Found these guys through Amazon. Occasionally I'll check if Amazon carries basic brewing items so I can get them cheap and with Prime shipping. This time, HomeBrewStuff.com carried it on Amazon. Since I was already placing an order with Amazon, I threw two of these in my cart.
Pricing was reasonable, but not great, beating out the big mail order sites. ($13.63 + $3.85 S/H ea, vs $14.99 at Northern, vs $14.49 at Midwest, vs $9.50 w/ free shipping at eBay) I figured I'd buy it through HomeBrewStuff because certainly it'd come faster than with the hokey shipping that usually comes free with eBay items. I was wrong. Seller used the absolute worst shipping method available.
The items fold up in plastic baggies to a fairly small size. Two Brew Haulers occupy the space of about 3-4 packs of Wyeast stacked on top of each other. For roughly the same price, the shipper could have sent them USPS Priority or Flat Rate. There was no mention of the shipping method on the product page, which could have avoided this experience.
Timeline:
20 Dec 12 (Thu) 18:36 - Placed order via Amazon.com
21 Dec 12 (Fri) 13:50 - Received shipment notification.
22 Dec 12 (Sat) xx:xx - Tracked package. Discovered shipping method was UPS Mail Innovations, AKA Spawn of Satan Shipping. Tracking history is blank.
26 Dec 12 (Wed) xx:xx - Package mysteriously gets first tracking history entry at West Valley City, UT. All history prior unknown.
28 Dec 12 (Fri) xx:xx - UPS transfers package to USPS in Sacramento, CA.
29 Dec 12 (Sat) xx:xx - USPS transfer to West Sacramento sorting hub.
31 Dec 12 (Mon) xx:xx - Placed in my mail box.
Overall it was a smooth transaction. I hate the shipping method that was chosen, but cannot fault the seller otherwise.
nestar:
nestar:
nestar:
nestar: /5. Would do business with again, but only if I could know beforehand that UPS Mail Innovation or FedEx Express Saver shipping was not used.