Anyone notice that since Northern Brewer reinstated their free shipping on orders over $59 that most of the prices have increased dramatically, some as much as 30%, many grains increased by 50 cents a pound. Outrageous.
Northern Brewer
- Thread starter TennBrewer
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Right before I placed the order I just did, I was looking at 36 lb or LME for $79.99. Now that free shipping is available again, it's $99.99.
It's still cheaper to buy bulk, get free shipping and make sure I get things I need all in one big order. I have read that most online brew shops are doing this. Something to do with shipping companies changing. I get it. The extra cost falls on the consumer.
I just make sure I get everything I need in a big bundle so I know I don't spend $20 on shipping for no reason.
It's still cheaper to buy bulk, get free shipping and make sure I get things I need all in one big order. I have read that most online brew shops are doing this. Something to do with shipping companies changing. I get it. The extra cost falls on the consumer.
I just make sure I get everything I need in a big bundle so I know I don't spend $20 on shipping for no reason.
Brooothru
Well-Known Member
As of January, virtually all shippers increased their prices. The cost for heavier loads increased even more. I order wine kits online, often in excess of 40# each, and the price jump from "up to 49#" to "over 50#" is significant. On the bright side, Jeff Bezos is projected to become the world's first TRILLIONAIRE (no B.S.) by 2024. And then the current political class in D.C appears once again trying to bankrupt the U.S. Postal Service, causing shipping costs to increase even more. So there's that.
Brooo Brother
To be fair, when they took away the free shipping option however many weeks ago, they lowered their prices to reflect that. Looking back at an order that I placed in early March, all of the prices are the same then as they are now except the 55lb sack of 2row. Their regularly priced items always seemed to be slightly higher than most online stores, but the free shipping generally evened it out. It sucks that they raised it up to 59$, though.
jekeane
Well-Known Member
They are just letting you know there is never “free shipping”. It’s just a marketing tool.
NB and Midwest are the same company with the same products. NB has free shipping Midwest doesn’t. You can see how much free shipping costs by comparing those sites
NB and Midwest are the same company with the same products. NB has free shipping Midwest doesn’t. You can see how much free shipping costs by comparing those sites
Yeah, the shipping is definitely built into the prices. Oftentimes the shipping is the difference when I've priced out orders over multiple sites. One site I keep forgetting about until just after I submit an order is AIH. They're *relatively* close to my location and have pretty competitive prices
Don’t forget that AIH has a rewards program, as well.
Oh? Interesting...
I find the proximity of these posts fascinating. We can file them all under..."There is no such thing as a free lunch."
What I tend to do, is go to several sites and load up the cart with identical items. The one who ends up with the best overall price (shipped), gets my business. If it’s AIH, it’s an “added bonus” that I get reward points.
Same. More often than not, northern brewer was the lowest. Or it was close enough that I still chose them since I would often receive my order the next day. But things are different these days.
NB has after-pay available, also. That was helpful as someone who'd been temporarily laid off. If any other sites offer the ability to pay in smaller increments over a couple weeks, that would be nice to know. NB is good, but it's nice to shop around and spread the love. Little as it may be...
In my experience, I find that NB is seldom the lowest all-in cost supplier. AIH is often good, although this is of course dependent on what you're buying. Also, their rewards program is actually valuable, whereas a good % of other "rewards" programs (in all business) are useless. (e.g., I may spend 1-2 thousand dollars a year at Total Wine, and my "reward" is a paper wine bag -- WooHoo!! -- IF I redeem it quickly!). Also, sometimes you can get a meaningfully better deal by buying 10# grain bags vs. 55#, if you are getting socked for huge shipping costs for the 55#...
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Shipping has went up a LOT in the past 6 months, before the virus.
The heavier it is, the more it has gone up. I believe it has to do with super shippers like Amazon etc. They have contracts with shippers down to extremely thin margins. So UPS and FedEx raises the cost for everyone else to subsidize their losses to them.
The heavier it is, the more it has gone up. I believe it has to do with super shippers like Amazon etc. They have contracts with shippers down to extremely thin margins. So UPS and FedEx raises the cost for everyone else to subsidize their losses to them.
That's an interesting theory, but with the number of packages Amazon ships, there is no way they could loose money on Amazon packages and offset them with profits from other customers. They may run thinner margins on Amazon, but I doubt that Northern Brewer is being penalized for Amazon's business.
