North Country Malt Group to stop selling to homebrewers

[millstone]

OK, so getting back to the original post wondering if North Country will sell to homebrewers. I called in my order to the So. Holland IL location for pickup later that day... No problems. I did talk with the Cust Serv Manager at the warehouse and I also called NY and both said they will continue to sell to current homebrewer customers. The warehouse manager who carried the 55lb sack to my car, (I like that kind of customer service) also said that they sell grain in smaller quantities thought the warehouse, as small as 1lb. Have to look into this. So I'm happy.


tom

 

[Clayton]

for the love of god people stop calling them to ask if you can order 1 sack of grain! are you trying to pester the crap out of them 4 of 5 people in this thread alone have call and there are threads just like it on many other beer sites.

 

[Brewdouche-RuBrew]

If anything atleast NorthCountry knows they have a loyal homebrew customer base

 

[grathan]

I say keep pestering. Maybe they will reinstate so us newer brewers can get in on the action.

 

[blizz81]

I know some of you guys have a ****ty HBS near you with a poor selection and high prices but HBS are not Walmart.

Hmm....there's still room in those Walmart stores...

 

[smokinghole]

Hey! I said that.

I'd still rather a mom/pop LHBS like I got. I think the original founders started it as a wine making supplies shop and expanded into beer when that became legal. I am lucky to have them nearby.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

Thanks for supporting homebrew stores, any homebrew store.

Forrest

 

[visitor]

The local shop is convenient for me. I typically by all my supplies except for bulk grain there. I was purchasing all my bulk grain from NCM and they do rock! I could get a 55lb sack of Maris Otter for $57 delivered to my door at the two local home brew shops they were asking $83-87 for the same thing and I still had to expend gas and time on top of that. I considered switching to all 2-row to save money and buy locally but I couldn't justify the local pricing of $69-79 for 50lbs of 2-row.

I heard that one of my local shops has sourced some good 2-row and is selling it in the $40-50 range so that will likely be my next sack of base malt unless I need Maris Otter for my recipes.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

The local shop is convenient for me. I typically by all my supplies except for bulk grain there. I was purchasing all my bulk grain from NCM and they do rock! I could get a 55lb sack of Maris Otter for $57 delivered to my door at the two local home brew shops they were asking $83-87 for the same thing and I still had to expend gas and time on top of that. I considered switching to all 2-row to save money and buy locally but I couldn't justify the local pricing of $69-79 for 50lbs of 2-row.

I heard that one of my local shops has sourced some good 2-row and is selling it in the $40-50 range so that will likely be my next sack of base malt unless I need Maris Otter for my recipes.

To be fair did you ever ask the LHBS if they could match the price or come close?

I had the local homebrew club spend thousands of dollars elsewhere and they didn't even ask if I could match. I would rather make $5 and keep the warm fuzzies than have them go elsewhere. Let the LHBS say no without beating them up. Your quote may be at or below their cost. You can't expect them to sell below thier cost. Just give them the opportunity though. And don't expect them to lower thier regular price permenantly. They have to make a living.

Forrest

 

[visitor]

To be fair did you ever ask the LHBS if they could match the price or come close?

I had the local homebrew club spend thousands of dollars elsewhere and they didn't even ask if I could match. I would rather make $5 and keep the warm fuzzies than have them go elsewhere. Let the LHBS say no without beating them up. Your quote may be at or below their cost. You can't expect them to sell below thier cost. Just give them the opportunity though. And don't expect them to lower thier regular price permenantly. They have to make a living.

Forrest

I haven't asked recently. When I asked at one of the stores I thought I was going to get shown the door, he seemed very defensive, I gathered he had answered that question many times over. Needless to say I don't usually shop there any longer. The other store politely explained that was the best price he could offer at this time. Since then he's found a way to purchase sacks and sell them for around the $40-50 mark which is fair and works for me! I do NOT expect anyone to not cover their costs just work with their customers to meet their needs.

Glad my local homebrew shop rocks but I am also glad to have some options (NCM / online stores) when the local shop can't come through or I want something they can not or do not stock.

 

[Tepe]

I tell you what .. Last year my LHBS sold sacks of 2 row for $90. and Marris Otter for over $100. Now what would you do??

