Astor Wines no longer shipping spirits

[tanstaafl2]

Not sure what the best place is for this so feel free to move.

Came out of nowhere to me and is very annoying as they join The Party Source in caving to the absurdity of restrictions on spirits that is the bureaucratic idiocy of alcohol laws in this country.

Only slightly less annoying is the fact that unlike The Party Source that owned up to it and makes it clear that they can no longer ship, Astor Wines has so far said nothing about it on their home page.

Not sure what the impact is on other big New York shippers like Drink Up NY yet but I can't imagine it will be good. From what I have been told from a reliable source one of the major shippers (Fedex and/or UPS, who have profited from this for years as well) have ratted out the industry to the State Liquor Authority to cover their own ass. Apparently the SLA, which for years was perfectly aware that stores were shipping, has now decided to "investigate". Smaller stores not on the radar they way Astor and DUNY may be, may still be willing to ship but it will likely be a case by case proposition.

[Kwats7]

Other than DUNY, are there any other retailers out there that still ship?

[tanstaafl2]

Other than DUNY, are there any other retailers out there that still ship?

Some still ship to selected states. But few places will ship to every state. Sometimes a smaller store will be willing to ship although that can be variable.

[silverfish]

Other than DUNY, are there any other retailers out there that still ship?

Plenty of 'em tho' like tans said, finding ones that ship to a specific state can be a problem.

Visit winesearcher and do a search - you'll find a load of shippers.

[jburlowski]

Came out of nowhere to me and is very annoying as they join The Party Source in caving to the absurdity of restrictions on spirits that is the bureaucratic idiocy of alcohol laws in this country.

It's not called "caving" --- it's called preserving your liquor license.

[dementedavenger]

Long-story short, it was UPS that killed Astor's out-of-state shipping of spirits. I placed an order with Astor during President's Day weekend, it shipped out via UPS, made it as far as Spokane (I'm in Seattle), and then was recalled. Astor called me to inform me that UPS put the kibosh on their shipping of spirits out-of-state and turned around several other orders, so the out-of-state shipping actually ceased in late February. Someone at Astor suggested that UPS and FedEx were under some political pressure on the state level, which suggests it's more about taxes than federal law.

P.S. - I ended up getting a friend to pick up my order from Astor and he shipped it to me.

[TunnelTiger]

Goes to show it pays to be resourceful. I've never tried shipping a bottle to a friend via UPS. Do you need to pre-package before you ship or declare it's a liquid?

[flahute]

Interesting. Astor's website still shows that they ship.

I inquired with K&L why they weren't able to ship to Washington State while others were. They said that our state doesn't allow licenses for out of state sales that ship to here and that other retailers are skirting the rules. They also said that the Washington Attorney Generals office is actively trying to stop it. I wonder if they got to UPS? (Pure speculation.)

[dementedavenger]

Interesting. Astor's website still shows that they ship.

I inquired with K&L why they weren't able to ship to Washington State while others were. They said that our state doesn't allow licenses for out of state sales that ship to here and that other retailers are skirting the rules. They also said that the Washington Attorney Generals office is actively trying to stop it. I wonder if they got to UPS? (Pure speculation.)

If you add spirits to your cart on the cart page there are two warnings at the bottom: "Currently spirits are only available for shipment to Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens." and "Currently spirits cannot be shipped via UPS of FedEx."

It could very well be the Washington AG. Astor suggested it was actually coming from NY's AG, so perhaps it's both.

Sucks for us Washingtonians. Options becoming more limited.

[Thig]

Interesting. Astor's website still shows that they ship.

[tanstaafl2]

Goes to show it pays to be resourceful. I've never tried shipping a bottle to a friend via UPS. Do you need to pre-package before you ship or declare it's a liquid?

Yes, most definitely need to have it prepacked. Generally the less said about what it is the better. Some people have suggested putting things in the box that rattle to cover any "sloshing" sounds (Like a box with some coffee beans in it). If asked mine is usually "glass art work". After all it is glass and the contents are most certainly a fine work of art!

[TunnelTiger]

Woohoo! Glass art work, now that is not only creative but true!

[scratchline]

Glad to hear this. Hard enough competing with locals to get limited releases. Let Binny's take care of the rest of the world.

-Mike