Shipping from Belgium to the US

It is quite easy to ship from Belgium to the States. I've done it five times already.Just make sure that it is safely wrapped.

The cheapest option is Bpost (national postal service). You will need to fill in a customs document, just fill in that you are sending collectible glassware (for US costums) and put the value around 10 euros/dollars.

 

As someone who wants to ship quite a bit back home is 10 euros a bit low for a heavy box once it gets to US customs? Gearing up for my trip I’ve been telling myself I’d check a bag with all my beer. But I’m starting to dread taking it from Brussels to Paris and then to Dublin.

 

I never had any problems when I put that amount on the sheet.

 

Note that if your box goes through LAX customs, there's a good chance it will be returned to Belgium. If you're east of California, you're probably OK.

 

Crap... is this still the case?

In CA, last time I had a box from Belgium come in, it came in via JFK customs. The box I am now checking just got updated to show arrival at customs at LAX.

Sometime in 2016 BIAB didn't allow you to complete an order if you had a west coast address. Now they allow you to and say about 2/3 of the west coast orders get through.

 

Keep your fingers crossed.

 

Not sure I can cross them any harder.

Tracking from BPost said it was received at LAX Customs on 6/28. In checking USPS tracking, I received the following update:

Your item has been processed through our facility in ISC LOS ANGELES CA (USPS) at 9:30 am on June 29, 2017.

I am reading this optimistically.

 

How did it go? Im still curious.

 

It came through LAX with no problems! It was really fast too.

 

Does the Bpost sell adequate packaging materials? Or would it be best to stop by somewhere else first to purchase packaging materials? Thank you.

 

Not sure if BPost sells packaging materials.

You can, however, have your stuff left with Etre Gourmet or Belgium in a Box. They will sell you the packaging materials, package it and ship it for you.

 

In larger Post-Offices you can buy bubble-wrap, boxes and all the stuff for shipping - but the boxes are not intended to ship heavy glassware - so you should get a solid cardboard-box from somewhere else...
What I usually do: Take a 12x75cl-bottle-crate (like LaChouffe or Chimay or ...) with 12 separate parts (so that the bottles are separated by plastic) from one of the larger bottle-shops or supermarkets where people buy the beer by car (deposit is 2.80€ if I'm not wrong). Wrap the bottles in bubble-wrap and place them into the crate. They should be quite fixed due to the plastic and the wrapping. Take a thick piece of cardboard for the top and then either place the crate into a fitting box (that now doesn't need to have thick walls) or just "make a box" by adjusting cardboard-pieces all around to look like a box. Make sure that the plastic-box is higher than your highest bottle (LaChouffe normally works fine) and then you can easily ship it as it is really safe against breaking. Done this (also with smaller bottles in German crates) many times and never had bottles crushed.

 

Cheers for the tip.

if I recall, it cost 45 euro to have BIAB provide the packaging material and pack 18x 75cl. It was then 100 euro to ship ~ 30kg via BPost.

 

Is there anywhere in/around Brussels that would be a good place to buy boxes/packing material or even shippers/suitcases? I'm going to be flying back with bottles next month, but I'm only bring one bottle shipper with me and will need to figure out how to get the rest of the bottles back.

 

Cantillon sells one of those shipper roller bags that has a styro 12-shipper inside. It is about 100-110 Euros.



I'm sure somewhere as other shipper cases, but I wouldn't know where. That requires a bit more local knowledge.

 

Those Cantillon shippers seem overpriced - 110 euros for a covered styrofoam insert. Since a 12 pak shipper is about $15 in the US, most of that 110e is for a cloth Cantillon logoed cover. With such a mature wine drinking industry in Belgium, you'd think cardboard\styro wine shippers would be an easy get in Brussels. Probably would require a little research, but then, I'm a bit of a lazy ass. Lazenne does sell just the styro inserts. Here's a link to that stellar shipping post from last year.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/info-for-shipping-packing-boxes-bottles-to.460111/

 

Cheers for the link.

I would never expect that a brewery would be the least expensive or best value to find luggage specifically made for bottles. But, if you're looking to get 12 bottles home and either don't want to dump a lot of your vacation time into sorting out the logistics of getting your bottles home, 100 euros for a bag you can continue to use in the future doesn't seem like the worst idea ever. I mean, BIAB is going to run you 80-100 euros to ship 12 home and you have to get it to them (unless at 3F).

I've seen people stand by this bag for plane travel:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007DZJAH...t=&hvlocphy=9031008&hvtargid=pla-349626621589

It is a similar product and is $85 on Amazon, so given the convenience of being able to solve your problem without ever leaving Cantillon, I get why it is priced the way it is. Plus it has a Cantillon logo on it! Haha.

 

How much would BPOST run to ship from a 30kg box to the US? Shipping either through BPOST myself or dropping bottles off at BelgiumInABox is sounding like an easier and probably cheaper option than adding checked-bags.

 

The shipping itself for 30kg is 100 euros if I recall correctly. This does not include the packaging, etc.

I want to say I paid 145-150 euros to get the 18 bottles 750s (29kg) back via BIAB. The 45-50 euros was for the packaging and handling, the 100 euros for BPost shipping.