By proper do you mean legal? (It depends where you live, not legal in the US) By proper do you mean not going to get intercepted or break? We need more details. First things first: if it’s summer where you are this is a bad time of year to be mailing boxes of beer.
Sorry I should have clarified not really get intercepted basically a buddy of mine is turning 21 and I wanna send him a couple bottles and I just wanna know how I can if it's possible
I definitely wouldn’t wrap the cans or bottles (cans better) in padding then individually in plastic ziplock baggies then into a box bigger than you need to accommodate more padding then mail it as if it’s just a box of assorted hardware. USPS would frown on that if they knew what they were carrying. And if I had successfully ran a beer exchange program with friends around the US for years I certainly wouldn’t be talking about it on Reddit.
Ahh ok so I definitely shouldn't do this at all
FYI it's a federal crime to ship alcohol via USPS. For private carriers, its legal but might be against company policy. As someone that used to regularly ship yeast samples to homebrew competitions, I'd pick a different carrier.
Pack it very well. Assume someone will drop the box from chest height onto a concrete floor multiple times. Ziplocks are good to contain potential leaks and avoid your box getting trashed. Don’t say it is alcohol. Buy label online and print at home. Drop off. Done.
I don’t know about beer, but the guys on Beer Advocate send a lot of Hot Sauce to friends.
Along with olive oil and yeast samples. ....so much olive oil.
Cans only. Bottles are too risky, or so I’ve heard. There’s a company called U-Line that sells box sets specifically for shipping beer, or so I’ve heard. When shipping cans in U-Line boxes, you need a wad of brown packing paper on the top and bottom of each can, and leave the corner slots empty, just filled with packing material, or so I’ve heard. And only use UPS, or so I’ve heard.
Bottles are fine. Many breweries ship bottles out to their customers. In fact, the way I've done it in the past is I reuse the bottle and can shippers I've received from a brewery.
I use Whale Pods: https://whalepodshipper.com
I sent a 12 pack of spaghetti sauce cans to a friend in FL. Convenient 12 oz cans in a cardboard box. Just put it in an old appropriately sized Amazon box. I’d prefer mailing cans vs glass.
The way I usually do it is: My friend (Cali) and I (DC area) will share once in a while. We order a case of cans, delivered to him from, let's say, Monkish. He grabs half the case for himself, fills it back up with cans from other WC breweries like GC, NP etc. and then send 'em to me. I empty and return the shipper with EC breweries from around me. We've done the same with 750ml/500ml bottles as well.
What I used to do. I pretended I was making pickles and shipping them- so I made a free account with fed ex. Or just stated that they were pickles. Make a note on the return address that your company is something like “Peter pickles” I would line the exterior of the box with foam or extra cardboard. I would then line it with a garbage bag. I’d wrap each bottle in bubble wrap or foam (also wrap the caps:corks with electrical tape). I’d make sure that they were packed well- no shifting. Even if a can or bottle breaks- as long as it doesn’t leak it’ll get delivered. I went to great lengths for years to package beer safely. Then, one day from California I received a package of a beer I’ve always wanted to try. Wrapped in a tube sock in barely any packing in a shoebox. It survived. I will still send beer overkill. But it’s been awhile since I’ve shipped beer.
So I definitely shouldn't do this at all?
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