Who's ordered from Hops Direct??

[Benny Blanco]

Hopsdirect got back to me about the sub-par First Gold and offered to replace with US Goldings. I only have to send the FG's back when I get the packaging slip from them to send it free of charge.

I could care less if it takes a few weeks. These guys rock.

Although...should I get US Goldings or US SAAZ? I already have Fuggle and I didn't get any german varieties. I'm guessing I can only get hops of equal or lesser value. Hmmmm

 

[artguy]

The shipping costs appear to be spot on with what UPS charges, I don't see any markup in that at all. Take it back or I'll tell mom what you said!

+1 to that! I got 5 lbs. (7 lb. total package weight) delivered to Massachusetts for about $10.70, which was in fact the actual UPS cost to ship. HopsDirect doesn't take a markup, but the reality of shipping via UPS is that the minimum charge is fairly high, but then the cost only goes up slowly with added weight.

 

[WIP]

+1 to that! I got 5 lbs. (7 lb. total package weight) delivered to Massachusetts for about $10.70, which was in fact the actual UPS cost to ship. HopsDirect doesn't take a markup, but the reality of shipping via UPS is that the minimum charge is fairly high, but then the cost only goes up slowly with added weight.

Although you are right about a company being great for charging actual UPS costs, I will fill you in on a trade secret. Most companies don't pay full price for shipping. For instance, my company ships out 6-8 pallets of cases every day (about 150-250 cases) and our discount for express shipments is 76% our company charges the customer about 50% of the shipping company’s rate but we still pocket 26%.

Like I said though, they are great for not inflating shipping costs.

 

[hexmonkey]

Although you are right about a company being great for charging actual UPS costs, I will fill you in on a trade secret. Most companies don't pay full price for shipping. For instance, my company ships out 6-8 pallets of cases every day (about 150-250 cases) and our discount for express shipments is 76% our company charges the customer about 50% of the shipping company’s rate but we still pocket 26%.

Like I said though, they are great for not inflating shipping costs.

Exactly my point. If you ship in the quantities that are generated by a reasonably successful company selling over the internet, you can do better than "actual shipping costs" (IOW, what I see on the UPS site by plugging in the zipcodes and weight). It's basic economies of scale.

Hopsdirect seems to be doing enough business (from users of this site alone) that I found their shipping costs to be questionable.

Furthermore, it's disingenuous to claim that their site can't quote you a shipping fee "due to the nature of the products we offer".
Bulls**t. If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped. It's a gimmick to get you to commit to buying as much as possible by not knowing the full price of what you're buying.

 

[Clayton]

did they charge you for the box? or should that be a gimme.
lol you are funny I got 7 lbs of hops for 61 bucks and you have a probem with there pricing?
dude thats fine you are free to be illogical if you wish
but to say that charging 9$ to ship a 1 lbs box ups is extortion is just wrong that is the cost and overhead.
it if i when to the ups store it would cost that and then factor in the price of the box and the wage of the person that filled the box
and processed the shipment and I would say its spot on, but then I have XP with this.

 

[Clayton]

I found their shipping costs to be questionable.

Furthermore, it's disingenuous to claim that their site can't quote you a shipping fee "due to the nature of the products we offer".
Bulls**t. If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped. It's a gimmick to get you to commit to buying as much as possible by not knowing the full price of what you're buying.

Who here that receved there order got jsut 1 lbs or just 2 lbs
its been well documented that all there orders are way on the fat side
but i guess they could trim that back so all order weight is spot on so they can predict shipping cost

 

[weirdboy]

Exactly my point. If you ship in the quantities that are generated by a reasonably successful company selling over the internet, you can do better than "actual shipping costs" (IOW, what I see on the UPS site by plugging in the zipcodes and weight). It's basic economies of scale.

Hopsdirect seems to be doing enough business (from users of this site alone) that I found their shipping costs to be questionable.

Furthermore, it's disingenuous to claim that their site can't quote you a shipping fee "due to the nature of the products we offer".
Bulls**t. If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped. It's a gimmick to get you to commit to buying as much as possible by not knowing the full price of what you're buying.

