Rodenlager
Active Member
For years I have ordered grain through country malt group, and now they are charging homebrewers with existing accounts an extra $10-15 a sack.
Crud on us, and crud on them.
Crud on us, and crud on them.
So now, we're essentially forced to go through another vendor (see middle man/LHBS) for our supplies and pay retail.
But then CMG realized that they have a near monopoly on the grain market, and devised a plan to make as much money as they can, while controlling the supply for nearly the entire market. Then things started to change...
CMG started charging an extra 20% to homebrewers that bought less than 400 lbs.
CMG then expanded their business to include their own in-house brand of homebrewing store centric supply chain.
They then started turning away new homebrewing customers, even though they make more money per pound off homebrewers than they do off commercial breweries.
They then started removing inactive homebrewing accounts, thus forcing (now) former customers to purchase through a LHBS, (chances are it would be a LHBS they sell product to, how fortunately coincidental for them, no?)
Then they increase the homebrewer prices yet again by more than 30% across the board, and refuse to sell certain items hops by the pound, cleaning agents, and sanitizer to homebrewers.
...yes. Wouldn't you?But then CMG realized that they have a near monopoly on the grain market, and devised a plan to make as much money as they can...
...and devised a plan to make as much money as they can....
I don't see how phasing out small customers can possibly be construed as "underhanded". It's a sound business decision. Small customers are a lot more costly to service than large ones. They've determined that it's best for them as a company to focus on the wholesale side of their business, and let their customers handle the retail market. It just makes sense.
....That's generally the purpose of a business, yes.
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