We have a wine club with about 90% of the members actually picking up their wines. We have historically shipped their wines if they don’t pick up after 2 shipments, i.e. about 5 months. We continue to have problems with 1. wines are returned, 2. too hot to ship so we end up holding wines forever, 3. club members cancel b/c wine was shipped at their cost. I"m thinking to never ship wine and restock their wines after 2 shipments. If they come in wanting their wine, we give them a suitable replacement. I save money and labor because we also have to call members to urge them to pick up.
Anyone have a similar problem or solution?
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After 3 shipments have piled up, put them on hold. (Do call them when you put them on hold.)
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After some number of days - 30, 60, 90, whatever works for you - “… we reserve the right to substitute a wine of later vintage or equal value in the event the original selection has sold out.”
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Create an incentive to pick up sooner.
Some wineries seem to be able to get away with shipping pickups blindly. But our experience was similar to yours. (Heck, even shipping customers get mad at us for shipping while they were out of town. We don’t get paid enough to mind read.)
I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to ship out of the blue. Even if it’s within your club rules yeah, a lot of that wine is going to come back. Your problem compounds quite a bit if you charged shipping to send them wine they weren’t home and weren’t planning to receive.
Restocking and replacing later does protect you and your inventory a bit, but you’ll take a small hit in member satisfaction and still be doing extra work to fill their order once they show up. We have members who go a long time (12 months plus) before picking up and solving this is on my list too. Honestly, some of those are just busy people who happen to be our best customers and it’s worth the extra work. Most of them are not.
So to answer your question, I DO have a similar problem… not so much a solution. I think you go case by case and weed out the people who refuse to follow your rules by putting them on hold until they do.
That’s a good point. Case by case. I’ve some people who have gone past 3 but at least we were communicating and/or extenuating circumstances were known.
I really like the advice. Thank you. I will probably call and place on hold. If we hold the 3 shipment selection for longer than 60 days, we’ll restock. Club benefits cease and if they want to reinstate, must get current billing information. I like it.
Thank you.