So you're accusing them of being disingenuous because they don't have flat rate shipping? Whereas many flat-rate shipping retailers, including the Niko, AHS, etc. have higher prices for the products instead. The money to cover shipping costs has to come from somewhere, and NOBODY is in business to break even. I'd rather shipping costs actually being includied in "shipping costs" which scale (nonlinearly) with volume, rather than an extra percentage added to the price of every single item I buy.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I paid $.79 per oz on my 4 lb shipment that was almost 5lbs. Who cares what their shipping practices are for that price.

 

[hexmonkey]

So you're accusing them of being disingenuous because they don't have flat rate shipping?

Who said anything about flat rate shipping? This is what I wrote:

If you can setup a web shopping cart, you can provide shipping costs. It's not like these items are disproportionately bulky, or irregularly shaped.

I wasn't talking about flat rate shipping, I was talking about calculating shipping rates (with or without markup) in the cart software. Practically every other website I've ever shopped from can do it.

They say on the right-hand side of their checkout page:

SHIPPING INFORMATION

Due to the nature of the products we offer, our online shopping cart will not calculate shipping rates automatically when you place an order. Shipping will show up as "TBD,"

They have the weight of the items and all the shipping info they need. What's so magical about hops that suddenly makes calculating shipping rates impossible? I call shenanigans.

You want an example of how impossible it isn't?

http://liquidsolutions.biz/ sells bottled beer, of all shapes and sizes. Their site can not only figure out shipping for ordinary 12oz bottles, but also when you mix in 750mL bottles and 22oz, and 500mL...it shows a graphic on the page that updates with the cart to let you see how much of a case you've filled, adjusted for the sizes of the individual bottles in your cart. When you've gone over the minimum for shipping via freight, it even switches over to allow you to view freight shipping as opposed to UPS ground.

 

[weirdboy]

Who said anything about flat rate shipping?

You did! This is also what you wrote:

Just look out for their shipping. one pound of hops from them shipped to me in NJ cost something like $11 to ship. I'm pretty sure that's an inflated number, so I ordered from NikoBrew instead. His shipping is a flat rate plus he's an HBT supporter.

As for this:

They have the weight of the items and all the shipping info they need. What's so magical about hops that suddenly makes calculating shipping rates impossible? I call shenanigans.

My guess is the entire operation of receiving and filling orders is manned by one or two people who probably don't know much about computers, and don't even know something like that is possible. They're a friggin' farm, not Amazon.com. Maybe they get a discount, and maybe they don't. But either way it's still cheaper than your flat-rate shippers.

Also, the packages I get from them are NOT the exact weight they quote. They tend to put more hops in the bags. Which would make calculating the shipping costs automatically a pain in the butt, because UPS would be on their ass in a minute about it. I don't mind getting a couple of ounces of hops for free if it means I don't get the shipping costs at checkout.

 

[weirdboy]

http://liquidsolutions.biz/ sells bottled beer, of all shapes and sizes. Their site can not only figure out shipping for ordinary 12oz bottles, but also when you mix in 750mL bottles and 22oz, and 500mL...it shows a graphic on the page that updates with the cart to let you see how much of a case you've filled, adjusted for the sizes of the individual bottles in your cart.

Let me tell you something about liquidsolutions. I have been looking for a few beers that are hard to find out here on the West coast. So, I went to liquidsolutions trying to find them maybe yesterday or the day before, hoping for the best. I found their site *impossible* to navigate and figure out what they had in stock and what they didn't. The search results suck, the cursor changes to a text cursor when I hover over the tabs, making me thing that I cannot even click on them, and I had a hard time just figuring out what to click on to browse what beers they have in stock. liquidsolutions is probably not a good example to choose if you want to try and convince me "this website has its act together". At least on hopsdirect, I can find the product I'm looking for.

 

[hexmonkey]

You did! This is also what you wrote:

Now you're just being argumentative. You just quoted me out of context in order to attribute my comment about their shopping cart software to a post about why I bought from someone else.

I give up. Congratulations - you win 1000 internets.

 

[oswegan]

This is becoming a little bit comical. As a company you have to figure you aren't going to satisfy every customer.

