UPS confiscated and destroyed a box!

If nothing broke, and they just found alcohol, I don't see how you have a leg to stand on. And lets be real, that box did NOT get destroyed....

One of the dangers of the game, unfortunately.

 

My dad in pa said beer got busted , in the news . Didn't say where but from what he described it was from Vt and I assumed some HT got popped

Ship ups / fed ex not usps.

 

Just lost a case of BCBCS and half case of BCBBW. So much win. Thank you UPS.

 

Who what where when why?

 

Jersey. Supposedly something in the box broke. They told my friend (it was being split 4 ways) that all the bottles broke. Yeah right. Was packed perfectly.

 

File a claim

 

Well you can't technically ship beer, so I'm not really sure how far that'd get. Just one of those things. Ridiculously expensive box though. Luckily our case of regular BCBS got here, but the coffee is so much better

 

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do. Poke around with ups see what you dig up and please post here if I'm wrong, but sadly this is the gamble with shipping alcohol.

 

I am aware of some delivery employees who are constantly on the lookout for other "enjoyables" that are against company policy to ship.

It is a risk, and there is nothing can be done about it except to pack well as possible to do, and identify the contents of the box as a liquid that is legal to ship, which is what I do. I ship marinades, which I love to do as it isn't, strictly speaking, a lie. Super tight packing in double boxes with adequate plastic bags surrounding all bottles is the best you can do.

 

There was a thread a few days ago about major sloshing of BCBS bottles. Did you attempt to hide the sloshing? I had 8 out on 1 shipment and the sloshing was ridiculously loud so I can only imagine the sloshing of a case and a half. Also, did you wrap each bottle in a Ziploc bag then wrap the entire shipment inside a heavy-gauge trash bag? If one or a few broke, no way it could leak through 2 layers of plastic.

 

Something is definitely up with UPS and FedEx...
http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/shipping-beer.137329/#post-1979865

OP, can you post the tracking status? I had 1 broken package that leaked and UPS discarded it. Looks like with FedEx, you still would get your box back: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/shipping-beer-in-winter.136681/ , unless you're this guy: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/fedex-shipping-exceptions-concerns-coincidence.135986/

It's basically a toss up now between these shippers. Maybe they get enough business from holiday shippers and don't mind taking time cracking down? Maybe they are monitoring these forums?

 

What is "up" with shippers, IMHO, is people shipping beer when it's too bloody cold to do so.

I've been shipping beer for years in & out of Minnesota winters, so it's certainly possible to trade year-round. But when the temps get into single digits or below zero, & you choose to send a box through that, you're rolling the dice. I'd bet the majority of lost boxes recently is because of frozen bottles that have broken & given up the contents of the box.[/quote]

 

I got a box destroyed for the same reasons, I bitched up a storm and said it wasn't beer, that I was shipping yeast samples in water and beer bottles just happened to be the easiest way to transport it. I said that since it was just yeast and water, and not fermented so it wasn't alcohol, although it may have smelled like it. Basically I just bitched up a storm, filed a claim and ended up getting 160$ back. Was shipping a case of Zombie Dust, so told them the value of the glass bottles, plus the yeast, packing materials and box I purchased needed to be refunded on top of the 100$ standard insurance policy. Not sure if that will work but you could give it a shot!

 

I was the shipper shipping to black13. Basically I was sending $150 worth of beer including stuff like Flora, Damon, and other nice bottles. I packaged everything in a 12-bottle styrofoam shipper and lined each bottle carefully with newspaper. I've been shipping for a year and half and the package was packed just as well if not better then the last 40 or so boxes that I've sent out without any problems. The package made it all the way across the country fine and then was listed as out for delivery at 4:20am, 4 hours later it was listed as the following:

"Unauthorized alcohol shipment. Unable to complete delivery or return to sender. UPS will contact shipper. / Unauthorized alcohol shipment was discovered. Unable to deliver or return due to regulatory requirements"

I called UPS to see if there was any way I could get the package back. They told me that the package had been at the Portland warehouse and was in the process of being loaded on to the truck for delivery when the package was discovered to have alcohol and that it was never listed as having been damaged. She then proceeded to tell me that it is their policy to immediately destroy the contents of anything breaking regulatory requirements such as alcohol. When I tried to argue with her that it was "yeast samples" in beer bottles and not alcohol she started threatening me with how shipping alcohol across state lines is illegal and they could report me to the FTA bureau.

 

I would agree with you about the ruisks of shipping when it's cold, but the UPS person told the shipper that they decided to check the contents for some reason, and didn't mention anything about boken contents.[/quote]

That sucks. Sounds like you guys just encountered an overly nosy driver. Not sure there's any other explanation for it, but if that driver's on your route often, I'd be nervous about receiving further shipments from UPS.

 

Were there any markings on the box that would indicate it being a wine shipper? I've had styroshippers like that in the past.