You can ship alcoholic beverages via the carrier UPS in connection with Shipcloud both with your own carrier account and for an additional charge via the Shipcloud business rates.

In this article you will learn how you can ship alcoholic beverages via the carrier UPS in connection with Shipcloud and what you have to consider when using this parcel service as well as when shipping alcohol to the UK.

In this article 👇

With UPS, you can only ship alcoholic beverages such as wine, beer, sparkling wine and other spirits if you have explicitly specified this in your own UPS business customer contract. In this case, you sign and enter into an approved UPS ISC agreement for the transportation of alcohol.

Good to know: International Special Commodities (ISC) is a contracted service of the UPS Special Commodities Program that allows select customers to ship certain previously prohibited items (e.g., plants, seeds, tobacco, alcoholic beverages, and perishables, including frozen meat and frozen fish).

All alcohol shipments must be booked with the additional service "Adult Signature Required". With this additional service, the signature of a person of legal age is required at the time of delivery. This prevents alcoholic beverages from being handed over to minors.

When choosing the carrier UPS via Shipcloud business rates, the shipment of alcoholic beverages of any kind is generally excluded. Upon your request, we can make a deviating, individual arrangement for this general transport exclusion for an additional charge in relation to your UPS shipping via Shipcloud business rates. Based on this upcharge, which is determined based on your shipping volume and specifications and charged in the form of individual UPS shipping rates, we will cover the additional UPS costs incurred by shipping alcoholic beverages.

If you want to ship alcoholic beverages with UPS via Shipcloud business rates, please contact our sales team directly.

By following UPS packaging guidelines, you help ensure that your alcohol goods arrive safely and on time to your recipients. All UPS alcohol shipments must comply with UPS packaging regulations and use UPS certified shipping boxes for alcoholic beverages. UPS accepts molded Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam for inner packaging, a folded corrugated tray or a molded fibre tray. Each packaging component must secure the bottles in the center of the box while ensuring that there is adequate space from the side walls of the shipping box. Sturdy outer corrugated packaging is required on the outside.

Preformed polystyrene inner packaging for glass bottles provides maximum internal protection for various types and shapes of glass bottles while providing space from the outer walls of the shipping box. When using corrugated outer packaging, ensure that it is of an appropriate size for the package contents and that all closures are carefully sealed at the top and bottom with tape.

Good to know: Cellulose molded or die-cut corrugated inner packaging must fit precisely within the shipping carton and should have been tested by the manufacturer to meet UPS packaging design and inspection requirements prior to use.

In addition to the above UPS Terms and Conditions of Transport for the shipment of alcoholic beverages, alcohol shipments exported to the U.K. are required to have an "Adult Signature Required" label affixed as a standard practice.

📌 Shipments without a valid ISC contract and on which it is not marked that delivery may only be made to adults will most likely be returned to you at your expense.

Any further questions? We're happy to help.

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