Which is better currently for shipping things which might not exactly meet policy, FedEx or UPS? Things like yeast samples which may have been legally distilled?
I think it depends where you are. I like UPS around here… FedEx broke my NHC entries one year. Always prepay and print your own label.
UPS gets my vote as well.
I prefer Fed Ex, print label on line and drop off, never questioned, never had an issue. Proper packing is the key to successful shipping:)
Whichever method you do, don’t ship more than a 12 pack. I have never had issues with shipping at or under that amount. I tried to ship a case home for my dad and it broke. They ended up just keeping the good ones and shipping them in a bag. That was UPS. But like others have said, prepay and print the shipping label.
For me, FedEx has been more reliable at not breaking things than UPS. We get deliveries from both on a daily basis and UPS is much more common to see a box that looks like it fell off the truck and then they backed up over it. Just for general reference (not that you asked), my rules of thumb for both though are:
- Get an account and pre-print your own labels. No questions asked that way in my experience. I usually put a reference blurb about “kitchen supplies”, “barbeque supplies”, or “snowglobes” in case the question ever does come up.
- Don’t overpack. By that, I mean keep the weight and box size manageable. Much like overweight luggage on a plane, heavy and/or awkward boxes are never treated kindly by delivery persons.
- Bag everything. I don’t want anything to leak even if it breaks.
I think the consensus is pre pay and print label. Those drivers are in a hurry and look good the faster they get their route done, so their not asking questions.
It’s more than just how fast they get done. They are dinged if they backup too far at any given time too, as well as going around a block more than once, even if it makes sense to do so. I know a guy who got written up every week for 3 months for backing up over 15’ at the same stop everyday. He finally had to drag his district supervisor out on his route to show him the delivery site had a 65’ delivery dock approach that you either drive into and back out or back into and drive out. Even then they refused to remove the write-ups from his record. There is a reason those folks aren’t as friendly as they used to be.
Paul
Is the ‘yeast samples’ claim still valid?
Is there yeast in it?
I’ve got my UPS guy trained. I used the UPS drop off site at our local parts store. Shipped three boxes. Todays dialog went like this.
What’s in the boxes?
Um…
I’ll just put down gifts
Works for mr
Is there yeast in it?
I’ve got my UPS guy trained. I used the UPS drop off site at our local parts store. Shipped three boxes. Todays dialog went like this.
What’s in the boxes?
Um…
I’ll just put down gifts
Works for me
When I print the label online, they don’t ask and I don’t offer a description.
There is blurb in the current Zymurgy (in the AHA President’s message) on this topic. Apparently, AHA is lobbying congress to make allowing mailing beer legal. The probability of success was not mentioned.
This was one of the main issues I ran on when I ran for Governing Committee 10 years ago. The AHA/BA and their lobbyists have tried a number of approaches. So far none of those has worked out but they continue to look for ways to get it done.
So sometime back we shipped the legally distilled yeast samples and to avoid questions I did it business to business with a preprinted shipping label. The bottles were in CT and I had him ship them to a business in NC. It was a pretty crappy job of packing, but the thick glass made it fine. I decided upon UPS and they didn’t bat an eye at the package, probably because the two bottles fit into a shoe box sized container.
I’ve heard before with shipping bottles to comps you can label them as “Food Samples”. It’s technically correct since by FDA standards beer is a food product and since you aren’t selling them it’s “samples”. Probably just as fuzzy as “Yeast Samples”. I think we use FedEx for things without having any issues. We ship samples all the time for cross country club vs club competitions. As far as I know we’ve never had any issues.
I put the reference line on the package as “Congratulations!!!” figuring they would think it was a gift if it was opened.
Shipping my first beer package. I’m labeling it from my law firm with a big notice that the contents are privileged by attorney-client relationship. Can’t wait to see how that goes over when I drop it off.
Classic!
I hope the competition is brave enough to open the box.