Sending wine via Australia Post

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:03 pm

If you send wine by Australia Post and take out insurance, be prepared for a bureaucratic run-around if any of the wine is broken or lost.

This happened to me recently (1 of 12 bottles broken) and I when I asked about how to claim I got a lengthy lecture on packing wine securely, but they stopped mid-way through a spiel on "packing in sawdust to absorb spilt wine if a bottle breaks" when I couldn't stop myself bursting into amazed laughter. :shock:

I submitted a claim and was contacted a week or so later to say that the addressee should submit the claim, despite it being me who paid for the postage and insurance...

Of course the person at the post office was too busy lecturing me to think of that option.

Anyone else had any situations like this? Or just don't bother with the insurance?

Andrew Jordan · Post by **Andrew Jordan** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 7:41 pm

RB,

Fortunately I haven't had a broken bottle delivered to me ... YET! However, there have been a few instances when a wine shippment hasn't turned up on the expected day, and upon calling the supplier they have informed me that it was returned to them as 1 or more bottles were broken during shipping. But in all cases the supplier has replaced the broken bottles ... even asking if I wanted all bottles replaced due to the original non-broken bottles now having wine stains on them!

I always take out insurance, even on auction purchases, because you never know who is handling the shippment or what unplanned events may befall your precious wine before you take possession of it!! Better to be safe than sorry.

Gary W · Post by **Gary W** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:44 pm

Amazing that any wine you might have shipped would have broken. I would have assumed that they would be 98% oak and tannin and 2% glass

GW

Winefront Monthly · Post by **Winefront Monthly** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:46 pm

Brian,

I don't know if Aus Post have changed their policy, but the last time I tried to insure a box of wine that I was sending through Oz Post the guy behind the counter picked up the box, held it at shoulder level, and then said - So if I drop it from here, will anything break?

I said, Yes it will.

He said, In that case, I can insure it for you, but you won't win the claim. You have to pack it so that if we drop it, it still won't break. He recommended poly.

I still send quite a bit of wine in the post, but I never take out insurance any more, and just wear the loss when a bottle breaks.

Over time, in the insurance saved, I'm ahead ... just.

Policy might have changed now, I haven't asked. Probably time that I did.

Campbell.

www.winefront.com.au

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:57 pm

Winefront Monthly wrote:I don't know if Aus Post have changed their policy, but the last time I tried to insure a box of wine that I was sending through Oz Post the guy behind the counter picked up the box, held it at shoulder level, and then said - So if I drop it from here, will anything break?

I said, Yes it will.

He said, In that case, I can insure it for you, but you won't win the claim. You have to pack it so that if we drop it, it still won't break. He recommended poly.

Campbell, it doesn't say anything like that in the insurance conditions and I've never had a consignement queried. Isn't that what insurance is for, in case they carelessly or accidently drop and break it despite reasonable packaging?

In fact the packing was better than most cases of wine I've had delivered from wineries and merchants by Aus Post. I received 5 cases of Morris 2001 Shiraz last week, from Adelaide via Aus Post, none of the cartons had any internal dividers, just a plain cardboard box with 12 bottles rattling within, none were broken.

Winefront Monthly · Post by **Winefront Monthly** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:04 pm

Brian,

It's quite possible that the policy has changed.
I didn't read the conditions back then - I just went on what the bloke behind the counter said.

I obviously get a lot of bottles delivered here by various transporters and I see about 2 broken bottles per week. In the last 6 weeks I've had a higher rate than that but I think it's just a statistical blip. I just contact the winery and they send another ... I don't know whether they claim, I should ask.

Campbell.

Red Bigot · Post by **Red Bigot** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:06 pm

Gary W wrote:Amazing that any wine you might have shipped would have broken. I would have assumed that they would be 98% oak and tannin and 2% glass

GW

That's the thing with assumptions, they are often wrong, as in this case.
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Although the broken bottle was a John's Blend Cabernet. ;-)

Gary W · Post by **Gary W** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 10:11 pm

Ha ha ha. No harm done then...and tell them you packed it with sawdust anyway!
GW

Mark S · Post by **Mark S** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 11:22 pm

previously I would sell & buy heaps on sold.com and ebay - used Aust Post exclusively to ship my wines; always did it thru registered mail. There weren't many breakages or disappearances, but when they occured, it was of course with the rarest wines, at the worst possible times. Invariably got compensated - took a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with their Cust Relations dept (ie as to whether the sender or receiver should put in the claim etc), but sometimes got more back than the wines were worth! [the $2.80 or thereabouts in registered mail charge gets you automatic $100 insurance, then $1 per $100 value extra if you need it] Would have to submit quotes from auction houses for older wines, but this wasn't a problem as I've good relations with Langtons & others.
One time I remember though, the Aust Post crew managed to destroy one bottle to the extent that the punt (the heavy glass bottom section) was pulverised - this wouldn't even happen if you threw a bottle against a brick wall! Might've run over it with a bulldozer, perhaps. :roll:

Gavin Trott · Post by **Gavin Trott** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:01 am

Oh Dear

Wine shipping and breakage stories.