 

[Brewdouche-RuBrew]

I got an official letter from North Country Malt because I am a regular customer. I'll post a scan of it tommorrow. Basiclly some of what we heard is true. If you are an existing customer your ok. If not order by the end of September.

And to respond to some of the pablum I have seen on this thread....

F-OFF to High prices!!!

Basiclly to us homebrewers, if you can find it cheaper, buy it, if you cant sell it cheaper and compete, suck it.:rockin:

 

[Austinhomebrew]

I got an official letter from North Country Malt because I am a regular customer. I'll post a scan of it tommorrow. Basiclly some of what we heard is true. If you are an existing customer your ok. If not order by the end of September.

And to respond to some of the pablum I have seen on this thread....

F-OFF to High prices!!!

Basiclly to us homebrewers, if you can find it cheaper, buy it, if you cant sell it cheaper and compete, suck it.:rockin:

Brewdouche:
I will state again that North Country sells to homebrew stores for the same price. You cant compete with your cost. How can a homebrew store sell it for less than their cost and stay in business.

You can't compare wholesale and retail. Buy where you can get it the cheapest but stop expecting homebrew stores to sell things at their cost.

Forrest

 

[redalert]

I really liked the idea of ordering on their website. Now they don't even list the prices.

 

[grathan]

Homebrew shops should be creative. If all their doing is ordering from another shop and reselling at a higher price. F em. That is why I brew my own beer. Too many middlemen wanting a cut with distributed commerical beer.

By creative I mean piggyback ordering with local breweries or growing their own stuff or perhaps a service that crushes up recipes and vacuum seals ready for pickup when the customer arrives... anything besides sitting back and charging more money for nothing.

 

[Brewdouche-RuBrew]

Rules of the Internet - You may need to refresh yourself
ref:
11. All your carefully picked arguments can easily be ignored.
12. Anything you say can and will be used against you.
13. Anything you say can be turned into something else. - fixed
14. Do not argue with trolls — it means that they win.
15. The harder you try, the harder you will fail.
16. If you fail in epic proportions, it may just become a winning failure.
17. Every win fails eventually.

You run a great buisness, but with all due respect you gotta stop whining. We cant buy a truckload of carboys, or hydrometers, ph meters, or whatever "instrument/equipment" to get bulk prices. So make your money there. Ingredients on the other hand, EXPECT & PLAN, to make pennys on the dollar. Homebrewers are resourceful like computer hackers, we are legion. Before I found NCM, I set up a state tax id so I could make $0, pay $0 tax, and buy wholesale. We will always conquer retail, so offer better products, and service. If you were cutting edge, you would sell grain at cost, advertise that, Like convienience stores sell cig's at state minumum prices, and we would buy all our other crap from you to save on shipping. Nuff said.

I will not post in this thread again...

I regularly use a different, better, online "midwestern" homebrew supplyer.

I buy my hops from Hops direct.

And yet, YET, I still patranize my local home brew supply stores, I just dont go in back and bend over the valt horse for grain, extract, & 5star

...i'm just sayin...

 

[rockfish42]

Nothing says class like quoting rules from the armpit of the internet, 4chan...

 

[Austinhomebrew]

Homebrew shops should be creative. If all their doing is ordering from another shop and reselling at a higher price. F em. That is why I brew my own beer. Too many middlemen wanting a cut with distributed commerical beer.

By creative I mean piggyback ordering with local breweries or growing their own stuff or perhaps a service that crushes up recipes and vacuum seals ready for pickup when the customer arrives... anything besides sitting back and charging more money for nothing.

North country is not another shop they are a wholesaler for breweries and homebrew stores that also sells to homebrewers. Other wholesalers will not sell directly to the end user so that homebrew stores can stay in business.

You can't buy grain any cheaper. You don't understand.

