Steve, DHL does not transport wine in some of the European countries. In The Netherlands, their argument is not about regulations or tax, but more on the fragility of the parcels. The handling of parcels with bottles is looked as risky by most logistic companies in Europe. I once put inside a parcel a shock witness and sent it to myself. The reading of the witness traced shocks in excees of 10g, obviously caused by unproper handling!

As a professional wine scribbler I get bottles by thelong ton sent to me and must say that in the past decade or so have had only 3 or 4 breakages--all by FedEx, which deals wioth the problem in a very insulting manner. FedEx re-wraps the package and del,ivers it as if nothing has happened, leaving it for the recipient to discover the damage. Copmplainants are told the SHIPPER has to lodge the complaint. And even when you can get the shpper to make that onerous effort, FedEx then tells him to tell you to ship back the wreckage.

Please tell me what a shock witness is and where to get one! All I have to go by now is the shipping container. Very very few of the cardboard shippers are damaged; m ost can be re-0used as new. Half or more of those filthy styrofoam things are badly damaged--but I suspect that's also because of poor construction. Some stryos are so well made I really hate to throw them out.

Bill, shock witness are also called shock indicators, impact indicators, shock detectors... basically it is a small device with a tube that releases a red liquid when a certain impact level is exceeded. You can get them for example from shockwatch.

I personally say good riddance to DHL as a wine shipper. I've had nothing but bad experiences with them both personally and professionally. Last summer they twice left wine shipments on the porch of my tasting classroom on sunny days over 85 degrees. And one of those two times I was away for a week and not expecting the shipment. When asked why they'd leave a shipment that says ADULT SIGNATURE REQUIRED they said that they simply couldn't afford to only deliver when there is someone there. An unfortunate indication that Steve is right about American shipping rules. Or just that DHL is negligent.