Shipping Beer

[Rockape66]

I live in Ohio. My brother lives in Washington state. We spent many nights in WA searching for the bottom of an ale barrel. I would like to ship him some of my HB. I know you can't ship USPS. What agency would I use, and what procedure?
Thanks for any help.
Slainte, Mack

 

[ajwillys]

It's against all the major carrier's "policy" to ship beer, at least for regular people. You can tell them its a yeast sample or some other creative thing. I've never had a problem with it. But yeah, its a violation of federal law to ship USPS... all the rest, its just a violation of 'policy'.

 

[TheBroonery]

I just sent a package to my buddy in Pittsburgh via UPS and had no issues. I even looked at the UPS website and it seemed like liquids are ok as long as they don't leak. So make sure everything is well padded and put the bottles in ziplock bags to contain any breakage, print your own shipping label online and you should be fine.

UPS is a much better company when it comes to reliability, tracking, customer service, etc, etc. They would be out of business in months if they operated the way USPS does.

 

[ajwillys]

UPS is a much better company when it comes to reliability, tracking, customer service, etc, etc. They would be out of business in months if they operated the way USPS does.

I hear ya, the only business USPS gets from me is my junk mail.

 

[BoundForBeer]

I think UPS is the only company that well allow you to ship liquids. What they don't know won't hurt them tho... unless your bottles break open then I hear you are liable for clean up and damage to other packages.

 

[superjunior]

I live in Ohio also and I've been beer trading with an HBT member in California, in fact I'm sending him 15 beers after work today. USPS is against the law so I've been using UPS. keep in mind when packaging that those boxes get thrown around. I bubble wrap each beer individually than shove them back in the sixer box, use a ton of packing peanuts and double box.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Pack thwe box yourself, each bottle in a ziploc bag & wrapped in bubble wrap, fill empty space with packing peanuts. I've shipped homebrew this way (via UPS) with no issues at all. They never ask about the contents & I don't volunteer such info, so no harm/no foul as far as I'm concerned. Regards, GF.

 

[ajwillys]

As far as packing, if you ship a bunch its worth it to buy dedicated shipping supplies. I've used the pre-formed pulp packers and they work wonderfully. They're also cheap.

They sell them here for $4 each and it includes the box. Also, you can sometimes save on shipping because it allows you to use a smaller box.
http://www.ebeaver.com/

 

[VegasBrew]

I am not sure about beer however, I grew up in Washington state and my parents still live there. The governor decided to clamp down on people ordering tobacco products over the internet and having it shipped in and getting around the state taxes. They went so far as to use drug sniffing dogs in the post office to catch people and my parents got a $110 fine. As a side note, shipping any kind of alcohol in or to Alaska is a HUGE no no and jail time is involved. Apparently alchohol is a big problem with the eskimos because most of the outlying areas are dry and even making any kind of alcohol can land you in jail.

VB

 

[LarryC]

Interstingly enough there is another post out there on these things - WIne Diapers. Never heard of them before but looks interesting for shipping
Wine Diaper Post

 

[flairman]

I have one of those food vacuum packing machines. I would think each individual bottle in a vacuum packed and heat sealer bag would be OK followed by the bubble wrap.

I ship wine all the time. You can get these Styrofoam molds that hold 2 bottles with a box. These work perfect and I have used the same package many times. I should look around and see if they make something similar for beer bottles.

http://www.uline.com/BL_5450/Styrofoam-Wine-Shippers
http://www.armstrongbrands.com/store.asp?pid=20071

 

[ajwillys]

I should look around and see if they make something similar for beer bottles.

I linked it a few posts above. The site is kinda crappy and don't mind the name, its a site that sells shipping supplies. Anyway, on their homepage they have the beer shipper:

http://www.ebeaver.com/

 

[edgeofblade]

All the discussion about vacuum sealed bags seems to ignore/forget that, unlike wine, beer is carbonated. After getting tossed around, I can imagine the beer is angry. How much co2 would get released? Enough to blow the bag?

 

[nebben]

As far as the legality of it is concerned, I believe they're all the same: UPS, USPS, FedEx and so on. It is just that USPS has their own inspectors and law enforcement. FedEx or UPS are private and just send you a letter saying essentially they noticed that you've messed up your shipment by trying to send alcohol.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/speaking-hbt-bjcp-competition-i-got-warning-letter-fedex-220218/

I'm not saying to not send it, just to know what the consequences are in doing so. In the case with FedEx, if they find out (which they did with me this past January), they return it to you with a letter from their legal department. YMMV.

 

[superjunior]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/speaking-hbt-bjcp-competition-i-got-warning-letter-fedex-220218/

I'm not saying to not send it, just to know what the consequences are in doing so. In the case with FedEx, if they find out (which they did with me this past January), they return it to you with a letter from their legal department. YMMV.

haven't had a problem with fedx so far. just expect that those boxes are going to get brutalized and pack the beers in the box well enough to survive an atomic blast. bummer what happened. how do they know whats inside the bottles and did they ever compensate for the bowls?