Forrest

 

[Austinhomebrew]

You run a great buisness, but with all due respect you gotta stop whining. We cant buy a truckload of carboys, or hydrometers, ph meters, or whatever "instrument/equipment" to get bulk prices. So make your money there. Ingredients on the other hand, EXPECT & PLAN, to make pennys on the dollar. Homebrewers are resourceful like computer hackers, we are legion. Before I found NCM, I set up a state tax id so I could make $0, pay $0 tax, and buy wholesale. We will always conquer retail, so offer better products, and service. If you were cutting edge, you would sell grain at cost, advertise that, Like convienience stores sell cig's at state minumum prices, and we would buy all our other crap from you to save on shipping. Nuff said.

I will not post in this thread again...

I regularly use a different, better, online "midwestern" homebrew supplyer.

I buy my hops from Hops direct.

And yet, YET, I still patranize my local home brew supply stores, I just dont go in back and bend over the valt horse for grain, extract, & 5star

...i'm just sayin...

You buy hops from a hop farm, buy grain at wholesale, you culture your yeast. There is no reason for you to use a homebrew store except for advice. Nothing wrong with buying the products you need at the best price you can. But there is no reason to expect homebrew stores to sell items at their cost. Especially when you have no idea what their cost is.

From your example, you don't understand. The difference between your example prices is only $1.50 per bag. The shipping is $2.25 per bag. Then it is 25 cents a minute for the sales man to wait on you. Not including rent, etc.

I am not saying that you should shop at a homebrew store if you find them unnecessary. No store can sell items for cost or less than cost and you shouldn't expect them to.

Forrest

 

[bkov]

Rules of the Internet - You may need to refresh yourself
ref:
11. All your carefully picked arguments can easily be ignored.
12. Anything you say can and will be used against you.
13. Anything you say can be turned into something else. - fixed
14. Do not argue with trolls — it means that they win.
15. The harder you try, the harder you will fail.
16. If you fail in epic proportions, it may just become a winning failure.
17. Every win fails eventually.

You run a great buisness, but with all due respect you gotta stop whining. We cant buy a truckload of carboys, or hydrometers, ph meters, or whatever "instrument/equipment" to get bulk prices. So make your money there. Ingredients on the other hand, EXPECT & PLAN, to make pennys on the dollar. Homebrewers are resourceful like computer hackers, we are legion. Before I found NCM, I set up a state tax id so I could make $0, pay $0 tax, and buy wholesale. We will always conquer retail, so offer better products, and service. If you were cutting edge, you would sell grain at cost, advertise that, Like convienience stores sell cig's at state minumum prices, and we would buy all our other crap from you to save on shipping. Nuff said.

I will not post in this thread again...

I regularly use a different, better, online "midwestern" homebrew supplyer.

I buy my hops from Hops direct.

And yet, YET, I still patranize my local home brew supply stores, I just dont go in back and bend over the valt horse for grain, extract, & 5star

...i'm just sayin...

the prices are higher for individual sacks, those are pallet prices

 

[Airborneguy]

Are they still going to be available for NEW group buys? From what I understand, I definitely won't be able to start ordering a few bags, but does anyone know if they are still going to accept pallet orders delivered to commercial addresses?

 

[TriangleIL]

Does anyone know when the cut off for new customers is? It sounds like it was today?

 

[FromZwolle]

Does anyone know when the cut off for new customers is? It sounds like it was today?

it was.

 

[Bobby_M]

the prices are higher for individual sacks, those are pallet prices

The argument is revolving around homebrewer group-buying a palette at the 1000 or 2200-4000 pound rate vs. what a homebrew store could conceivably buy.

I suppose many homebrew clubs don't make the 2200 pound level so brewdouche is trying to convince AHS that the $.03 per pound is all gravy for them. Of course, that's a loss because it's not worth unpacking the pallet for that much. Also, a decent sized club can easily fill a pallet with 2400 pounds and hit the 2nd tier pricing.

I would argue that clubs wouldn't go through the trouble if they could get sacks for $10 over cost. Yes, I'd pay $50 for a sack of Maris. The trouble is, LHBS wants $70. Yes, for one brewer, in a moment of weakness and need, it's not that big of a deal. But when you have 30 other buddies looking for grain, it's an easy choice.

 

[Austinhomebrew]

The argument is revolving around homebrewer group-buying a palette at the 1000 or 2200-4000 pound rate vs. what a homebrew store could conceivably buy.

