most of us will order the same amount and be pissed off... but still order the same ammount.
Option 2 is class action, This appears to me to be some type of rackettering going on by price fixing the barley market. Us Americans are the first to scream bloody murder when the Japanese were doing it and to this day when the Chinese are still doing it. Is there a grain Mafia?QUOTE]
I dont think its price fixing to refuse business to a group when you find that doing so is good for your business. That is clearly the calculation that they have made.
Clearly the retail demand is high for grain and increasing. No doubt wholesale demand is also increasing with all the new micros poping up all over. If you can make the same sales money but restrict the distribution, that savings will go straight to the bottom line.
I agree that this problem will require bigger and "outside the box" thinking. What about a national co-op? Millions of dollars in grain purchaced from overseas farms and shipped to 2 or three strategically placed domestic wharehouses. Then distributed directally to HBT group buys (or others) who have signed co-op membership agreements.
That ought to get the attention of NCM!ipe:
- perhaps it will drive them to a change. But reality just kicked in (they will follow the money). As it has already been said, until we stop buying from them all together (via bulk buy, LHBS, whatever), they will not be interested in changing. They would need to feel the pain in their revenue. I am not sure it is possible for us to inflict that.
Back in the day (1994-1997), I was buying directly from Canada Malting in Montreal. I had set-up a cash account (payed by check actually) and I had a business license in "micro-brewery consulting". They were pretty intrigued by it, but since I was meeting their minimum purchase of half-a-ton (20 bags) they were happy to oblige. Pick up was a bit unconventional, as I'd go there with a work van and they were set-up with a loading dock, and my order would come palletized. I'd simply open the back of the van and muscle the 20+ bags into the van, while the Labbat's and Molson's tractor trailers would get filled from the top, and weighed going in and going out.
(and just to humor us all, a 25kg bag of Canada 2-row was $18 at my price)
I think that NCM has been getting a lot of pressure from HBS's and has decided to back off the group buys. Whether that's good or bad is a different story. If their prices are similar to HBS's, in all likeliness, the purchases will shift back towards HBS's (as it's easier/simpler) and will leave NCM with the same level of profit.
MC
I hope they are watching us
At least a solution has not presented itself at this point.
If you want my business you at least have to beat somebody shipping to me.
this has me worried that getting a TIN and setting up a coop for the purpose of group buys again isn't going to work. in the end they have chosen to only sell to homebrew supply shops and breweries, and we can't directly force them to sell to us - TIN or not.
Well, the reason I ask is me and my partner have an LLC set up for our potential brewery we're trying to get going. We don't have a building yet, but we're working on it. The reason im asking is, do they only sell to homebrew stores? Or are they also selling to breweries? If they're not, which distributors are?
that is pretty much the message I am seeing too. They are making an active decision to make us buy through LHBS. Briess in particular with that high pricing. For christ sakes briess is a US based company and foreign malt companies are selling grain to us after shipping across the pond for cheaper.
Looks like i need my TTB license to open an account, which may be a little while before we have that
