Really Hops Direct? - shipping comment...

So I was doing up my order from Hops direct. I figure 1lb Cascade, 1lb Centennial, 1lb Northern Brewer, 1lb US Goldings. (I plan to try DeathBrewer's SMaSH Vienna/NB, BM's Centenntial Blonde, and https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f68/o-flannagain-standard-41072/.

Except when I go to put my address in, I find that my province isn't on the list.

I know we are small... but I am really sad now... emailing them to see what they can do about this!

They also spelled Manitoba wrong (they spelled it Manatoba). They did manage to get all three territories though. Because I am sure there are hundreds of brewers there.

Ah well the joys of living in Newfoundland and Labrador...

But you get to see all the salt cod drying in the summer!

Rocks, salt cod, and yellow and baby blue houses FTW!

You mean like these ones?

Out of curiosity, did you send them an email to let them know about this address problem?

Yeah... I sent them an email a few minutes ago (I didn't mention the Manitoba thing.)

I wasn't in a big rush to place an order, so it won't hurt me any to wait for their reply. I also made a stab at getting a shipping estimate, but I don't know if they will include it or not.

What's a province?

Take off, eh!

I'd stay on them about it...I placed a 4 lb order with them not too long ago and it took several calls and 3 weeks to see my hops. I am not saying they are a bad company by any means, and clearly 4 lbs is probably small potatoes to them (which is totally understandable), but they may need their hand held a bit if you plan on seeing those hops anytime soon.

I thought Province was in Rhode Island. You should try a Rhode Island address.

Just have them delivered to me. I'll forward them on to you.....If I feel like it.

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Just have them delivered to me. I'll forward them on to you.....If I feel like it.

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Sure thing... if I ever decide to enter comps I'll be sure to mail through you as well...

I figure if they don't respond to my email in a couple of days I will give them a call.

I don't think there should be any problems delivering to you. My club did a group order of 117 lbs a few months ago, fast shipping and great hops... fresh!
I'd call them tomorrow, they are very nice folks willing to help.

just make sure they ship them usps
my order a few years ago came ups and those b@st@rds doubled the cost of the order with their brokerage fees!

EvilTOJ said:

I thought Province was in Rhode Island. You should try a Rhode Island address.

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haha I really hope your just being silly. You have states and we have provinces. Is this really not common knowledge in the United States? Haha we're your neighbours !!!

rod said:

just make sure they ship them usps
my order a few years ago came ups and those b@st@rds doubled the cost of the order with their brokerage fees!

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And yea I agree entirely with Rod, NEVER EVER ship anything to Canada with UPS, you will order $40 worth of hops, it will take FOREVER to get to you, and when they get to the door they will ask for like $50-$60 worth of brokerage fees that they never told you about before they will give you your order

Pivot said:

haha I really hope your just being silly. You have states and we have provinces. Is this really not common knowledge in the United States? Haha we're your neighbours !!!

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Sometimes we here in the States forget about tiny little Canada...all tucked away down there.

They are very good about getting shipping costs to you. I just got 10 lbs shipped to Ontario and the SOB's are getting about 100lb to Toronto. USPS shipping charges are very reasonable. If you are in the Toronto area, a local guy stocks many of their varieties and cost are quite competitive when you consider exchange and shipping.

Paul

lady_brewer said:

Yeah... I sent them an email a few minutes ago (I didn't mention the Manitoba thing.)

I wasn't in a big rush to place an order, so it won't hurt me any to wait for their reply. I also made a stab at getting a shipping estimate, but I don't know if they will include it or not.

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lady_brewer said:

I figure if they don't respond to my email in a couple of days I will give them a call.

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I've always phoned in my orders, and never ever had a hitch. Sure they take their time, but I'm never in a rush when I order something from the states. It still manages to get here. You have plenty of time as the time difference is 4 1/2 hours, so if you get home from work at 7 PM, it is still only 2:30 PM out there.

