Should we deliver wine to customers at home in the UK? We think so, or at least for now.

There have certainly been some mixed messages from the UK trade. We were fairly shocked when the CEO of The Wine Society, Britain’s highly respected home delivery specialist, took “the decision to stop taking new orders and to stop making deliveries with immediate effect” hours after PM Boris Johnson’s ‘stay at home’ speech on 23 March, on account of staff safety. It was in the middle of one of their busiest periods.

Majestic, meanwhile, responded by closing their stores but keeping up with deliveries. “The government is asking home delivery services to continue… we are described by government guidelines as ‘essential’, but more importantly we recognise this is a critical service for many right now. Therefore, we not only have a responsibility to our customers to continue, but also to our people to continue, whilst also keeping them as safe as possible.”

Miles Beale, our friend and the CEO of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, issued a statement on 26 March. “Off-licences have been added to the list of retail outlets that are permitted to open.

“In order for alcohol retailers and online businesses to trade then the supply chain for those businesses needs to remain functional. For businesses like bottling plants and distilleries it is simply not possible to work from home. Provided businesses are content that staff can respect social distancing rules while at work and when travelling to work and that staff are happy to continue to work; then businesses can stay open.
“We take further comfort from the fact that Michael Gove has said publicly that online trade in non-essential items can continue. We are therefore advising our members who trade online that if they wish to continue to offer online sales then, provided staff are able to work safely, then activity can continue.”

Phew.

We have used London City Bond for our UK warehousing and delivery service for many years and they’ve been consistently reliable and, as most of our customers would agree, speedy and efficient. Breakages are extremely rare, and this is is key as they deliver 95% of our wines in the original Bauduc cases, not sensible ‘mail-safe’ packaging. Angela and Sophie are pictured above on mixed case duty earlier this month.

From this week, LCB are introducing a revised delivery service to all postcodes in England & Wales which may mean that some orders take a little longer than normal. They are committed to getting the wine to you as soon as is practicably possible.

“To promote customer safety, and adhere to Government guidelines, customers will have an option… our driver will deliver the goods and then take a photograph of these which will be uploaded to our system as your proof of delivery. A paper copy will also be left with your customer. Should any of your customers be unhappy with these revised arrangements, then do please let us know.”

As one customer wrote, politely, ‘could the driver please step away from the front door after they’ve rung the bell?’