"Cool" New Wine Shipper

https://www.sokolin.com/cool-wine-shippers

Wonder how long the ice packs last.

That’s a lot more styrofoam than traditional styro shipper. Curious to know how this type of packaging performs relative to a regular styro shipper with an ice pack in the middle.

They are in Yapank. Should definitely work for most of east coast. Cross country ground could be risky.

Guessing size is about the same as a 12-bottle shipper, and basically similar to how Flannery ships - a Styro box inside a cardboard box, then another styro 6-pack with ice packs surrounding it.

Have some styro with your styro!

Thanks for sharing Michael. Shipping wine in the warmer months is always a difficult task because you’re not only fighting heat, you’re also fighting condensation. Tossing a few ice packs into a box is easy, but if you care about condensation ruining your labels, the extra barrier is critical.

We’ve done a ton of testing using various packaging types and our current “cold pack” boxes have proven to provide the best defense against heat and condensation in transit while also protecting the wine from breakage.

Our solution isn’t perfect, but we’re always working to improve. When a more sustainable option opens up, we’ll be sure to explore it!

I definitely appreciate the feedback but I don’t want my post to be perceived as a “pitch”! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to PM me anytime.

Cheers,

-Ross

I wonder if somebody couldn’t create essentially a shaped gel product which had the wine bottles in it directly (I.e. imagine styrofoam insert made completely out of gel instead of styro) … pull them out of the freezer, pack with wine and then double box in cardboard (inner box to shape the gel and outer box to take the abuse). Boxes are recyclable and perhaps the warmed gel could be folded down and shipped back with an economy shipping service to be re-used.

Yeah, I’ve actually been frustrated by some places using ice packs that I didn’t ask for and then the labels get damaged. If the box is going to sit in cold chain shipping for 2 weeks, why ruin my labels with useless ice packs that melt before day 2?

My view is that, unless the wines are for immediate drinking, waiting until autumn and winter is a much better idea.

Unless you enjoy filling landfills…

Let’s use more styrofoam so we can ship all year round! Love the foresight wrt climate change. Oh, wait…

So, you would be content running your business 4-6 months out of the year? Just asking.

Not saying that, but doubling up styrofoam seems to be a step in the wrong direction.

Without disrespect to the winery using these shippers, I run my business year round. But I ship in autumn and spring. It actually is an efficiency as I can field orders over 6 months and then do all of my packing and shipping over a much shorter period. It does require patience on the part of our supporters but almost everyone seems to prefer that choice.

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I am with you Marcus and understand holding to ship.

However it does occur to me there is/could be a market for wine which utilizes year round shipping.

If that promotes a larger general overall interest in wine would that be a good thing?

Personally, I would never ship any wine in the summer months unless I absolutely needed it for a specific reason.

Like most reputable retailers, we always advise our customers to hold shipping for cooler (or warmer) temps and we offer complimentary storage in the interim.

The reality is that we still have customers who order very expensive bottles in the summer months and insist on shipping them ground to “save money”. It’s honestly baffling and also frustrating because there’s such a high chance that the wine will be damaged in transit.

We offer the cold packs as an option for those people who NEED to ship something right away and want it protected as much as possible.

There is no doubt that some customers simply want the wines when they want them - regardless of shipping conditions. I do my best to let folks know the ‘risks’ of shipping when temperatures rise, but some still want to move forward with it. I let them know that I’ll do the best I can but even I cannot control mother nature and the toll she may take on shipments . . .

Cheers

Anybody have experience with Liviri?

https://liviri.com/wine-bottle-shipper-liviri-vino/

Concept is interesting, but extra weight and deadheading an empty container back to the point of origin seem like downsides.

Way cheaper to send a box from CA to FL and back via ground than it is to ship it one way overnight from CA to FL. Not to mention, WRT climate, much of coast to coast “ground” level parcels go via rail. As somebody who actually lives in FL, I’d prefer heavily insulated ground shipping vs air. Even for an overnight shipment, I don’t know how long it’s going to sit out on the runway in Oakland or under what conditions it’s stored in Memphis/Louisville, etc … then once it even arrives here, it might ride around on a hot truck til 5pm before being delivered.