Anyone ever have a shipping agency mark your shipment as damaged, and then refuse to ship it back to the sender? This has just happened to me, and i'm quite certain that this would imply they realized it was beer and either threw it all out or took what wasn't broken for themselves. Am I going crazy?
It would seem that bottles broke and they saw it was beer, but it is 50/50 usually. Half the time they send it back, the other half they send an angry note saying it is against policy to ship alcohol and dispose. What shipper? If it was usps they are more strict since it is technically illegal
It was Fed Ex. edit: Even though a rep said it was damaged, they have yet to send the shipper any updates stating that there was damage
Fed ex almost always seems to tell you it is against policy from what I have heard, but most people have an account with them, so they get a letter or email to their account. Are you the sender? There is $100 of insurance free with all fedex packages so call and ask about the shipment and then ask to file a claim. They will tell you for sure if they found alcohol then since they won't pay out insurance if they know it was beer. You will Have to make up something that was in the box. Yeast samples is apparently the more plausible ones I hear people use
Damaged shipments happens occasionally, some within your control (i.e you didn't do a good job with packing, not using ziploc bags and trash bags to contain breakages, etc.), some beyond your control (i.e shipping handlers abuse the box). Depending on your luck, the shipper (both FedEx and UPS) may repack and send it along to the recipient (low probability), return to sender (some probability), or completely discard the shipment (some probability). I've read enough incidents to know that there's no way to know for sure how each damaged box will treated. Everything depends on the point in which the box was damaged. Some senders will get a letter from FedEx legal department warning them about violating alcohol shipment policy, others don't, yet there was 1 case where FedEx actually terminated all services (both sending from and shipping to) to the address. This was a result of repeat violation. I have not heard of UPS sending warning letters or terminating service. Most people who reported damaged boxed switched shipper for a while just to make sure. As for claiming insurance, you SHOULD be able to do it regardless of whether or not they know it's beer. They will ask about the content, but as far as I know, since they don't have any information on whether or not you're a licensed alcohol shipper at the point of breakage, they can't deny you for the claim. The fact is that the shipment was damaged and it was insured.
