I want to send a single bottle of hard liquor and some cigars to a friend as a thank you, and I know that it used to be illegal to ship alcohol via USPS (and if you do a search, most articles still state it is, although they're dated)
However, under restricted items on the USPS' website, alcohol is no longer listed.
I could swear that it used to be possible and I had previously done it in on trips to wine country.
This summer, I made a trip to Central Coast California wine country and was shocked I couldn't ship it (to be fair, every winery had offered but I was trying to ship it all at once instead of getting multiple shipments). UPS' store did bubble wrap each bottle, and double box it for me to bring it as checked luggage. The assholes at TSA (airport in wine country) opened the double box, and opened every fucking bubble wrap. I was simultaneously pissed and surprised that their re-wrapping didn't cause breakage.
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Posts: 24216 | Location: Northern Suburbs of Houston | Registered: November 14, 2005
Originally posted by tatortodd: I could swear that it used to be possible and I had previously done it in on trips to wine country.
This summer, I made a trip to Central Coast California wine country and was shocked I couldn't ship it (to be fair, every winery had offered but I was trying to ship it all at once instead of getting multiple shipments). UPS' store did bubble wrap each bottle, and double box it for me to bring it as checked luggage. The assholes at TSA (airport in wine country) opened the double box, and opened every fucking bubble wrap. I was simultaneously pissed and surprised that their re-wrapping didn't cause breakage.
UPS and FedEx have cracked down and are actually enforcing their own policies if alerted to actual contents. Many liquor stores that previously shipped have quit shipping at all or greatly limited where they'll ship. There's a wine exemption that many used to ship hard liquor,kind of don't ask don't tell. The great state of New York City is largely to blame for the recent issues as they raised a stink in the name of safety but really tax revenue.
Posts: 4409 | Location: Peoples Republic of Berkeley | Registered: June 12, 2008
Bubble wrapping bottles and packing peanuts to protect the bottle(s) works great. Adding some dry macaroni in a couple empty 16 oz water bottles as part of your "packaging" masks the sound of liquid sloshing in a bottle when shaken for "inspection".
Or so I've heard...
Posts: 908 | Location: TX | Registered: February 09, 2003
I was able to do it once because I was sending the BOTTLE. The bottle had worth because of its age. The fact that there was some kind of liquid in it was inconsequential.
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Posts: 10997 | Location: SF Bay Area | Registered: June 06, 2007
