Show HN: Receive real beer donations for your hard work | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Receive real beer donations for your hard work

getthebeersin.com

2 pointsDrei01Matt11 comments

How do you plan to source alcohol?

In most countries, alcohol importation is tightly regulated, with duties and taxes payable on any amount of import (see [1], [2]). It isn't the duty itself which is expensive--it's the paperwork processing fees and the time and effort taken to fill out forms.

There could also be problems if you are expected to verify that the importer (recipient of the package) is at least 18/21 years old (see [2]).

If purchasing online in the country of destination, I calculated that in Australia, the average cost of a single 330mL bottle of craft beer shipped would be AUD$15-25 (approx. USD$12-20, €10-16) depending on the cost of the beer and delivery address. Most online sellers at least in Australia do not ship single bottles due to the high overheads of shipping. The minimum order size is typically 6 bottles (and quite often 24).

Also worth considering is packaging restrictions if you plan to do your own shipping. As an example, the postal service in Australia accepts liquids only if certain packaging conditions are met (see [3] D10.10). For a single bottle of beer, this would likely equate to a strong cardboard box filled with enough absorbent material to absorb all the liquid in the bottle.

The best case scenario I can see is that you find a niche market of beer connoisseurs interested in sending rare or hard-to-source bottles of beer to each other, and don't mind paying at least AUD$30 per bottle for that experience. For everyone else, they'll just continue to make a 5 minute drive to a nearby liquor shop to purchase 6 bottles of comparable beer for a total of AUD$15.

[1] https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Factsheets/Documents/alcohola...

[2] https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/212/kw/mailing alcohol

[3] https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/docume...

Interesting research. Thank you for your feedback. Australia isn't our first planned market as you might have guessed :)

There's still logistical issues to sort but we've got something up our sleeve :p

Hey, I'd love your feedback on this. Especially which countries we should support for creators first.

Matt

An email signup page is not really a 'Show HN' because there is nothing to play with or try out. In terms of feedback, I'd suggest building a non-scalable implementation and iterating.

Thanks. That's the next step. This "Show" was just to gauge interest before building anything (as our implementation requires actually setting up logistics).

Nice picture. What else is there to show?

I'm really asking for feedback here. Trying to gauge the level of interest in our offering. Is this something you would use yourself?

Depends - how do you envision this would work? I'd be perhaps more interested as a sender; are you literally saying "send actual beers"?

Yes we are sending actual bottles of beer.

A creator adds a "Buy me a beer" button to their website/content.

You (as someone who loves their content) clicks the button, pays $10 through Stripe/Paypal. We send the creator a bottle of premium craft beer on your behalf.

A real reward for their work!

Interesting. What's the expected overhead of a typical transaction? If its significant fraction goes to shipping/other fees, might as well send the money directly, avoid middle men and allow the creator to get something they would want. Is there a way to indicate a preference "this beer is what I (don't) want"?

Initially there's no choice of beer, we plan to roll out such options if demand dictates.

The overheads are very low actually. Shipping cost is the biggest one and we're actively working to keep that to a minimum using local carriers where possible.

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