I never noticed any ordering problems with their site, as like I say, I order by phone.

rod said:

just make sure they ship them usps
my order a few years ago came ups and those b@st@rds doubled the cost of the order with their brokerage fees!

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+1000 on USPS! Stay away from UPS and Fedex!

So... I never did get a reply from them, and there has been no change to their site, but I called tonight to place the order.

Very happy so far... she automatically said that they would use USPS, gave me the quote for the package they would use to send it, and explained it was the flat rate 5lb box. So now there is 4lbs of hops on the way, will cost about $70. Hubby has already promised to help package them up for freezing.

Curious how long it will take to get them, but not really worried... I figure I'll see them in about 2 weeks...

Glad to hear it, let us know when you get your package.

Seriously though, Newfoundland is a province?......didn't they just build some fancy bridge over to your island........and you guys have that fast moving tide in some bay right? (snicker)
One more brotherly poke, "Pacific Salmon taste better"

What's a Canada?

hopdawg said:

Seriously though, Newfoundland is a province?......didn't they just build some fancy bridge over to your island........and you guys have that fast moving tide in some bay right? (snicker)
One more brotherly poke, "Pacific Salmon taste better"

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No new bridge that I have ever heard of... PEI joined for a bridge, we were all about the GSTc and child tax...

ReverseApacheMaster said:

What's a Canada?

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Is it wrong that I am happy with less texans knowing who or what we are than annoyed at what a silly comment that is? Our fearless leader Rick Mercer would enjoy that one I am sure...

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Really though I still find it funny that they had Nunavut on the list but we were missing... I know that I am not the only one that has ever ordered from there... although as Boo Boo said, he always ordered by phone... I didn't really mind, although I would have figured an internet order would have been less hassle for them... no real odds to me, after all their number is toll free...

You're a good sport, with all this abuse being thrown at you.
I've had good success with Hops Direct however they are only six hours away from me. I usually ship to a US mail box then drive down and pick them up. Hardly an option I suppose out there on the rock.

lady_brewer said:

.......... Our fearless leader Rick Mercer would enjoy that one I am sure......

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I heard he was just recently awarded a double double......

hopdawg said:

You're a good sport, with all this abuse being thrown at you.
I've had good success with Hops Direct however they are only six hours away from me. I usually ship to a US mail box then drive down and pick them up. Hardly an option I suppose out there on the rock.

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Me a good sport? Let's see, a female brewer who lives on an island most people have never heard of... and those that have usually did from jokes about what we are like . No worries about me taking a bit of ribbing...

I actually had it sent to my aunt's since I live an hour outside of St. John's and commute back and forth. I will probably spend the same $$ on gas to get the hops home as I would have saved if I could have picked them up from a US box... but definitely not an option.

Random fact: Rick Mercer is one of ours. My uncle went to high school with him.

Now I just have to find an affordable way to get into kegging...

lady_brewer said:

Now I just have to find an affordable way to get into kegging...

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Yeah that's a tough one. For most of us in rural Canada shipping is the killer. I was lucky and picked up 6 corny's from Princess Auto last year at $25 a keg. The Perlick taps were $50 each plus the hoses, gas and a sacrifical fridge. But having not to wash and cap bottles makes it worth it at twice the price.
Here in BC there is noboby that carries a good assortment of ingredients and if you're rural you're SOL. I'm minutes away from going online with a supply store called Hopdawgs Homebrewing Supplies for this very purpose. I hope to hunt down and supply corny's and all necessary kegging equipment but first I'll start with ingredients.
Good luck with your kegging.

lady_brewer said:

Our fearless leader Rick Mercer would enjoy that one I am sure...

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Is Rick Mercer like your president or your Lady Gaga or something?

Picobrew said:

Is Rick Mercer like your president or your Lady Gaga or something?

