Keeler and Dawson

[Ozwald]

10 to 20 million seems like such a vague and arbitrary number. I wonder how inflated that is?
Are they just throwing a bone to the press?

Could be a young 'reporter' trying to show how they can dig for the deep shit. (I work for a newspaper & see that sort of stupidity daily - we've got 2 of them that try so hard that over 50% of the stuff they 'report' is wrong & made up).

That 'silent' investment does explain a lot though.

[Afterlab]

I understand cutting costs but I'm guessing they've lost some revenue as well which is doubling down on whatever problem they had to cause them to look for investors and their capital. (I KNOW they have lost mine)

The investors began providing equity back in 2011, long before Keeler, Dawson and Chip left. And call me crazy but most intellectually sound equity firms would not fork over capital to a company that was on the fast track to going down the financial toilet. Chances are Northern Brewer was still in good financial standing otherwise they would not risk investing money in a sinking ship.

If you don't like some of their prices and the lack of free shipping, let them know via email and shop elsewhere. You and everyone else has that option in this free country of ours. Not every company has the same operating costs and can afford to charge the same amount for a product that their competitor does. And as with any company terms are always subject to change whether or not we would like them to. Most companies can't afford to bite the bullet on shipping costs and those that can now, will likely at some point in the future have to pass those expenses on to customers in order to stay in operation.

I still find it a little humorous how many people on here can't help but to bash a long time sponsor of the Brewing Network. Sure the prices have changed slightly but has the freshness of ingredients suffered or has the customer service changed enough to make them the Evil Empire of homebrewing supplies?

[teal]

I understand cutting costs but I'm guessing they've lost some revenue as well which is doubling down on whatever problem they had to cause them to look for investors and their capital. (I KNOW they have lost mine)

The investors began providing equity back in 2011, long before Keeler, Dawson and Chip left. And call me crazy but most intellectually sound equity firms would not fork over capital to a company that was on the fast track to going down the financial toilet. Chances are Northern Brewer was still in good financial standing otherwise they would not risk investing money in a sinking ship.

If you don't like some of their prices and the lack of free shipping, let them know via email and shop elsewhere. You and everyone else has that option in this free country of ours. Not every company has the same operating costs and can afford to charge the same amount for a product that their competitor does. And as with any company terms are always subject to change whether or not we would like them to. Most companies can't afford to bite the bullet on shipping costs and those that can now, will likely at some point in the future have to pass those expenses on to customers in order to stay in operation.

I still find it a little humorous how many people on here can't help but to bash a long time sponsor of the Brewing Network. Sure the prices have changed slightly but has the freshness of ingredients suffered or has the customer service changed enough to make them the Evil Empire of homebrewing supplies?

I've let them know.

Yes prices have gone up and not just shipping - freshness hasn't changed, service hasn't changed (much), but that doesn't stand out in the marketplace. They're not the only homebrew place with fresh product or good service. The change in price is what now makes them less desirable than others. Whereas before they were cheaper for me, now I get just as good service from Rebel Brewer or Midwest, just as fresh from any number of places at often a lower price.

Even when things were equal - I went to NB due to the guys like Keeler/Dawson/Chip and BTV - those are gone.

They can run their business anyway they see fit and I can spend my money anyway I see fit. If people want to pay more money for the same level of service and freshness - go ahead, your dime.

[Ozwald]

In my several emails with a couple of their guys the 'savings' from eliminating the flat shipping boils down to this: no charge for crushing grain & lower shipping costs on kettles. I can confirm the 2nd part since it cost more for them to ship the 3 connectors I mentioned earlier than it did for a 30g BoilerMaker (and that fucker's heavy!). So yeah, they are charging less for 2 things that won't affect the vast majority of us - to cover that cost they raised prices on just about every other thing & killed the flat rate.

I still shop with them when they have certain parts - they're the only place I've found S/S MFL tailpieces, S/S QD's w/o a check valve and a few other odds & ends. On top of that I did try placing a few orders with some of the other BN sponsors, but the service was so horrible that I ended up cancelling all but 1 of those (Idiotmaster's Warehouse deserves some sort of award for providing worse service than WalMart & PayPal). I'm back to B3 & NB, but a lot more of my stuff is coming from B3 now - prices are about the same until you add the shipping.

I did have 1 little hiccup with their service department, but when I called them out on it they bent over backwards to fix the problem (& sent me some free shit as well). Since then they've answered every email almost immediately & even when I did have a tough question that required them to do a little digging it was only about an hour before they had a solid answer for me. I was a bit concerned that these less than appealing changes were the start of a downward spiral, but I'm no longer convinced that's the case.

The 2 tricks I've figured out with their new policies:

1 - Don't place small orders. They've had too many problems with USPS and are using UPS for everything now. UPS has a minimum shipping fee based on the distance from your house to the closest UPS hub (not every UPS location is considered a hub), which ends up meaning that the shipping cost for 1 small item & 12 small items the same. I placed a large order a few weeks after a small one & the shipping only went up a couple bucks.

2 - Place your order by phone. I haven't figured out what's causing it, but twice in the last couple months I had a situation where I needed to talk to them about something specific & placed my order at the same time by reading it off my screen. The shipping cost on the on-line order was a few bucks more than the one I was given over the phone. I've noticed the same thing with a ham radio vendor whose on-line shipping vs phone shipping costs were different about 75% of the time.

[NervousDad]

I've sent them emails regarding their choice to change shipping providers and getting rid of flat rate shipping. I received "oh well that's the way it is responses". I also asked them why they don't have the ability to use Paypal and I received the short response of "It's a business decision" I no longer shop there.

With FedEx I would order on Monday to Tuesday and I would get my order on Saturday, which was fantastic. Now with UPS If I ordered on Tuesday I wouldn't get it until the following monday, which is just unacceptable.

Looking back at my account I spent around $1,500 with them between (January and August) and they've lost my business. I may not have been the biggest customer, but I was a nice customer to have.

[Ozwald]

I've sent them emails regarding their choice to change shipping providers and getting rid of flat rate shipping. I received "oh well that's the way it is responses".

That's rather surprising. I got 2 different people & they both took the time to send me responses that were several paragraphs long. Both turned into a conversation that went back & forth a few times.

With FedEx I would order on Monday to Tuesday and I would get my order on Saturday, which was fantastic. Now with UPS If I ordered on Tuesday I wouldn't get it until the following monday, which is just unacceptable.

Agreed. Besides that, they are horrible here with delivery times & service. FedEx shows up in the same 2 hour window every single time. They ring the doorbell & wait with the package in hand until I answer the door. UPS doesn't bother ringing the bell most of the time, even though it's blatantly obvious that I'm home. With my BoilerMaker he was already back to his truck & leaving. No knock, no bell & it was supposed to require a signature (which was plastered on every side of the box with a bright neon green sticker). Good thing I was ready, waiting & happened to notice the shadow on the ceiling of him walking away. He shows up at whatever random time between noon & 9pm which couldn't be more inconvenient with my schedule.