Shipping Beer to Homebrew Con

[Goose]

If you haven’t shipped you beer to the AHA Finals, please read the following.  Apparently, FedEX is opening and returning all beer destined to Tessiers Hardware and Homebrew (for the final round) that have beer in them.  You might consider using UPS  instead.  Hoipefully they won’t start doing the same thing.  This was posted on the AHA Homebrew Forum a couple days ago and I just saw it today.

 

RE: The FedEx station in Seekonk, MA who is the freight hub for Tessier’s Hardware & Homebrew, in Pawtucket RI is opening all packages headed to the home-brew store. They’re returning all packages where they find beer.

We all know you are a volunteer, and we can only imagine how much time this takes away from your personal life. So be bold, do your best, and let the chips fall where they may…

You need to get ahead of this situation.  Working behind the scenes is not enough.  You need to explain what is happening, what is the plan as of today Saturday, be clear that the plan may change, and that you will send an update on Monday and further updates during the week.

Here are my humble suggestions:

Immediately, let all participants know that this is happening, and tell them what the plan is for now. For example (this is just an example, my only point is that a communication needs to happen now…)

SUGGESTED TEXT

The competition will go ahead. We do realize that many shipped their last bottles. We are really sorry but we do not have a solution for this problem at the moment.

If you already shipped entries via FedEx and you have extra beer, plan to bottle immediately and ship this week via UPS. We cannot guarantee that UPS will work but it has worked so far, but we do not have a better alternative at the moment. We will send an update to all participants on Monday morning.

We are presently working with FedEx to resolve the situation. We judge it is better not to do this negotiation in public. Please do NOT try to shame FedEx in public forums as this may backfire.

Again, we are sorry this has happened, and we will do our best to plan for it next time.

[Goose]

Here is more on this from John Moorehead.

 

Please refer to the email sent out to entrants yesterday afternoon regarding FedEx shipments.
We are currently doing our best to resolve the situation and put alternatives in place to relieve the issue as much as possible. As of right now, there hasn’t been a ruling from the FedEx center in Seekonk, MA, as to allowing the shipments through based on the phone calls yesterday. We are talking with their management team tomorrow morning first thing and will send an update out then. We find it more useful to have these negotiations between our organization and FedEx to explain the purpose of the shipments and the event.
This issue is currently affecting ground shipments, not 2/3 day shipping or overnight shipping.
As of now, if you have your entries rejected and returned, we will accommodate re-shipment as best as possible up to the judging on Thursday, June 27. We understand that many of you shipped last week only to find your packages rejected and returned, with the packages containing your last bottles. If you have extra bottles, or have not shipped, please consider using a different carrier and, if able, ship 2 or 3 day shipping.
We deeply regret the current situation, and are doing our best to resolve the situation this year, and putting plans in place for future years.

Sincerely,
John Moorhead
NHC Director

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