The bottom line is that if you are ordering more than 3 or 4 pounds at a time from these guys you going to average less than a buck an ounce even before considering any overages.

For example, I recently ordered a six pound shipment followed by a four pounder and based solely on stated weight and shipping cost I am paying an average of .66 cents an ounce.

I was paying $3.50 for the same ounce two months ago. That makes it pretty hard for me personally to be unhappy, regardless of how long it takes them to deliver the hops or how sophisticated their web site is. I'm just happy to be dealing with a trustworthy direct source, and to be saving so much money.

That being said, not everyone is going to be happy, it would be statistically impossible. In fact some people are just naturally dissatisfied and unhappy and what they really need is our compassion and understanding.

So my prayer for those dissatisfied people in the world is that you might find happiness and love in your lives and that your beers all turn out hearty and delicious.

 

[Lodovico]

This is becoming a little bit comical. As a company you have to figure you aren't going to satisfy every customer.

The bottom line is that if you are ordering more than 3 or 4 pounds at a time from these guys you going to average less than a buck an ounce even before considering any overages.

For example, I recently ordered a six pound shipment followed by a four pounder and based solely on stated weight and shipping cost I am paying an average of .66 cents an ounce.

I was paying $3.50 for the same ounce two months ago. That makes it pretty hard for me personally to be unhappy, regardless of how long it takes them to deliver the hops or how sophisticated their web site is. I'm just happy to be dealing with a trustworthy direct source, and to be saving so much money.

That being said, not everyone is going to be happy, it would be statistically impossible. In fact some people are just naturally dissatisfied and unhappy and what they really need is our compassion and understanding.

So my prayer for those dissatisfied people in the world is that you might find happiness and love in your lives and that your beers all turn out hearty and delicious.

Very true and very well said. Bottom line, if you don't want to save money, buy your hops someplace else. Anyway you slice it, this company has smoking deals compared to retail hop prices. End of thread.

 

[Richabt]

As fun as this thread was, I feel better about the two pounds I ordered earlier this week from HD.

I agree that supporting those vendors on the board should be a priority, but hop prices are something I am sensitive about as they account for a major part of my brewing expense. Less than a $1 per ounce with shipping is worth while to me.

I will still get my other materials from vendors here and my LHBS.

 

[oswegan]

As fun as this thread was, I feel better about the two pounds I ordered earlier this week from HD.

I agree that supporting those vendors on the board should be a priority, but hop prices are something I am sensitive about as they account for a major part of my brewing expense. Less than a $1 per ounce with shipping is worth while to me.

I will still get my other materials from vendors here and my LHBS.

And don't forget to wash your yeast from your lighter beers! That will save you alot of money too!

 

[hexmonkey]

Very true and very well said. Bottom line, if you don't want to save money, buy your hops someplace else.

Or, if you want to save money, and support the forum, PM the owner of "someplace else" and get a better deal than what's advertised on the site. All it took me was to ask nicely.

 

[510brew]

+1 for Hops Direct, I don't know how they could be any better. There was a shortage a year ago and now we can get Cascade for .50 an oz??? Who can complain?

 

[jason.mundy]

If you want to know the shipping before paying for your order, Say that you want to pay with PAYPAL. They will send you an email with the total, including shipping costs, and the link to make the paypal payment.

It also gives you a good idea of when the order is being processed/shippped.

I've ordered from them twice. Both experiences have been good.

 

[bgburdman9]

I ordered 4 lbs and the package that they are sending me says that is 8 lbs on the UPS website. I dont think there are 4 lbs of packing materials in there.

 

[janzik]

It seems like the First Gold are UK grown. There could be an issue from their supplier.

That is something else to point out, they do have varieties from overseas and stuff they don't grow. Even with those they are able to keep the prices down, so growing it themselves is not the biggest factor in the low prices it would seem.

JFTR, I opened the pound that I ordered for my Dad and resealed them and they smelled no different than I expected. They were a darker green than I was used to seeing for most pellet hops, but otherwise mine smelled quite good.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I was extremely happy with the quality and price of the hops supplied to me from HD.
Those are the facts. I have no interest in joining a debate about the merits, or lack thereof in some kind of football team debate.

