NYC retailer shipping policies

I am just sharing this as I was quite surprised by a NYC wine retailers shipping policy. I asked them if they can hold my wine “if” weather was not ideal as I was not sure if there was a blizzard or an extreme cold front in the east coast right now. I said that I did not need the wine right away and that they could hold it if needed. Here are the responses below.

The insurance you refer to is indeed insurance that covers, loss, damage, or theft.

We ship as soon as possible, without regard to weather conditions.

I am not going to elaborate on the whole conversation, what they basically told me is that they do not hold wine due to weather, that they ship it regardless even if it is 95 degrees in summer. They mention that I should just insure the wine (which their system automatically adds). I am not here to name this retailer, I think my wines will be OK, I was just surprised that this is the first time I had this response from a retailer (and I have ordered from a LOT of them throughout the years). I can understand that they might not have any storage space, etc. etc. and that this is their business standards, which I can respect. It will just prompt me to not order from them during the summer months, but it will also make me think twice because if a retailer does not value shipping their wine regardless of weather, how do they treat their incoming shipments then?

So, is it just me or is this practice more common than I thought it was (not holding wines due to weather or shipping immediately regardless of weather even if you request a hold). In the future I will be more careful and contact the retailer before making a purchase.

I have never seen this before and I wouldnt order from any store that has this type of policy.

given that there are hundreds of NYC retailers and that this alleged policy is totally insane, there is no value to this post unless you name the retailer.

Garnet?

I do not have the intent for this to be a withchunt, as I said I think my wines will be fine (better colder than hotter weather). I just wanted to ask the community if they have found similar policies like this one so I can judge how common it is or not. This will make me more cautious and contact the retailers before ordering as I have so far been assuming “everyone” holds for weather, but I guess I was wrong. If you are a frequent NYC buyer and are concerned, feel free to PM me. As a final note, I did a little search on their website, and they did not list their shipping policies regarding weather, only the usual legal implications of interstate shipping. So the lesson here for me here is, if in doubt, call or email first.

Gee, stores NYC stores that do not like to hold wine and auto-insurance added…sounds like Zachys.

I thought it was better to ship in slightly warmer weather than upper 20s and 30s.

But the prices are mighty fine.

though its certainly not a friendly policy - NYC has a rather high cost for rent. And maybe its not possible for them to sit on your case of wine for X amount of months when space is at a premium. It its one of the big NYC places they may have a large offsite warehouse storage and its a slightly different story but still, even those off sites are expensive. Space is always a cost factor but in a place like NYC they really need to find a way to monetize every square inch of the store.

Not at all common in NYC. Or anywhere actually.

There’s only one retailer I order from which has that policy and I order a lot less than I otherwise would. And even then only because they carry some wines no one else does.

All retailers have a desire to move purchased inventory to customers as quickly as possible to make room for other inventory. There’s no economic sense in paying for someone else’s carrying cost. While retail space in NYC is indeed at a premium, that and the retailer’s off-site storage costs, alongside their other fixed costs, are reflected in their pricing.

OP’s retailer is a pretty unusual policy in NYC, most will hold for weather, and even at a customer’s request, for some reasonable length of time, for example Zachy’s holds wines free for 90 days before charging customers $5/case/month for storage; Flatiron does the same before charging $15/case/month. It’s all about providing some flexibility for customers to receive their wines safely, while not bearing an inordinate amount of a customer’s carrying cost.

This seems like a pretty unusual policy and one that I’d imagine can turn off a lot of customers from purchasing wine.

I think for Hold Til Ship policies, one has to discern between what their stated policy is versus what they follow in practice.

I’ve heard of retailers charging for storage, but never this. I understand if they are truly not able to hold orders. If that’s the case, I would simply not order from them. There was one place that gave me a hard time about holding as long as I wanted, which caused me to start ordering more seasonally from them and then eventually not at all. It just isn’t worth it to me.

Slight update, just got a call from them, they said they oversold and are giving me a refund… of well…

Maybe they read this thread

Maybe they didn’t like that you would prefer to receive your wines in good condition.

Zachys is not in NYC.

Right, and there’s no sense in guessing the retailer, unless someone else has seen a similar policy.

I wish you would state the name of the store. I occasionally get wine from NYC stores and would hate to buy unwittingly from a store with that policy. Could you pm me?

well, maybe update the thread title to something like “a single, unnamed retailer, coincidentally in NYC, won’t hold for shipping of wine that I am not actually purchasing” … ?

I have issues with Zachys are on occasion, but this isn’t it. They definitely hold and aren’t in NYC anyway.