Wine delivery

[phidippides29]

I am a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. I am looking for reaction to recent changes by UPS and FedEx in their policies for shipping wine. Please contact me ASAP at 404-865-4355 or rick.brooks@wsj.com. Thanks.

[cdh]

Huh? What's he talking about?

[mcdowell]

Huh?  What's he talking about?

Dunno. FedEx seems pretty clear on their policy.

Essentially says that unless you're a wine distributor shipping to another wine distributor/mfg/etc, then you have to fill out a special form.

Seems reasonable to me, but then I never ship wine.

The other stuff I ship, I pack in coffee grounds to throw off the dogs.

[Mark Sommelier]

I am a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. I am looking for reaction to recent changes by UPS and FedEx in their policies for shipping wine. Please contact me ASAP at 404-865-4355 or rick.brooks@wsj.com. Thanks.

I think it is great. People can REALLY overnight wine to you now. Of course, we don't know a whole lot about the temperature conditions on the ground or in the air. Maybe that's a whole other thread.

[pixelchef]

Mark, if you want to send me a bottle, I'd be more than happy to test it for you. :)

[VivreManger]

I am swearing off helping Wall Street Journal reporters on their food stories and urge others to do the same. Quite apart from the war-mongering reactionary policies of their editorial page, the last time a WSJ reporter contacted eGullet for help with a story, her response was indifferent, selfish, and lacking in elementary courtesy.

You may remember an urgent reporter's appeal for help on a raw milk cheese story. I responded as did many others. I suggested that she contact Robert Brown, one of our most vociferous resident cheese devotees. I also called her attention to other postings on the matter.

She never responded to me. As far as I know she never pursued the contacts.

When the story did appear, she did not have the courtesy to provide a link for eGullet. Since the Wall Street Journal, in shocking contrast to almost every major newspaper, charges, I believe, for on-line access, even if she had provided the link, we would have had to pay for the privilege of reading something we helped write.

Of course I realize that the WSJ reporter's behavior is typical of the journalist's code of ethics: the 4 Fs, find 'em, feel, 'em, F 'em, forget 'em. Once they have gotten what they want, they never have the elementary courtesy to follow up the matter, even when they promise to do so. I have had a similar experience with a Fox reporter who interviewed me on a completely different story, promising to let me know when the story ran, but never bothering to do so.

So tell Rick Brooks/phidippides29 or whatever he is calling himself to go stuff it. At the very least he should be informed that until the Wall Street Journal allows free access to its on-line edition, he should not bother to expect on-line users to help him write it.

[VivreManger]

I had an exchange with Rick Brooks about his request. Politely he expressed sorry that I felt the way I did and I suggested the following, which I think might be a useful policy in handling all such journalistic inquiries, particularly from the WSJ:

If you do indeed feel sorry, there are three simple steps you can take:

1) Inform your superiors that their on-line fee policy is obstructing reporting.

2) Promise to post on eGullet and on any other web-site that helped you, a free version of your story with an expression of gratitude for the help rendered, and an apology of the practical difficulty of responding to each offer of help individually.

3) Inform your cheesey colleague, whose name I have forgotten, a woman named perhaps McKenna, that her previous lack of courtesy made your work more difficult.

Thanks

[Rail Paul]

The article appeared in the July 17 edition of the WSJ. If you have a subscription, and care to do a search, the terms FedEx and wine will get you there.

It covered the changing landscape of interstate wne shipping in light of several Federal Appeals level rulings weakening state barrier regs, and a 2002 Bush administration decision which simplified the Federal policies.

The Wine Institute, Free the Grapes, a cusomer, and several wineries were mentioned. I would suspect that many other folks were interviewed, but their contrib didn't make it to print

[VivreManger]

Thanks for posting the info. As far as you could tell, it does not seem that any eGulleteers were quoted, but that may be impossible to verify.

For the record, on Wednesday I was interviewed for a story on a completely different topic. The story ran on the news service of a national newspaper chain of some 50 papers on Thursday, quoting me among others. This morning the national correspondence had the courtesy to send me the story via email.

I thanked them for their courtesy. I would hope that other papers would follow that practice.

[KatieLoeb]

I think it is great. People can REALLY overnight wine to you now. Of course, we don't know a whole lot about the temperature conditions on the ground or in the air. Maybe that's a whole other thread.

That's what I was thinking. Especially at this time of year. I know how many UPS and FedEx drivers I've seen sitting in their trucks parked in loading zones in the blazing sunshine, eating their lunch at a leisurely pace. I know how hot my closed car gets so I'd be loathe to ship anything perishable or temperature sensitive before it cools off significantly.