 

[Clayton]

would that be american or european football?
just asking, it would make a difference for me
but if we are talking european football, I am With LGI on this one.

Quality is our most important factor.
We have incorporated rigid guidelines as growers that we must adhere to. We stand behind our product. The variety you order is the variety we have grown, harvested, and shipped directly from the farm to you. It is a continual matter of pride, viewing our hop fields and knowing we are giving you our very best.
As hop farmers, we are able to provide hops that are handled with care and dried at the precise temperatures. Our hops are kept in cold storage year-round both on the farm and in the warehouse. The Puterbaugh Farm stencil on your bale is our guarantee that you are receiving our highest quality hops.

 

[janzik]

Just to throw gas on the fire...

I love, L-O-V-E, LOVE Hops Direct. I got an frigging awesome deal (16lbs of hops for me and my Dad and it came to .70 an ounce, oh yeah).

Everything came packed nicely. Every pound I've opened up so far has been over 16 ounces. 17 to 18 ounces. at that rate, I easily got an extra POUND of hops from them.

When I called and actually got a hopsdirect employee (the other 2 times I called I got their answering service) they were very nice, and they told me the shipping estimate based on what I ordered.

That all being said, it's 2009. There is absolutely NO reason to not be able to tally shipping on the fly. In the 12+ years I've been on the interWebz, I can't recall anyone else who has ever told me they could not tell me my shipping. This is including every single eBay purchase I've ever made.

The folks that are ragging on HD for this are getting a bad rap. It really is silly that HD can't do this. Their email system for order processing seems to be a bit out dated or low on features as well.

Does that mean I love them any less? Hell no! Will I order from them again without thinking twice? Hell yes!

It's funny how anytime someone on here has the "nerve" to criticize a good company (which HopsDirect absolutely are), the masses go nuts.

Hopefully, in the future they will upgrade their ordering software, but in the meanwhile, everyone cut everyone some slack, we got an awesome deal on some great hops...

 

[schweaty]

I have to put in my .02 cents on hops direct. Their customer service is phenominal and their prices are lower than anyone else. Top quality and they weigh their pounds a few ounces over so you actually get more than you pay for.

I ordered 5 lbs from them and they were here in 7 business days only because it is harvest season for them. They accidentially sent me 1lb of Willamette rather than Cascade and I called them up. They told me to keep the Willamette and they would send the Cascade that day.

 

[elmetal]

absolutely love hopsdirect. I've never seen hops so cheap. anywhere else and it'll esasily be double the price.

 

[MrVagabond]

Well, hearing all these good things about Hops Direct makes me curious about ordering. Considering I'm only brewing with one primary and one secondary right now... how do you usually store one or more pounds of hops? Freezing? Does that affect them?

 

[elmetal]

yes you freeze after vacuum sealing.

it does affect them, and by that I mean that's the best way to keep them,

 

[user 40839]

Well, my 3lbs that were ordered on the 22nd were shipped yesterday, and will be here on Friday, just in time to contribute to Santa's Bulging Sack (it's a holiday spiced ale, pervs). Which cost me a grand total of $26 for grain and yeast, since I didn't have to spend the usual $12 per batch on the 3oz of hops I'd need...

Add to that, SWMBO came home from Costco with... a brand new Food Saver! Is that fate taking a hand, or what?!

 

[elmetal]

NICE!

get some mason jars and the attachment! much quicker and cheaper than bags..

 

[Lodovico]

Alright. I do have a complaint now. I'm sure the hops will be awesome and I won't be as ticked but I placed my order LAST Monday and just checked the UPS tracker. They were loaded on the truck TODAY at 3am.

A full week to fill my order?? Come on. That's weak. I realize that it will take several days to go ground from Oregon to Pennsylvania but a week added on to that for them to get the product to UPS. Unacceptable.

Sorry for the rant but I wanted to brew this week and now they aren't scheduled to be here until November 7th. So I placed the order on October 26th and I won't get my hops until the 7th.

Has anyone else experienced this crazy wait time with Hops Direct??

 

[elmetal]

Please remember hopsdirect is a farm.

