Shipping Beer

[AnOldUR]

Got a catalog from Uline Shipping Supply and the first page had "wine shippers." With the HBT Competition coming up, it caught my eye. There's a two bottle pack costing $5.25 for 5 shippers. Trouble is it looks like you have to order a minimun of 5 bundles of 5, so it'd cost $26.25 for 25 boxes. (If I read it right.)

Kind of pricey at a couple of dollars (after shipping) for each, but may be good if your sending out gift boxes for Christmas. And you would have to wrap 12 ounce bottles in bubble wrap for a good fit, but I'd think that bombers would be fine.

If your sending beer to other brewers they'd be able to recycle them for their shipping.



UPDATE !!!!
Just got this from an inquiry to Uline:

This item is sold in bundles of five, not cartons; however, they are priced per shipper. If you purchase one bundle, you will receive five shippers and the pricing will be $5.25 per shipper, or $26.25. You would not receive 25 shippers. I apologize for any confusion.

So, after shipping these boxes cost about $8 each!

 

[AmandaK]

Yikes. Add in that some competitions need 3 bottles, don't think I could go for that one!

 

[worstbrewing]

Not sure if you saw these Pulp Wine Shippers but they are even cheaper and I would imagine be just as effective for keeping it safe. My only thought would be that styrofoam would insulate, so you could keep the beer pretty chilled through the process potentially. Not sure if anyone else has more food for thought on the matter, as I've never shipped but am hoping to find a cheap solution for the holidays. If anyone has thoughts on shipping it chilled vs room temp, etc and how either material might affect it, I'd love some feedback too.

EDIT: Didn't think about the fact that it may not be worth it for many people to order 30 of these at once, so I suppose it may not be cheaper depending on how many you plan to need in the long run.

 

[AnOldUR]

Just out of curiosity, am I alone interpreting, “PRICE EACH (SOLD IN BUNDLE QUANTITIES)” as being the price for each bundle when you buy 5, 10 . . . bundles?

If you're only selling something in a bundle, shouldn't it be priced as a bundle?

It's like seeing bags of chips for $2 each and finding out they want $2 for each chip in the bag!

 

[worstbrewing]

No, I'm with you, I was a little mislead when I first was looking at the pulp ones as well. And while they are still a good deal, their listing is very confusing at first.

 

[AnOldUR]

And while they are still a good deal. . .

Your pockets must be deeper than mine.

The way I read it, the minimum purchase for the 2 bottle pulp pack is 30 packs. At $3.75 / pack that's $112.50 before shipping.



edit:
But probably a lifetime supply!

 

[remilard]

Overkill.

Use a decently stiff box (the 12x12x12 or 12x18x12 boxes at an office supply store are perfect), line with a garbage bag, 1 12x12 sheet of bubble wrap from a perforated bottle attached with a rubber band, make sure the box is packed tight.

I've shipped hundreds of bottles this way with zero breaks.

 

[worstbrewing]

Yeah, well I mean individually they are a good deal, but when I realized how many you'd have to order, it'd have to be something you do very regularly or have friends who can buy some off of you. It's far from practical for me, as I want to ship maybe 3-4 this season and don't see that growing much more than that in the next few years. Oh well, I think the styrofoam ones it is for me!

 

[worstbrewing]

Overkill.

Use a decently stiff box (the 12x12x12 or 12x18x12 boxes at an office supply store are perfect), line with a garbage bag, 1 12x12 sheet of bubble wrap from a perforated bottle attached with a rubber band, make sure the box is packed tight.

I've shipped hundreds of bottles this way with zero breaks.

Yeah, that's another consideration I have. In fact, I may even have a roll of bubble wrap left from when I last moved... *crosses fingers*