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No he our version of your Stephen Colbert.

after reading this thread i ordered 4 lbs on feb 24 via e-mail - got a confirmation the next day and notification they shipped mar 1 also by email.
they arrived mar 8.
there was about 2.5 ounces over the pound in each package.
hops direct invoice shows 26.95 shipping (the box had a stamp for 43.45 on it, i guess they underestimated.)
it works out to around $1.00 canadian per ounce with the exchange.
and best of all - no duty when i picked the parcel up

Yeah, they told me 26.95 as well... I think it is the price for the USPS medium, 5lb international box.

I thought I saw somebody post that there is no duty on 4lbs or less of hops for personal use... but of course the USPS thing works in our favour as well.

I am pretty excited about it... still need to make an order with home-brewsupplies.ca for the other things I need... and have to find a 50ft roll of copper pipe someplace... but with 4lbs of hops on the way I am well on the way to brewing beer

Break points on shipping are 5lb and 10lb in my experience with pellets. Leaf are much bigger and are more costly.

No 4lb limit on personal use. Get as much as you want.

Paul

lady_brewer said:

Yeah, they told me 26.95 as well... I think it is the price for the USPS medium, 5lb international box.

I thought I saw somebody post that there is no duty on 4lbs or less of hops for personal use... but of course the USPS thing works in our favour as well.

I am pretty excited about it... still need to make an order with home-brewsupplies.ca for the other things I need... and have to find a 50ft roll of copper pipe someplace... but with 4lbs of hops on the way I am well on the way to brewing beer

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LayMeister said:

No 4lb limit on personal use. Get as much as you want.

Paul

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True that, we ordered 117 lbs and no duty.

While I am sure that I will put my 4lbs to good use 117 is a scary number

I can see it now... so honey, I am going to place an order for hops... should run about $1300, that okay?

Hell I would be able to supply the LHBS at that point... then they would have the hops I was looking for

Funny. I had an upset customer in Oz. He couldn't understand why I didn't have the Australian states in my system. His was the only order from Oz in two years. Everything goes through PayPal now, so every place is available.

lady_brewer said:

While I am sure that I will put my 4lbs to good use 117 is a scary number

I can see it now... so honey, I am going to place an order for hops... should run about $1300, that okay?

Hell I would be able to supply the LHBS at that point... then they would have the hops I was looking for

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That was a group order lol
I myself had only 3 pounds of hops. We do one or two big orders like that per year.

When the shipment arrives, we get together to separate the hops.... everyone is happy... it's like Christmas morning

I now have hops!!

My package arrived yesterday... the person at my delivery address (hubby's Aunt) wasn't home, so it went to the post office. I went to pick it up last night, but even though it is my name on the package they wouldn't let me sign for it, and Autnie had to go pick it up today. (Don't even get me started on how crazy that is security wise...)

I just threw then in my freezer as is for now. I assume that will be fine until I first want to use them and then maybe repackage?

thats what i did - they are foil sealed already.
just out of curiosity- what was the dollar value of the postage on your box?
mine showed 43.45 not the 26.95 hops direct charged me.

lady_brewer said:

I just threw then in my freezer as is for now. I assume that will be fine until I first want to use them and then maybe repackage?

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Congrats! They'll be fine in the freezer, always keep them in the freezer.
Wait till you open one of them and smell the aroma! Gets me every time. There should be an air freshener with hop scent. hmmm

rod said:

thats what i did - they are foil sealed already.
just out of curiosity- what was the dollar value of the postage on your box?
mine showed 43.45 not the 26.95 hops direct charged me.

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The postage stamp has 52.25 - I am thinking that as a company that does a pile of shipping they are guarenteed a price, and then we just see what it would have cost if we had shipped it.

I haven't done any weighing yet (don't have my scale set up) but the total weight on my 4lbs of hops box was listed as 6lbs... and frankly cardboard and packing paper is not that heavy.

Considering I could easily pay $6/oz local for hops (and they don't have any of what I ordered) or even $3/oz ordered online from a Canadian supplier and the exchange rate is nearly even, I am really excited.

Maybe a lb of Centennial, Cascade, US Goldings, and Northern Brewer just isn't enough. What should I get now?

I haven't even ordered grains yet and I have the bug