I suppose many homebrew clubs don't make the 2200 pound level so brewdouche is trying to convince AHS that the $.03 per pound is all gravy for them. Of course, that's a loss because it's not worth unpacking the pallet for that much. Also, a decent sized club can easily fill a pallet with 2400 pounds and hit the 2nd tier pricing.

I would argue that clubs wouldn't go through the trouble if they could get sacks for $10 over cost. Yes, I'd pay $50 for a sack of Maris. The trouble is, LHBS wants $70. Yes, for one brewer, in a moment of weakness and need, it's not that big of a deal. But when you have 30 other buddies looking for grain, it's an easy choice.

Well put. You should buy where you get the best price. It is very easy for brew clubs to get 1 or 2 pallets of grain. The clubs here do it all of the time. I also see many group buys on this forum.

I am just saying you shouldn't expect any company to sell things at cost or below. And you should find the best deal if you feel your local is charging too much.

Bobby, thanks for understanding.

Forrest

 

[Airborneguy]

Bobby, you are dead right when it comes to a whole sack. An LHBS shouldn't expect the same profit on a sack as they would get selling the grain pound by pound, BUT, they definitely should expect a higher profit margin when they are selling it a pound at a time.

If I walk into a store and buy an entire sack, I should be given special treatment because I am obviously going to be a frequent customer, especially considering most people buying whole sacks are only buying base grains; the shop will still make good profit on the specialty grains.

 

[oceanselv]

Sure I have bought my hops from a farm and my grain in bulk from NCM because I got a better price. However, I don't need 55 lbs of crystal 20 or 1 full pound of every hop I use. For purchasing in smaller quantities our LHBS is pretty competitive. I have found some grains cheaper at some of the internet stores and I have also found the LHBS to be less expensive than some of the internet stores. Overall I shop at my LHBS for all of my yeast, specialty grains and most of my equipment needs. The main reason is not price. It is their service and the convenience of buying something I can brew with later that day.

 

[EdWort]

11,550 pounds of malt goodness.

 

[Captain_Bigelow]

OMG. Is that all for your use? I can see you will be getting several pints of Haus Pale Ale from that loot.

 

[Airborneguy]

Holy Crap! That sir, cannot be for personal use!

 

[Hermit]

Holy Crap! That sir, cannot be for personal use!

Just his next batch I'm sure....

 

[munche]

Sounds like EdWort is going to start slanging that grain out at cost, or FACE THE WRATH OF THE INTERNET.

 

[Tepe]

WELL HERE IN NJ we buy that much and more in ONE year not one shipment. What's the story behind this??

 

[KopyKat]

Yes, Ed brews a lot of beer. You should see his mash tun!

To further beat the, if not dead, certainly the dying horse I would like to applaud Forrest for his accurate and thoughtful responses to the various posts that come across as not understanding the difference in what it takes to price goods at a retail level and those at a wholesale level. The fact of the matter is that Forrest for the most part has lower prices on most items than his competition and still has expanded and is obviously making a profit. That is what it is all about.

I have personally been in the store and gotten price matches where I found an item for less. Rare but it has happened over the years.

I do participate in the group grain buy each year and get some hops at that time. I also yeast farm certain strains. In spite of that I also spend hundreds every year in his store. Last week I dropped $98.00 and will be there tomorrow to pick up about another $50.00 worth of stuff. All gladly paid.

You will never find me grousing about prices in his or any other store. I consider myself a smart shopper and if I pay more than I should for something that is on me. No one ever rips me off unless it is yours truly.

Free enterprise - wonderful stuff.

 

[Hermit]

Yes, Ed brews a lot of beer. You should see his mash tun!

You mean his swimming pool? Recirculation system, pool heaters.... "Custom" design for a large mash tun....

 

[Clayton]

LOL ED nice drop shadow and pointer ,,,, show off

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

So everything IS bigger in Texas. Haus Pale Ale, 'haus' as in...literally.

 

[redalert]

Has anyone meaning current customers registered with NCM placed a small order with NCM since the news?

 

[Tepe]

Small? We just got a ton (2,000#) on a pallet delivered Monday

 

[claphamsa]

im having a pallet delivered tomorrow as well.