Trading Pet Peeves

Wow. Always ask for fresh hops. I can't conceive how this would be a 'pet peeve'. It should be a required question for anyone trading or receiving hops.

Anybody who sends me old hops goes straight into the do not trade register.

 

I kind of wondered what @Goneflying87 meant by fresh or recent releases, since that's just as ambiguous as "old hops."

Everyone defines this differently. It's frustrating if someone asks for beer canned in the past 7 days. Honestly, it's pretty tough living where I do in Indiana to find 3 floyds fresher than 14 days. It's almost always around 14 days when I see it fresh. More than likely, unless everyone times it just right, It's going to be 14-21 days when shipped.

Similarly, I can understand the frustration when someone sends 2months or more old hops.

 

Exactly. I don't understand how people think you can have something to them within 7 days of canning. I've had plenty of Other Half and Tree House stuff that was 5 to 8 weeks old and it was still absolutely amazing. I wouldn't send anything past two months, but if something's barely under 2 months when I get it, I'll just drink it the day I get the box. The other part of this is, I think it's a given to tell someone the packaging dates when sending any type of hoppy beer. Unfortunately, though, several breweries don't date their damn cans (Decadent Ales and Hoof Hearted for example).

 

Well played!

 

I would put a 2 month old IPA in the old category.

I'm going to have to start giving USPS a shot again after reading this thread. I currently use FedEx. Does anyone know the cost comparison between the two? Is it possible to get an account with USPS and preprint labels?

 

The flat rate boxes are $13.65 (medium) and $18.70 (large) (I may be a little off). These work pretty great. I don't know about an account, but I am pretty sure you can get pre-paid boxes sent to you. I go directly to the post office personally. The flat rate boxes are free.

Edit:
Just checked their website, you can set up an account and pre-print labels. They call it Click and ship

 

This:

But also as a general rule, here's what I know the following (this pertains to shipping times):

Assume you can fit the same amount of stuff in a USPS medium flat rate box and the box you're going to ship FedEx. If it's 1-day shipping with FedEx, it's going to be cheaper by $2-3 to use FedEx if you have a FedEx account.

If you are using a large flat rate box, again for 1 day shipping, FedEx will be cheaper, but this time by closer to $4-5.

If FedEx will deliver in two days, the prices are approximately equal. Sometimes FedEx will be $2-5 more than a large-flat rate box, depending on where it's going. As an example, awhile back I shipped 6 bottles in a 6-bottle shipping rather than in a large flat rate box. Cost me about $22 instead of ~$19 to ship to NC. They were not all large bottles, so they would have fit.

I try not to ship more than what will fit in a large flat-rate box if I am shipping 3-day+ travel (via FedEx). In these cases, USPS is almost always cheaper by a few bucks. BUuuuuuutttTT, if your box is large enough, you might say "Well of course Fed-Ex is cheaper!" - Actually, I haven't found that to be the case. I've found it to be approximately equivalent to using 2 USPS flat rate boxes (regardless of how you mix and match). I have only sent a few boxes that were larger than 2 large-flat rate boxes (30+pounds), but I assume at that point FedEx may be cheaper.

IF you are shipping somewhere local(ish) (2-4 hours driving distance), and you're just sending a bottle, or a couple cans, you can probably use a smaller box than a small-flat rate box, and send for around $8, which is cheaper than flat rate or FedEx. However, if your box gets much larger or heavier, you usually benefit by just using a flat rate box.

 

Yeah, anywhere in New England or tri-state area for me I don't use the flat rates, cheaper to use another box even if greater size.
At one of the shipping places I go they are USPS, UPS, FedEx (and DHL, but I've never checked on them). They give me the price for each option. FedEx was sometimes a bit cheaper but always took longer (rural location pickup).

 

I generally found fedex a dollar or two cheaper, but UPS has an AAA discount that helps a little. UPS was definitely the “less hassle” option and thus worth the slightly higher price. The downside is that my local UPS has much worse hours than the local fedex.

