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.
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.
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.
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...
They are just letting you know there is never “free shipping”. It’s just a marketing tool.
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.
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.
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.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.
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.
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...
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