So, is this a bad thing?

Some of you have mentioned bagging up each bottle-to this I highly recommend going to ups/FedEx/USPS and getting some padded envelopes. Ups will actually deliver them to you for free if you have an account. These things are great for padding bottles and giving them that "bag" so many people desire. Seriously look into it, it's free and it works great.

 

I called today to start a claim, and the guy asked wast was it it and i told him beer. He said you can't ship beer UPS, I told him it wasn't on his can not ship picture. He said I may recoup the shipping charges, he wasn't sure.

 

That is a very good idea!!! Well worth a trash bag to prevent a total loss from confiscation. Cheers to you sir!

 

I got my damaged box back this week also. Half were still there with the same above crappy repack job. What was surprising is when I talked to the woman right after I got the "damaged" message she said it was very minimal damage and would go right on. Not sure where losing 3 bottles is "minimal" damage. My only thought after that was they opened the box and kept what they wanted and shipped back the rest. Turns out the sours were what was shipped back. I was glad I got some back though.

 

I'm switching to smaller boxes on larger trades even if I have to ship two and will definitely bag the contents to prevent leakage. I shipped again to a different guy right after the broken box deal, it went thru fine so I'm guessing there isn't a "shit" list per say.

 

The other part of story was i got the letter in the mail yesterday. Didn't say you can't ship alcohol but that you just need to set up the right account and have the package signed for.

 

Is this UPS or Fed ex

 

Fedex

 

So I can set up legal shipments with Fed Ex if a set up an account to ship beer requiring recipient to be over 21?

 

The letter said: In Order to ship alcoholic shipments with FedEx Ground, you are obligated to comply with state and local law and the FedEx Ground shipping policy.

Then they listed a couple of things that needed to be done. Not sure if this means I can set something up or not. Might have to be a store or something but I might call them this next week just to see.

 

a game of kickball comes to mind.

 

I just worked out a deal with a local wine /beer shop owner who does ship. He'll ship my stuff to legal states for cost +10 bucks. Safe, legal, I'll just have to be careful which states he can't legally ship to when doing deals.

 

FedEX is terrible. I overpack the shit out of my boxes (I worked at fexEX during undergrad one summer and know what the packages go through) and I think my trading partners would vouche for my over cautious packing. However, I had an "exemption" somehow come up during one trade. I called and emailed multiple times to see what the exemption was. Not only did they never answer what happened (I never once was told what happened, was there a leak, break, etc, I have no idea) I was just told the package was "discarded". They also refused to directly answer any questions I had emailed them, and refused to tell me why the package was exempted. They not only showed incredibly poor customer service, but they actually had the balls to send me a letter a couple weeks later scolding me for shipping items that were "not allowed per their policy". I was irrate. I havent used FedEX for anything since and will never use them again, for anything.

 

I have only completed 5 trades so far. But I tape all my lids good, put each bottle in a large ziplock bag, then bubble wrap the shit out of it, then pack as much bubble wrap as humanly possible. My Mom works at Marshalls in receiving and saves me huge bags of bubble wrap every week. I must thank zac16125 for all the helpful hints on my first trade regarding packing and shipping.

I figure if it gets damaged it's because it was either run over or fell out of an airplane.

So far so good

 

I went to Fed Ex and he said they won't ship beer, and I asked about setting up an account to ship with a signature. I'm guessing to do this right you'd have to apply to the state and pay for the license. So i went to the local wine/beer shop and he agreed to ship my stuff for cost +10 bucks. I'll always get hit for shipping with any trade, but it will be insured and it will be legal to states that allow shipping. So future trades I'll have to watch.