New UK Shipping Rules

I hear you. I order most of my whisky online and never had an issue. I am now hesitant to place an order not knowing if there will be an issue with Customs. Something will probably have to change when retailers see a significant drop in orders and team up to have the law changed back. Not holding my breathe though.

To the best of my knowledge Whisky Exchange is still shipping to the US (I haven't received any notification from them (as I did from Master of Malt) and their web site still show US shipping)

From what I can gather, mostly from reading posts on other sites, whiskywhiskywhisky, Gal on whisky Israel etc is that, In accordance with The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s new rules, all alcohols with an ABV of 24% or more, posted overseas from the UK will be no longer going via parcel force. Therefore delivery costs will then depend on which courier service your supplier uses. I seems that costs will increase by around 30% for a single bottle, and up to around 45% for 6 bottles or more, again depending on which service is used. Added to that is the way they will now clear customs, meaning that you will almost certainly have to pay State / Federal / Country tax on all your purchases too.

However, as far as I’m aware, this is just a UK thing at present, so, you could still order from sites like : La Maison du Whisky www.whisky.fr or The Bonding Dram www.thebondingdram.eu Which are in France and Belgium respectively.

I first heard about this via Gal's blog as well; disappointing news, but I'm hoping that TWE / MoM for example won't have to raise their shipping costs too much given the volume they ship. If I'm forced to buy more from non-UK retailers then so be it, as @CaptinTom mentions there are really good alternatives based in the EU.

Just a suggestion... how about providing some information about what the changes to the shipping laws are? Not all of us are from the U.S. brother!

Seriously though, I believe that this is quite an important issue. I am currently in the process of shipping a number of bottles I've bought here in Japan to my home in Canada. It's lead me to think about how long this will be allowed...

Ordering online, shipping internationally, etc. is not always welcomed by governments for various reasons. I fear it's just a matter of time until this is more strictly regulated.

My mistake - I was not very clear in my email and indeed, this is not exactly "headline" news! New laws in the UK mean that they cannot put high-proof spirits in the airmail - they must be registered through customs and go through freight. This is under the guise of "dangerous materials" but really just so they can be sure to get the duty on all alcohol shipments I think. Currently, Master of Malt is not shipping to the USA at all, and other sites have hiked up their prices by a large amount. Also since these shipments are registered, I think that we're not going to see any more shipments to places where laws don't allow alcohol import... e.g. Pennsylvania, and most of Canada I think. This last is just my own theory, however, I haven't seen anything official about whether shipping will still be allowed to those areas.

Im new to this site, so hello everyone... This new shipping law is downright absurd. Coupled with the removal of sales via ebay as "collectible containers", and there are very few options moving forward for importing and furthering a substantial collection...

@joemic41 Agreed. Especially in the USA - although @CaptinTom had a good suggestion - those European sites seem to only ship to Europe.

@valuewhisky are there any stateside wholesalers or large distribution retailers that ship to the 48 contiguous and have decent selection? Ive searched via google in the past with little success

@joemic41 I don't really know the answer to that. Since I live in PA (control state), none of the US dealers will ship here, so I've never looked into them. Binny's is a name that I've heard of for shipping in the US.

I have a recent experience ordering from the UK so thought I would share it.

I had ordered a few bottles of Brora 30 Year from TWE last weekend and then read this post. I was worried so called them to see what was going on. They anticipated the changes so were in the final stages of getting their new shipping process set up. The shipping costs for 3 bottles went from 38 GBP to 62 GBP, so it is getting very pricey. I was ordering pricey bottles so an extra $30-40 USD was acceptable.

Whatever they needed to do worked as I got my bottles today via FedEx. I know living in New York makes a difference given our liquor laws but other than the cost, the process was as quick and easy as it was the last time I bought from TWE. Sorry, I know other states are much more restrictive.

@msudukie Good to know, thanks for sharing!

A quick note from TWE - we're still working on reducing our shipping costs to the USA. We've got our new shipping system in place, complete with annoying but unavoidable jump in price, and hope to be able to bring prices down as we negotiate better deals over time. Once we have things sorted we'll put up something explaining what's going on.

@cowfish thanks! Please do share any info you have, also info regarding shipping to control states like PA would be helpful. In the past I've ordered from TWE without problem, but would like assurance that it will continue.

@valuewhisky Nothing has changed other than the mysterious methods behind the scenes - if we shipped somewhere already, we still ship there. As far as I know that includes every US state other than Nevada, although it's early days yet for the new shipping rules and we'll see if things change. Hopefully not.

Following up - I placed an order with TWE and received it from FedEx per usual! I am in Pennsylvania (a control state) so that pretty much means you should feel confident anywhere in the continental US I think...

Aside: I ordered a 200 mL bottle of The Laddie Ten because TWE shipping rates on small packages are still the same (i.e. quite reasonable). Including shipping I got this bottle for about $25 US, which isn't bad considering the full bottle is $57, and I don't drink enough to buy all the bottles I want to try.

I ordered 4 bottles from Whisky Exchange last week and received them 2 days via Fedex after they were shipped; I'm in Florida. No issues what so ever, just a little pricier.

@Sharkk276 @valuewhisky Thanks folks - I'll pass the feedback on to the sales team. Good to hear that our new shipping methods are working.

@cowfish Hey all, received an email from MoM today, they are back shipping to the USA again... Cheers!!!!

Glad to see they are slowly adjusting and opening up the USA market again.

@msudukie I guess the increased shipping charges are just a minor bump in the price ;-0

Update. Was checking out TWE and they now charge for US Customs. From what I saw, they charge an extra £16. Shipping costs were £38, so one bottle now costs £54 or almost 87 USD. Not sure when I will be ordering again. I know it is not their fault but still.

@msudukie Wow that changed fast. As of now, Master of Malt still has the same old prices for US shipping. Why isn't it more for them?

@cowfish (hi Billy) @joemic41 Shipping to any state in the USA is controlled by the individual state. There are no Federal regulations.

I live in Wyoming. According to the executive director of the Wyoming State Liquor Association, It's illegal for any shipper to ship spirits into Wyoming. It's the same for many other states, as well. Each state--even the non-control states--has a governing organization that is happy to provide the "correct" answer for their state.

The state's that don't allow shipments do it for one reason: taxes. But I can't tell you how they enforce their laws, or whether they do at all.

@valuewhisky I think TWE are doing what is best to get the package to us without delay by Customs. If everything had been 100% transparent in the past during shipping, I think we would have always paid taxes and fees. Kind of like someone being safe and declaring bottles over their limit so Customs doesn't hassle them by inspecting their luggage and then paying anyway.

Master of Malt has also opened up the USA market. Their shipping is cheaper, but the selection not as large as TWE and prices are a bit higher.