I love the idea of a swap, and reading in on your guys reviews is awesome! not only a great idea for keeping the beer community connected, putting beer to usernames, and improving our homebrew skills.
How are you guys going about sending this out to everyone? fedEx? UPS? USPS? all I believe get fussy over liquids, and I don’t think we can tell them it is beer can we?
fedex and ups dont ask questions, so i dont tell ;D
usps asks- so wouldnt recommend using that.
bubbble wrap, plastic baggies, packed securely with buffer around bottles and should be aOK.
Yeah. I line my boxes with a giant ziplock and package well. UPS always asks what’s in the box. With this type of swap, you can just say “wedding gift” or something. It’s a little more tricking when you’re shipping to “Great Fermentations” for the NHC. “Uhhh… I’m returning brewing supplies.”
All this, and I would also add that I think its best to have a driver pick up if possible. I’m lucky to have daily UPS deliveries where I work so I pay online, print label, and leave a note for UPS to pick up.
This is my theory: drivers are paid mostly for speed and wouldn’t bother to take time to question, a worker at a store might be viewed as a good employee in part for adhering to policies so might be more likely to bring up that swishing noise.
Same way as shipping to a competition.
Also, if you ever get a shipment of wine delivered you can re-use those boxes. They work well for shipping bottles, since that’s what they were designed for.
Use an on-line account and print your UPS shipping label at home. I’ve never been asked what’s in the box.
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Same way as shipping to a competition.
Also, if you ever get a shipment of wine delivered you can re-use those boxes. They work well for shipping bottles, since that’s what they were designed for.
Use an on-line account and print your UPS shipping label at home. I’ve never been asked what’s in the box.
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^^^this is what I do also, then just take and drop off at UPS store.
And whatever you do, if you have to list the contents don’t say “yeast samples”. Just tell them it’s gifts.
I always (if even asked) say glass(es)(ware) and books.
Pack the box well and bag things. I usually use gallon zip lock bags and 12"x12" bubble wrap and wrap each bottle with a sheet of it. I can fit 3 bottles per gallon bag. Use brown paper or old newspaper to cushion the bottom and sides. The key is to not leave room for motion. Glass to glass impact is what causes breakage.
Get an online account with FedEx and/or UPS and print your own label for drop-off. It’s against their policy to ship alcohol without a retailer shipping agreement, but “don’t ask; don’t tell” is what happens when you bring in pre-paid and labeled boxes. If they ever do ask what’s in it, say olive oil or BBQ sauce or kitchen supplies.
You can’t legally ship alcohol through USPS at this time (unless they’ve recently changed that). They have discussed changing that law several times in recent memory in order to alleviate some of their financial issues to have additional shipping revenue, but hasn’t happened yet to my knowledge.
You can make your shipping labels on these shipping companies website. Attach it to your package and drop it off without talking to anybody. I have done that several times without any issues.
This. This is what I’ve done every time. Never get asked anything except “Do you want a receipt?”
Fick! Been a while
Since ive seen you post anyway…
Yeah, it has been a while.
You could say they’re flavored vinegar 
That’s what I told the guy recently. Thanks to Ken for that idea.
What has been mentioned is pretty much all there is to it. I like to package each beer in a 1 gallon zip lock baggie. So if a bottle breaks, the beer is contained. I have had a package with a broken bottle get all the way to me from another shipper, I have had a package with a broken bottle get to another brewer and not know until the box was opened. On the other hand I have had a package get held up because it was leaking…I had to call and get that all straightened out. Just needed to approve the “deliver it anyway”.
They do have a don’t ask, don’t tell policy. So with that said, do not do what my wife did when she offered to ship off my beers to a competition via FedEx. When asked what was the contents, she did say beer. Not only was she embarrassed at the counter, but quite ticked off at me. I figured she would know this by now. When I have been asked what is packaged, I often say “books”, or “glassware” and even “canned goods”. Be careful with saying glassware because unless they package it up, they can not guarantee the shipment so they may ask to inspect it. Or con you into placing your package in another box with packing that they CAN guarantee and are willing to ship. It cost me a little extra money, but I wasn’t about to have him open and inspect my contents.
It’s not that big of a deal, keep it simple and smart if asked what is the contents. Only use UPS or FedEx.