Here's the latest from Forrest:
"Thanks for the props. I agree the shipping times got a little long. We usually have a one day sale and that brings in around 700 orders in one day (2 weeks worth of orders in one day). So I stretched out the sale so we could keep up with the volume. This sale brought in over 1,000 sale orders (not including the regular orders on top of that.
The shipping manager has been working 70 hours a week since the sale started and I have doubled the staff in the shipping for the sale. I have even started a second shift so we are putting together orders almost 24 hours a day. During the sale we got behind by a couple of days but that shouldn't be a problem now that we are now able to ship 50% more orders a day due to the second shift. I have also worked a couple 20 hour days to get us caught up. We are completely caught up now.
I have come to the conclusion that we can no longer have store wide sales. While it is an excellent deal, it causes delays and then there are page after page on this forum about our service. The customers have spoken and the delays are not worth the savings to them.
I plan on having more specific sale promotions that won't cause delays.
Let me explain the shipping policy. The flat rate $6.99 shipping leaves the store in 2-4 business days. Choose this option if you can wait.
If you want your order to ship the same day simply choose the expedited shipping. There are no extra charges, you just have to pay the regular UPS charges (what we pay for the shipping).
The $6.99 flat rate shipping is on average only 40% of the shipping charges we pay. If I were to hire enough people to get every order out the same day I could afford to offer the $6.99 shipping. You save a lot of money if you can wait. If you can't wait then choose the regular shipping mode. Please don't choose the $6.99 and expect it to go out quickly. Northern Brewer's site says its flat rate shipping takes up to 4 days to ship as well. And Midwest charges full shipping on every order. Neither of them do storewide sales. If they did, they would have the same delays.
I will do everything we can to avoid delays in your orders. We have a top-notch buyer I hired at the beginning of the year that has been able to keep up with the 38% increase in sales so far this year. You should not see any outages of supplies like other stores that seem to have that problem (or so you tell me).
We can't have the best price on everything but if you add up your total delivered price we should have the best price, best selection, and everything in stock. Now that the delays have been resolved and will stay resolved, you should have the best homebrew experience.
Let me know if there is something you need me to carry. Let me know if you find a better delivered deal on an item. You can either PM me or email me at:
[email protected]
I am here for you.
Forrest
Austin Homebrew Supply"
I don't use AHS. I use Brewmaster's warehouse. My orders, even with the flat rate shipping, ships within 24 hours FWIW.