 

I live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia which is conveniently located close to the midway point of the East Coast. I've been trading for a little over two years now and only ship with UPS and USPS. Anytime I ship a package to another east coast trader I use UPS because regardless of box size I can typically expect to pay anywhere from $12-15 and the box will land within two days. I find this extremely comparable to using a medium flatrate box from USPS ($13.65) which takes two days to deliver as well but I give UPS the nod in these cases because I usually need a bit more space than the flatrate box offers. Personal rule is that I always use a flatrate box when shipping across the country to any Midwest or west coast traders because it is the fastest way to get them their package. Only problem here is I am limited to the size of trade I can except due to the size of medium and large flatrate boxes. Not a fan of UPS or FedEx in cases of long distance shipping due to time in transit. More opportunity for problems to arise the longer it's on the move. I use to put the noise makers in boxes like some others but I totally skip it now, waste of space in the box really. UPS and USPS allow customers to ship liquid so I'm upfront with them about having liquid contents. When asked for specifics I tell them I make gourmet hot sauces and sell them online, I'm now known as the "hot sauce guy". I also don't bother trying to go to secondary drop off locations and instead go straight to the official brick and mortar locations, I don't see the point in avoiding them directly. In regards to the "old hops" comments I'm reading, anything over 5 weeks from canning is pushing the limit. I would consider something older if I really wanted it, couldn't find it anywhere else fresher and it would have had to been refrigerated the whole time. I live close enough to plenty of tradable breweries that fresh isn't a problem but understand that in more rural places this is probably not always the case. This in particular is a feature I really like about another trade platform I use, www.TheBeerExchange.io. On that site once you add a beer to your FT/Cellar list you have the option of updating the canning date if you know it. Nice feature that I do not believe is available here on Beer Advocate. Takes a bit of the back and forth out of negotiations because its less that has to be talked about.

 

You can definitely set up an account and preprint labels. Another awesome feature about creating an account is that you can order shipping materials from them and they will send them right to your door. The flatrate boxes, address labels and bubblewrap padded envelopes are free. Something I got turned on to from a fellow trader and have been using ever since are the bubblewrap padded envelopes. You can put (3) 16oz cans in each envelope and it holds them nice and tight and provides plenty of padding. I order a bundle of boxes, labels and envelopes each month and it has saved me a bunch on packaging materials.

 

I've just started to use USPS more now that there's a grocery store walking distance from my house that has a post office as part of their customer service. They definitely don't care what you are dropping off, but their materials are scarce, so this is a great help, thanks!

 

Wow, that is awesome!

Roughly how many cans can you guys pack into a large flat rate? If I need to use a box bigger than the large flat, does cost jump?

 

You can get 16 cans into a large flat rate box. It is a tight fit and you can only wrap each can once with bubble wrap, but I haven't had any problems with it yet.

You can also fit 8 cans and 2 bottles, as long as the bottles are not 750's

 

I’ve done numerous trades via BA (both IP and shipping) and had great experiences with ALL of them. That came to a screeching halt in the past 7-10 days. I started communicating with 2 different individuals via DM and started trade talks. Both of them fell off the face of the earth and completely stopped responding. I understand that life happens, but to completely cease communication for seemingly no discernible reason is incredibly frustrating for me. Both of these individuals have good trade history and were interested in the original trade discussion. Maybe they’re Cub fans????

 

this. wish people would just flat out say "this trade isn't going to work" I mean it's that easy rather then just an unresponded message

 

Spot on, my man. I’d settle for a “go to hell” or “leave me the f#%* alone” at this point.

 

indeed anything to "close" the trade lol

 

I'm probably going to get crap for this, because I know a lot of people like it, but I get a lot of anxiety about what, if any, extras to throw in.

I know I should just be generous, but I don't like the thought of analyzing what to throw in as an extra, especially with no expectation of getting something back. I spend a lot of time working on the trade itself, because they are usually big ones, then I have to spend extra time working out what extras to throw in. Maybe I should just be the guy who says no extras ongoing, even though I have very much appreciated and was surprised by many of the extras that I have received.

It could be that I usually only buy 1 of most exclusive, local BA items which I then want to keep to myself, but... I just find it difficult. Probably my biggest trading pet peeve.

 

extras are just that...extras. if you want to that's great but you can't put them in and expect a return unless it's discussed previously. I've gotten and given some good extras but I don't appreciate when people expect them and for them to be rares at that.