You should be thankful they are filling your order since your order is probably neglible to their business.

 

[Scimmia]

Alright. I do have a complaint now. I'm sure the hops will be awesome and I won't be as ticked but I placed my order LAST Monday and just checked the UPS tracker. They were loaded on the truck TODAY at 3am.

A full week to fill my order?? Come on. That's weak. I realize that it will take several days to go ground from Oregon to Pennsylvania but a week added on to that for them to get the product to UPS. Unacceptable.

Sorry for the rant but I wanted to brew this week and now they aren't scheduled to be here until November 7th. So I placed the order on October 26th and I won't get my hops until the 7th.

Has anyone else experienced this crazy wait time with Hops Direct??

Yes, that's pretty standard recently. They're really busy right now. I ordered on a Monday and they shipped that Friday. It's been discussed in a few threads around here, so with forums like this, we can know what to expect and for the price they're charging, it's still worth it to most.

 

[Lodovico]

Please remember hopsdirect is a farm.

You should be thankful they are filling your order since your order is probably neglible to their business.

This is a ridiculous comment on two counts. So what if they are a farm?? They are a farm that if you look around this website are selling a boatload of hops to individuals and advertise selling small amounts (not just huge amounts to the big wigs). It's not like they are making an exception selling to a homebrewer.

I don't think that the thousands of "residential" orders are negligible to their business. Trust me, if it were they wouldn't be selling to the public.

Not trying to sound harsh here but come on. Those are weak excuses. If you are going to sell a product online to the public, you should be ready to do it.

I'm sure the hops will be good and I'm sure I will order from them again. I'm just surprised it's going to take so long. That's all. The website said that orders are generally filled the next day and it took them 7 days to fill my order. I don't think I'm being an unreasonable person here for being a little annoyed.:cross:

 

[flyangler18]

I've occasionally experienced slowish shipping with Hopsdirect, but I also plan accordingly.

If memory serves, they are in the midst of pelletizing the 2009 crop. Can't imagine just how much work that is.

Give Carla a call and maybe she can explain a bit.

 

[Lodovico]

I've occasionally experienced slowish shipping with Hopsdirect, but I also plan accordingly.

If memory serves, they are in the midst of pelletizing the 2009 crop. Can't imagine just how much work that is.

Give Carla a call and maybe she can explain a bit.

Yeah like I was saying, from now on I'll plan for the long ship time. I'm simply saying that a farm or company shouldn't tell you when to expect your product if they are going to be way off. That's all. If I knew from the beginning that it was going to take that long, I wouldn't be as annoyed.

Next time, I'll know.

 

[flyangler18]

IME, the long ship time is seasonal and coincides with the harvest/processing of either hops or cherries.

 

[masonsjax]

This was discussed ad nauseum on this forum already. Possibly in this thread, I don't feel like fishing through it all, but somewhere it was mentioned, I believe on their website, that shipping times are delayed more than usual due to the harvest/packaging at this time of year. Additionally, there's a mad rush at the same time due to the price drop so they can clear out old stock. Personally, I feel very grateful that I was able to take advantage of the ridiculous low prices for bulk hops. If you're not satisfied, you could call and cancel your order, and buy locally instead. Homebrewers are supposed to be patient people, I just can't see being outraged by a 2 week wait. Maybe my viewpoint is skewed a tad since I'm still waiting on my kegkits.com order that I placed back in March.

 

[elmetal]

if two weeks waiting for a hops shipment is too much for you then go with niko and pay double the price.

plain and simple.

 

[R2-D2]

Harry, I also ordered on Monday Oct. 26. Within minutes of placing the order I received an email confirmation that specifically states at the top:

"And thank you for your recent order, placed on 10/26/2009 11:56 AM

IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

Please allow 5-7 business days for our warehouse to pack and ship your order.

Your order will be shipped UPS Ground unless you have requested an alternative method of shipping."

They actually shipped my order on Thursday night and it is schedule for delivery on Wednesday.

I will say that HD did not send me an invoice for the shipping fees. I doubt this would exceed $12-13 by much and it's no big deal even if it's more. But, it would be nice to automatically know this instead of calling or emailing.