Ordered from Northern Brewer but shipped from Midwest Supplies?

[BansheeRider]

I ordered a recipe all grain kit, dark star burner, a pound of smoked cherrywood malt, and a barley crusher mill from Northern Brewer. I have a UPS MyChoice account and it's showing that the burner and mill was shipped from Midwest Supplies. Is this normal business for online homebrew shops? I thought they were in competition with the other and didn't help each other with sales.

 

[dkwolf]

I ordered a recipe all grain kit, dark star burner, a pound of smoked cherrywood malt, and a barley crusher mill from Northern Brewer. I have a UPS MyChoice account and it's showing that the burner and mill was shipped from Midwest Supplies. Is this normal business for online homebrew shops? I thought they were in competition with the other and didn't help each other with sales.

NB and MS merged about a year ago.

There's several threads on here regarding it, you'd have to search (there were some MAJOR problems during the transition), but I seem to remember most (all?) of the warehousing was moved to a new Midwest Supplies facility?

 

[BansheeRider]

NB and MS merged about a year ago.

Really? I had no idea...

 

[unionrdr]

They moved to a larger warehouse after the merger. but they still maintain separate sites.

 

[tagz]

I would keep an eye on your credit card activity. Midwest had their CC info stolen because of poor internet security, a lot of people experienced fraudulent charges. They said they fixed it but their initial response was sketchy at best. It was right during the merger. I'm hesitant to order from either front now. So many other options...

 

[BansheeRider]

I would keep an eye on your credit card activity. Midwest had their CC info stolen because of poor internet security, a lot of people experienced fraudulent charges. They said they fixed it but their initial response was sketchy at best. It was right during the merger. I'm hesitant to order from either front now. So many other options...

I've been brewing for about a year and have ordered multiple times from these vendors with no problems. My order was placed through NB and not MWS.

 

[Corey_SS]

I was wondering why they were both carrying this 'Maillard Malts' brand now. Makes perfect sense now, thanks for the info.

 

[masskrug]

Interesting. I still get catalogs from the two different vendors.

 

[dkwolf]

I looked a little this morning and wasn't able to find any recent articles, but the information I found suggested the merger was mainly at the upper management level, both stores would maintain independent brick-and-mortar stores, but online ordering would eventually be streamlined into one - and online orders would be processed out of one warehouse. Nothing concrete, but it does seem to fit the OP's experience (order from NB fulfilled from a MW warehouse)

 

[BansheeRider]

I looked a little this morning and wasn't able to find any recent articles, but the information I found suggested the merger was mainly at the upper management level, both stores would maintain independent brick-and-mortar stores, but online ordering would eventually be streamlined into one - and online orders would be processed out of one warehouse. Nothing concrete, but it does seem to fit the OP's experience (order from NB fulfilled from a MW warehouse)

Interesting. It's funny though because some items are priced different.

 

[grizzly2378]

I recently placed an order from Northern Brewer and most of it shipped from NB, but one item was sent from MW. Both arrived the same day, so no big deal. I have noticed that my last couple of NB orders haven't been processed as quickly. Before the holidays, I'd place an order and it would ship that afternoon and I'd have it two days later (I'm in South Dakota, so shipping doesn't take long). But since the New Year, my orders have been taking a couple of days to get processed. Shipping is still only two days, but they aren't getting out of the warehouse as fast. Not sure if that has anything to do with the merger or not.