These Discounts are No Match for Zachys Shipping Costs

Scarsdale, NY retailer Zachys currently has some deals that stack nicely. Unfortunately, their shipping costs are so high it's probably not worth pursuing - unless you live in the area or might pass by for pick-up in the future.

Deals to Stack

1. $30 off $100 with code ZWINTER30

2. A $30 off $150 Amex Offer that expires 3/22/2021

3. Shop through a portal for $10 back on $100+ 

Zachys Shipping Costs

Zachys has a great assortment of compelling wines with what I'd characterize as "just slightly inflated" pricing. As I was experimenting to confirm the coupon code worked, I noticed that shipping costs are incredibly high.

The most affordable option is $50.11 to ship a single bottle of wine:

Prices don't increase much for a 12 bottle case ($52.08) so that could theoretically knock down the per-bottle shipping costs down as low as $4.34/btl. But it would also be challenging to find desirable wines that line up with the overall constraints of these deals.

So for me, the shipping costs kill the deal here.

If you live in Westchester County -or- travel through the area with any kind of frequency this actually could be a good deal. Sure you'd have to pay sales tax (there's no sales tax on wine in MA) but if you were able to stack all the offers on a few bottles you like the discounts are substantial.

Wine Shipping Price Models

Shipping has real costs for sure. I sometimes wonder how reatilers like WTSO do it. I mean - they'll have wines for around $14.99/btl with shipping included on four bottles. With pricing that low it would seem there's not much margin for shipping costs.

Another solution that works well is flat-rate annual shipping. We see this with Wine.com's StewardShip program and Wine Library's Library Pass. Customers like these programs because they can use promo codes without having to pay more for shipping. Retailers like them because it improves customer loyalty.

Bottom Line

Psychologically, it never feels good to "waste" money on shipping. I think it's effective when retailers find other ways to bury shipping costs in their overall pricing models.

I'd hoped this would be another online retailer to work into the mix here (along with frequent mentions of Wine Access and Wine.com) but I just can't make the numbers work currently.