How long have you all got!!!!!!!

Around Australia, around the world ....

smithy · Post by **smithy** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 4:34 am

Sorry to be the one to tell a good news story and wreck the thread, but we use Aust post to handle our freight.

I think we send around 3500 cases annually and the % of lost or breakers is miniscule. Actual loss/breakers would be <20 over the year.
( Broken boxes are returned to us so you can use those unbroken if marked bottles for promotion etc)

We don't insure the wine, but replace it if its lost as you've got to do the right thing by your customers.

One Christmas with another freight provider we did lose 10%, with broken boxes not being returned!) Needless to say we are no longer using that shipper.

We also sent 16 cases home to us when we did our booze cruise to SA a few years ago. We used Aussie Post from Clare, McLaren Vale Robe etc to send our wine to ourselves (didn't fit in the Astra).
No problems.

There you go, a good service story!

Cheers
Smithy

Winefront Monthly · Post by **Winefront Monthly** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 6:39 am

Smithy,

Do you just rock up to the post office and post the wine out, or do you have a special wine service account because of your volumes? Does the wine travel in the normal vans or do they have a 'fragile goods' service for accounts like yours?

The thing is, when Oz Post breaks a bottle that's on its way to me, they still deliver it to me ... they just tape around the soggy part of the box and say, There you go.

Seriously.

Couple of times a week.

Campbell.

www.winefront.com.au

GraemeG · Post by **GraemeG** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:56 am

Gary W wrote:Ha ha ha. No harm done then...and tell them you packed it with sawdust anyway!
GW

Very droll!

("Oh, you mean the sawdust has to be outside the bottle.")

cheeers,
Graeme

TORB · Post by **TORB** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:59 am

If the parcels are valueable I register them but don't take insurnace any longer.

In the many hundreds of cartons that Oz post have delivered over the years, breakage to me is miniscule; the number of bottles could be counted on one hand.

As to cartons going missing, either from me or to me, the number is also very low; probaly less than 1%. Just as well Bob, the local Oz post driver, doesnt like wine. :wink:

Campbell, surprising you get all those breakages, most of my samples come in styro shippers, (but you may get a wider range and then they need to be packaged in boxes.)

When i used to use TNT, I had big problems in all areas.

Winefront Monthly · Post by **Winefront Monthly** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:12 am

TORB,

Most wine comes in poly and none of that ever breaks.

I seem to be getting an increasing amount of stuff in 6-pack or 12-pack cardboard boxes though, and while I prefer it coming this way, breakage is a problem.

If a winery has 9 wines in their range, I usually ask them to wait until all 9 are ready and send them to me in one lot, rather than 9 or 6 or whatever number of parcels staggered through the year ... works better for both of us I reckon. I have a nightmare of packaging-disposal, as I'm sure you do.

Campbell.

www.winefront.com.au

Brucer · Post by **Brucer** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:47 am

I had a breakage recently, in a six pack from Kalleske. I simply rang Troy, he contacted Oz post, they rang me, organised a pick up and Troy replaced the 6 pack. Very easy.

I used to work for a company that had a huge mail order business, and Oz Post rarely lost or damaged anything.

I did recently send a wine box full of my home grown Navel Oranges to a friend in Tweed heads, and it took 3 weeks to arrive, and all the oranges were rotten. Oz post refunded the post costs. It wasnt insured.

Bruce

Mike Hawkins · Post by **Mike Hawkins** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:50 pm

Over here in the US, breakages apparently used to be a big problem. Now, even when I order a straight case, it comes in a poly-12 pack, rather than the maker's box. No problems....

Gary W · Post by **Gary W** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:03 am

No problems - apart from the environmental nightmare of the poly boxes.
GW

smithy · Post by **smithy** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:29 am

Campbell
It was just ordinairy freight from Aust Post.
Just fronting up at the counter stuff.
Amazed you've had such issues.

We'll be pressing the last of the Durif Wednesday 26th.
Its pretty big gear and should make 17.3%+.
You wanna come play?

Cheers
Smithy