[udubdawg]

the software that most everyone uses seems to include a default for packing that goes something like this:

"Carefully pack your entries in a sturdy box. Line the inside of your carton with a plastic trash bag. Partition and pack each bottle with adequate packaging material. Do not over pack! Write clearly: "Fragile. This Side Up." on the package. Your package should weigh less than 25 pounds. Please refrain from using "messy" packaging materials such a Styrofoam "peanuts" or pellets; please use packaging material such as bubble wrap.

Enclose your each of your bottle labels in a small zip-top bag before attaching to their respective bottles. This way it makes it possible for the organizer to identify specifically which beer has broken if there is damage during shipment."

unpacking almost 1000 bottles yesterday we had ONE that was leaking.  None broken. 
my question to organizers/staff has to do with the "small zip-top bag" around each bottle label.  It seems like this creates a lot of work, when bottle breakage is very rare.  As a new competitor some years ago I asked several organizers if they wanted the ziplocs.  Everyone said no.  Since then I've never used a trash bag or zip-tops. 

So, are the zip-tops something organizers/staff truly want?

thanks--
--Michael

[Jimmy K]

I never asked for that. Waste of plastic bags too. I suppose the problem though is that some ink jet printer ink is very water soluble, so if one bottle breaks they all might be unreadable.

I also question "do not overpack". Not sure what it really means but the last thing you want is loose bottles knocking around. It is the opposite of how shipping companies tell you to pack fragile items.

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

[james]

Have always really hated when people use ziploc bags or plastic wrap. 

[theDarkSide]

I sent entries in once with ziplock bags but determined it was too much work.  In all the entries I've sent, I have only had one break (and I suspect that was once it was there not during shipping...just a suspicion).

[AmandaK]

My favorite is when entrants use packaging tape to seal their entry labels, then use color coded rubber bands to identify the matching pairs of entries.

It's pretty sad that I have a favorite way for entry packing...

[Joe Sr.]

Glad to know I can stop wasting my zip lock bags...

It does seem like overkill, but whatever. 

My shipments of wine have never come in any sort of secondary water tight container and they've never arrived broken.

[johnf]

The cynical POV is that it doesn't really matter what instructions you provide since people won't follow them.

The two things I would really like to get across are no tape inside the box and no peanuts. I think I can live with the other stuff.

Think about the way commercial beer is packed. Inside thin cardboard six pack holders inside of a box. Nothing else. Obviously the people shipping commercial beer know it is beer but all you really have to is avoid movement within the box and avoid glass to glass contact.

I always did one perforated sheet of bubble wrap per bottle held on with a rubber band. Then I lined the box with a garbage bag and filled any loose space with newsprint.

I can pack a box very fast that way and I can unpack a box very fast that way. I've shipped hundreds of beers that way and zero have broken.

This could be confirmation bias but it seems that the broken bottles are often in elaborately packed boxes.

[dkfick]

I never use the zip lock bags for my entires.  I do use a garbage bag to line the box though.  I've had a bottle break during shipping... and it caused them to not deliver my package... they didn't return it either... Just stole everything I guess.  I tried to do get reimbursed and it fell on def ears.

[theDarkSide]

Think about the way commercial beer is packed. Inside thin cardboard six pack holders inside of a box. Nothing else. Obviously the people shipping commercial beer know it is beer but all you really have to is avoid movement within the box and avoid glass to glass contact.

But the commercial guys don't need to worry about UPS trying to kick 40 yard field goals in the warehouse with their packages 

The only tape I put in the box is to secure the bubble wrap and then it's only a small strip.

[braufessor]

hmmmm... Having never worked behind the scenes in a competition, I have always done the sandwich bag thing.  Not really so much because of being worried about bottles breaking - always been more concerned about bottles "sweating" from warming and cooling and making the labels unreadable.  But, if that is not a problem, it would certainly be nice to get rid of that step.

[klickitat jim]

I'll be rubber banding my bubble wrap from now on. Sorry Seattle!

[AmandaK]

I'll be rubber banding my bubble wrap from now on. Sorry Seattle!

Whadya do? Duct tape the bubble wrap on?

[dkfick]

the 'best' packing job I've ever seen was when someone used this black spray foam insulation and shot some in the box and then applied a layer and kept repeating this until the box was full of a big square of rubbery foam... and by best I mean worst.

[Jimmy K]

I'll be rubber banding my bubble wrap from now on. Sorry Seattle!

Whadya do? Duct tape the bubble wrap on?

Cable ties and hose clamps.

[jeffy]

On a somewhat related topic, does anybody else feel that it should not be against the rules to have the style number written on the caps?  I leave it on in spite of the rules for two reasons: 1) it verifies that the cellar people don't mix up the entries I send in and 2) in every competition in this state, a label immediately goes onto the cap.