want a broken headstock buy a GIBSON....Notorious for that!! Not flaming your Gib as they are great guitars but I am fond of my Telly's I feel you pain though

Having worked as a package handler for UPS for two years I personally only ship things that i know won't/ don't care if break. In the moderate volume hub (~20-25,000 packages per shift) I worked at we would load close to a thousand packages per person a day. While there were people that followed the rules 90% of my coworkers could have cared less if it were beer or anything breakable in those boxes. While ideally they're not supposed to, boxes fall from rollers, get jammed on conveyor belts, and thrown or dropped.

I guess moral of the story, I don't ship breakable things ever. Hell, last time I shipped an aluminum exhaust pipe I wrapped it in multiple layers of bubble wrap because of some of the stuff I've seen. I do like the PET bottle idea though...

bulldogwinters said:

Having worked as a package handler for UPS for two years I personally only ship things that i know won't/ don't care if break. In the moderate volume hub (~20-25,000 packages per shift) I worked at we would load close to a thousand packages per person a day. While there were people that followed the rules 90% of my coworkers could have cared less if it were beer or anything breakable in those boxes. While ideally they're not supposed to, boxes fall from rollers, get jammed on conveyor belts, and thrown or dropped.

I guess moral of the story, I don't ship breakable things ever. Hell, last time I shipped an aluminum exhaust pipe I wrapped it in multiple layers of bubble wrap because of some of the stuff I've seen. I do like the PET bottle idea though...

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I have friends that work/worked as package handlers for two different shipping companies - UPS and a regional shipper called Spee Dee Delivery. Both have said the same thing - the WORST thing you can ever to do a package is write "FRAGILE" on it.

I've seen the UPS guy in my neighborhood drop packages from chest level onto the neighbor's porch when making a delivery. I packed with that in mind when sending a shipment.

dkwolf said:

I have friends that work/worked as package handlers for two different shipping companies - UPS and a regional shipper called Spee Dee Delivery. Both have said the same thing - the WORST thing you can ever to do a package is write "FRAGILE" on it.

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What ever happened to having pride in a job and doing it well ?

Smashing the crap out of a package because it has FRAGLE on it is just being a A$$.

Cheers

dkwolf said:

I have friends that work/worked as package handlers for two different shipping companies - UPS and a regional shipper called Spee Dee Delivery. Both have said the same thing - the WORST thing you can ever to do a package is write "FRAGILE" on it.

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That is true...write animal semen specimen instead. No worker wants that dripping on them:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tec...-shipping-company-is-kindest-to-your-packages

drainbamage said:

I've seen the UPS guy in my neighborhood drop packages from chest level onto the neighbor's porch when making a delivery. I packed with that in mind when sending a shipment.

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That makes me want to ship packages to myself and insure them for 20X its value !

My old UPS driver was taking my packages to a lady 1 street over that sells everything on ebay, shipments all said delivered, made it a major pain to make a claim, when I figured out what was going on I called the UPS district manager, Like I said he was my old UPS driver !

Cheers

I place my bottles in some heavy duty cardboard tubes that our plastic wrap and plastic bags come on. They would go to recycling anyway. I wrap the bottles in bubble wrap and slide them in and then some more bubble wrap on the ends and tape it up.

You could literally smack that thing against an iron railing and it won't break a bottle.

Calichusetts said:

That is true...write animal semen specimen instead. No worker wants that dripping on them:

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Or, we could go the other route and send actual animal semen samples but label the box as beer and see what happens.

WileECoyote said:

What ever happened to having pride in a job and doing it well ?



Smashing the crap out of a package because it has FRAGLE on it is just being a A$$.



Cheers

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They snuff that whole pride thing out real quick. There aren't competitive wages, and once you're part of the union you're untouchable and everyone knows that. Not hating on unions, I just had a terrible experience. I loved my job, I was the fastest and most accurate loader, and a damn good sorter. When I tried transferring while I was going to school they found a loophole in the union contract, laid me off and the union didn't want to fight it.

^^^ can you tell I'm a little bitter?

I worked at a distribution center for a very large retail corporation. I am amazed at some of the fragile stuff that actually makes it to shelves. Light bulbs seem to be amazingly resilient. Who Knew??