Trading: How do you justify it?

Shipping is half the cost you're thinking, open up an account

 

You're calculating WAY too high on shipping costs. I think $25 is the high end, but I regularly send good sized boxes halfway across the country for $15-20. Get a FedEx online account, and drop your boxes at actual FedEx/Kinkos stores, rather than secondary shippers (Mailboxes Etc. and places like that will charge you extra fees)

I justify the costs of trading as being similar to the costs of shipping were I to order beer online (which we can't really do in TX - welcome to our shitty beer laws). It lets me try new stuff, and also to share things with friends that they can't get in their market. I dont trade as much as others (maybe 10x a year, if that) but to me, its worth it.

If you're happy with local distro and don't feel like you "need" stuff from other markets, then just use the money you save from not trading to buy more beer!

 

It depends on how much value you put into it. I love Founders and Heady Topper so getting those beers is just a real treat for me. I usually have a couple trades going during the same week and then I stop for a month or two. During that time, I desperately try to save money elsewhere. Not going out for drinks, especially when I have all these delicious brews at home. I try not to ship huge boxes, either.

 

Shipping 1 huge box is cheaper than shipping 2 smaller ones.

 

I'd echo what's been said already. But if you're a ticker you might find that you don't need to trade for crazy rare stuff. Instead start small and go for a good assortment of locals from other parts of the country that you can't get at home. Honestly it's those local gems that make trading really fun for me.

 

Mailing is not as expensive as you are estimating. I recently sent six bombers from NY to Nevada and believe the cost was about $20.

 

Trading never really interested me until I moved from Portland to Alaska. While the selection has improved here in the last year, it's still limited, and I'm also really just into trying new and interesting beers. Shipping is a bit more from Alaska, but I just sent a medium-sized box (~6 bombers) to Florida, and it was about $35. It'll be worth it when something new and tasty shows up on my porch...

 

Don't do it. Trading may not be as expensive as you think, but its a larger commitment than anyone realizes starting out. Time spent packing, time spent shopping, time spent ruthlessly stalking your trade partner so you can send a box that blows them away, time spent hiding the money you're spending from your family, time spent communicating, and of course time and money spent repairing the cracks in your porch and damage to your homes foundation.

Don't open Pandora's box. You're pretty much screwed the moment you fall in love with a beer outside your distro, or even a style that isn't well represented in your area.

Lets not even talk about the arms race you can find yourself in the moment an overly generous trader drops a bomb on your porch and you immediately feel the need to get that bastard back for making you look bad.

Don't do it.

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As others have said, shipping is nowhere near what you listed, unless you're shipping overseas or to Canada.

Trading is a great aspect of the beer world, but it's not cheap, and it's addictive as hell. I you like the beers in your area, drink up and be happy. If you want to get into trading, set some limits if you can (something like "only one trade per month). As RedBeeron noted, in addition to the costs, there is a time commitment, space commitment for beer and shipping materials, risks of breaking in transit.............. it goes on. I've done 180 or so trades and have experienced some great beers and met some great BA's as a result, but if you cannot accept ~$15/trade (just shipping costs) walk away now. Trading is fun, but not cheap.

 

sent 12 bottle shipper to midwest and it was 15 and change

 

Being from Michigan, I have access to a lot of good stuff and if it was 100% about getting better beer than what I already have, trading would be tougher to justify. But truth be told it's just a lot of fun packing up and receiving killer boxes of great beer, not to mention the fact that even though I am just getting started myself, I have already met a lot of really, really cool people who I genuinely enjoy interacting with through this fine site. It's not a cheap hobby, but it doesn't have to be an outrageously expensive one either, and it's definitely a lot of fun!

 

this.

 

Trading is much cheaper than flying to another state and buying the beers yourself.

 

Being that you're from Texas, shipping should never be more than like $30-35. And that's a huge box.

That said, I justify it like this. I want to try alot of different beers and different takes on styles. I would be limited to beer I can order online and have to pay a shipping price anyways in addition to a markup. Why not send good beer that I can get for good beer I can't get? Now, there's alot of good local beer in California, but there's also alot of styles that are harder to find in my area or frankly I don't find that California breweries do particularly well. Stouts, minus Speedway and Parabola, being a prime example. Wild Ales, except for RR and now Almanac, another example.

Plus it's fun as hell. Sending good boxes and getting a BM/post/text saying you killed it is awesome. Then unpacking a box of beer is like Christmas. It's time consuming, but what hobby isn't?

 

I just finished up my first two trades and got to admit it was pretty awesome. First trade was replacing a beer that someone drank without my permission and second trade was just for some locals that I miss from my days in NH. In a sense it does come down to your value of money in general. It doesn't necessarily make economic sense for me to spend $50 bucks with shipping to get a few local shelf beers but I really wanted them. I just like trying new beers in general and after a while your local market gets tapped out. I can see how it can become addicting and probably a waste of time and money but just start of small if your interested and see how it goes, who doesn't love getting packages, especially when filled with beer?

 

i usually spend about 18-30 dollars on shipping per trade. multiply that by 3-4 times a month, plus the cost of the beer to ship, trading gets pretty expensive. I do have access to lots of amazing beer, and honestly, i dont know why i trade. just sort of became a habit of mine. i kind of justify it by seeing a bunch of my friends spend just as much money or more a month on smoking and/or going out. i have gotten to try so many amazing beers because of trading, but seeing as how ive spend about 3000 dollars on trading since last july and realizing how i could have put that down on a car or saved towards buying a place, it kind of puts things in perspective for a second.... until i realize that i really enjoy sharing beer and being around others that feel the same

 

I'm not sure your trading offers reflect that, but it's good rhetoric.

As for getting into trading - it's a huge waste of money unless you have tons of disposable income and genuinely feel that other areas have better beer than yours. Once in a while, both of those things are true for me.

 

Trading has an awful lot in common with a drug addiction, so you need to be careful. You get a rush from the process and ripping into a new box is an awesome feeling. As is dropping a monster box on your trading partner. It all becomes super addictive if you're not careful. If you're firing off trades once a week (or even more), you're probably in deeper than you should be. At that point you're likely spending way more money than you realize on it. Shipping, time, cost of beer all adds up... and then I don't know how anybody who trades that much can even drink all that beer. Either they're consuming an unhealthy amount, or their cellar is just stockpiling bottles, and ultimately much of that beer is going to waste. I know I saw my cellar grow to unnecessary sizes when I was trading much more frequently.

All of this is compounded by the fact that new breweries are popping up by the hundreds, and distribution keeps improving everywhere. You don't even really need to trade anymore to seek out new beers on a regular basis.

I've been scaling way back lately - my goal going forward is no more than one trade/BIF per month. That's a sustainable pace, and still gives me the fun/excitement of trading without going over the top.

Point being - trading is fun and rewarding, but try to go into it with a plan to keep things reasonable, and you'll be much happier in the long run.

 

It is just plain fun. Do a few smaller trades. Watch the trade boards. do a bif. Try it, you might like it