Snuffy
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I like AiH but the last kit I bought from them, I looked for the instruction sheet and could not find it. I found Austin Homebrew instructions, but nothing from AiH. Went online to download the AiH instructions - they were from AHS. Then I read the note about "In partnership with our friends at Austin Homebrew Supply". Kit was a 5-gal all-grain Lagunitas IPA clone. Same price on both sites. O...k.
CityOChampBrew
Well-Known Member
Funny you should bring up LME... I placed an order with Northern brewer in February for some of their golden LME 36 lbs to be exact for $79.99.
I was sent stale/oxidated LME, brewed 4 different batches from the stuff all with the same cardboard garbage taste.
At 1st I thought the 1st batch was a process issue on my part since I was away from the hobby for 5 years so I brewed a lower gravity wheat with DME from the local shop... perfect beer.. Back to Northern brewer malt... stale garbage dumper batch..
Brewed an all grain with local ingredients again, once again great beer. 10 gallon batch from the Northern brewer stuff, again garbage... drank the other 2 batches dumped these could not keep drinking stale beer.. Bought some LME from label peelers... 32 lb container for about $68 all fresh no issues again.
I leave a review on Northers brewers site... and they wipe it.
I used to love Norther Brewer, Brewing TV got me to be a loyal customer.......
No more.. I do not trust a company that will not provide fresh ingredients... and then wipes any bad reviews on their site.
Lunkerking
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Are northern brewers 20% offers they used to send out often a thing of the past? Or am I missing something ?
I haven't gotten one in awhile. Or anything like it in awhile actually, but today I woke up to a 10$ off orders of 100$. I think as life goes somewhat back to normal, the deals and coupons will start coming back.
Joshua Hughes
Well-Known Member
They were late on my order this week so I got 10% off For my next order. a 20% would be nice
Snuffy
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I'm done with NB for the forseeable future. Their inverse relationship between customer service and business volume has annoyed me long enough. Plus, they stopped selling 3 gal kits - which I liked because it was a way to test a style with my smaller batch equipment before going a full 5 gals. Their solution was "split a 5-gal batch into two batches". That misses the point. Whatever...
Joshua Hughes
Well-Known Member
I needed/wanted a little bigmouth bubble with a spigot and that was the only way or I’d not ordered from them this time.
I noticed they discontinued those kits as well. That really bummed me out too. The selection of 3G kits was extremely limited, but I did like that the major sellers seemed to be available at that volume. I'm loyal to my wallet, mostly. So if I'm doing an online order and their price is the lowest, I'll still order from them. Sometimes their sales/promos (if they ever bring them back...) are too good to pass up.
I've not ordered from NB since they were first sold off (NZ Ventures under AB/InBev?). My last purchase was a very positive one. I took advantage of their discounted kits that were going for $18 or something. UPS pretty much destroyed the packaging when I saw what was left on my porch when I got home. There were no grains lost though, but I emailed NB to tell them about it (no fault of their own either).
They sent me 3 more of the same kits, so I essentially got three 10 gallon kits for $18/ea. Pretty awesome. Again, this was a shipping error on UPS/FedEx's handling which I made clear in my email to them. NB did not have to send me those extra kits, but I thought that was a great gesture on their part for them to do that.
Would I buy from them again? I don't know to be honest. I quit buying their recipe kits when I started buying my grains in bulk. I like they are no longer with AB/Inbev anymore, but they still don't seem like the same company when Farley still owned them.
NB was my go to when I started this hobby. Heck, Northern Brewer and (real) BrewingTV was what really got me into the hobby.
At least we still have Chop & Brew.
They sent me 3 more of the same kits, so I essentially got three 10 gallon kits for $18/ea. Pretty awesome. Again, this was a shipping error on UPS/FedEx's handling which I made clear in my email to them. NB did not have to send me those extra kits, but I thought that was a great gesture on their part for them to do that.
Would I buy from them again? I don't know to be honest. I quit buying their recipe kits when I started buying my grains in bulk. I like they are no longer with AB/Inbev anymore, but they still don't seem like the same company when Farley still owned them.
NB was my go to when I started this hobby. Heck, Northern Brewer and (real) BrewingTV was what really got me into the hobby.
At least we still have Chop & Brew.
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