So I've recently been meaning to order myself a Founders snifter and I thought I would get their tin tacker as well to decorate my new apartment. The shipping cost for these two items is $12.90 in-state. I felt like that was really expensive shipping so I did some comparisons. To ship a Bell's tulip and their tin tacker is only $6.01 using their Bell's saver shipping. Founders is actually 45 miles closer to where I live, and both rates are using USPS. To ship an SN Luettich balloon glass and a their tin tacker costs $17.66, but that wasn't surprising coming all the way from California. What I'm asking is, do the Founders shipping costs seem like a lot to anyone else with regards to other breweries' in-state shipping rates? Has anyone else felt like they've paid too much for brewery store shipping? And should more breweries offer economical shipping methods like Bell's?
I think they are a tad high. I wanted to get my wife a couple pumking glasses to go with her case of pumking. They were only $6 but it was like 12 for shipping. Garbage. Didn't buy.
I tried to order 2 $3 posters from Left Hand and the shipping was almost $20 (maybe that was with a snifter too). Either way...I couldn't believe how high the shipping from CO to OH was for some small and rather light items. Instead I made a trade with a gracious local who shipped the items for what I'm guessing was half that price.
For a standard sized box that weighs ~1lb, UPS charges around 10-12 dollars depending on where it is being delivered...Sounds like founders is charging you what UPS charges them.
We've got to bear in mind that online commerce isn't the main focus of these companies. So they aren't able to offer the deeply discounted shipping rates that other online vendors are able to.
I ordered a CBS glass and poster from Founders a few months back. The original shipping quote was pretty high (I am in Boston) around $15 or so I think. Once the box was shipped they sent me an email with a revised shipping price that was about a 1/3rd less than the original quote. I am not sure if their shipping calculator is still that far off but it might attribute to the high rate they are giving you. This was the case with a number of other people who ordered them around the time when the CBS glass was back in stock.
I think that's really high. It seems to vary widely, I was looking at gifting glassware for Christmas this year. Three glasses from Russian River to the east coast was only $8, a couple smaller non-glassware items from Cigar City was $15.
I collect keychain bottle openers from breweries - they can be mailed in a padded envelope for less than $2 - doesn't weigh much yet the shipping cost is usually $6-12 dollars for a keychain that costs $3-4. Often I'll buy 2 of them and pay $6-8 shipping, which doubles the cost of the opener but I won't pay $10-12 shipping for them. Sometimes I find them on eBay with low or even free shipping.
Sometimes if you email them and explain you only want a sticker , opener , or patch they will ship it for a discount price. When I bought my Founders patch shipping was 6-7 bucks but they emailed me and refunded all the shipping except a buck. Also emailed laqunitas about shipping a patch.their store girl took the time to call me at home on a Sunday take my order and ship it for free along with a bunch of stickers. Others like Deschutes weren't as easy to persuade to ship for less than the 10+ dollars they wanted for shipping.
I have bought a lot of stuff off of brewery websites and noticed a huge difference in shipping rates from brewery to brewery. And the worst is when breweries won't even give you the shipping cost until you put in your credit card info. Keep in mind though, it's not just what the fedex or ups charge is to the brewery. Materials (bubble wrap, popcorn, boxes, etc.) are real costs as are the manpower that has to wrap and package everything up. That has to be factored in, and I think some breweries will mark up their shipping costs for this while some do not. I have cancelled many orders online (before clicking on the confirm purchase button) because the shipping costs just didn't make sense based on what I was ordering.
LIL... SN offers free shipping on all orders over $100. Granted that's a lot to spend, but their prices are very inexpensive (most glasses are $3-4, and shirts are in the $12-14 range too). May make sense to do a group order with friends that live nearby, or just buy a bunch of Christmas gifts to get that total up to $100 for the free shipping.
Nothing beats the $16.15 shipping I paid for ONE t-shirt from Lost Abbey. Throw it in a padded pack and send it on it's way for a few bucks like everyone else. It's not fragile and weighs next to nothing. I don't get it, but I paid it, so I can't complain that much.
sounds like founders should be using USPS priority mail instead - they charge about half of what UPS charges for small items like bottle openers.
I sent 4 bombers to a friend in Houston (from the Tampa area), that weighed 11 lbs. The UPS bill was $9 and change. This was through my company's UPS account. They don't send out tons of packages, so the corporate discount isn't that ridiculous. Not sure why Founders is paying that much for UPS shipping on 1 lb. packages.
