Northern Brewer Support (or lack of)

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canvasoso

canvasoso

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Anyone knows what's going on with Northern Brewer? I have ordered from them for over 10 years. Their customer support has always been A1.

In the past few months has gone downhill tremendously. Takes them 4 days to ship, and then it takes another week or so to receive items since they ship on the slowest/cheapest service available.

Whenever I used to have an issue with an order in the past, you could always call, or do a Live Chat. Now, they just took both options are out of their website, no phone number or Live Chat is available. Your only line of communication is through email. I have emailed them 3 separate times since Monday about an order I placed a week ago, and no one responds emails.

Anyone know what's going on? or have a number that I can talk to someone there?

Thanks!
 
I had a similar experience with Midwest recently. I bought a bunch of grain, and the order confirmation was accurate on the website. But when I received an email about the order, the numbers were messed up. The total pounds were correct, but the pounds of each grain were off.

I did notice that the 'live chat' was available on their website periodically, but it wasn't there other times. What happens is they may only have a couple people handling chats, and if the queue gets to be too long they will no longer have a 'live chat' pop-up. Then once the queue winds down, the pop-up pops back up.

It took them a few days to ship my order - I ordered on a Thursday and they shipped on the following Tuesday. I emailed them a few minutes after receiving my email confirmation that Thursday, and they didn't respond until the following Wednesday. They apologized and said that they had an influx of customer contacts and they were just starting to catch up. Maybe the influx was due to the software glitch, as they told me other people contacted them about a similar issue where the email confirmation was wrong.
 
Hey guys, It's Todd from Northern Brewer. One of our crew pointed me to this post. I am sorry for the slip in service from what you are used to. We are working hard to get back to the normal that you are used to (including live support via text and/or chat) but we had some challenges to work through and a huge backlog of emails to get through. I know it has to be frustrating and hope that we are back much sooner than later.
If you emailed us, we will be responded as quick as we can. Sorry again for the delay.

As far as shipping, we try to keep that transparent... full details can be found here: https://www.northernbrewer.com/pages/shipping

@canvasoso - we will get a response back to 1 of your 3 emails as soon as we can. Happy brewing. - Todd J
 
Hi Todd. Thanks for your post, and thanks everyone for their contribution as well. I finally got an email that I sent on Monday responded yesterday (Thursday). I hope that you guys can get everything back on track as I have always been a big fan and a customer since I started brewing 10 years ago.

I understand that every business has its growing pains and challenges, but please don't forget what makes you grow is loyal customers like us. So, when orders takes 3 days to ship, when all forms of communication gets cut off, Customer support phone numbers taken off website, Live Chat taken off line, and emails takes almost a week to respond, you just get the feeling that you are not welcome anymore.

I look forward to NB being back to the way it was!
 
I order a few items from them every couple months or so. I believe the order I placed back in July, I had to contact support (live chat), because the promo code wouldn't work. They promptly fixed it, but the order shipped out a day late, so they gave me a 10$ gift card for it shipping out to make up for it. I was very okay with that since there wasn't anything perishable within it. That particular order was maybe a week before they were purchased. I've ordered once since then and I don't recall any issues, but I also live within very quick shipping range for them. Hadn't noticed the live chat removal. That's a bummer.
 
Be patient with them. A lot of issues due to Covid 19 virus for most companies. We know they are a great company in normal times. The whole landscape has changed dramatically most places.
 
nickblythe said:
Be patient with them. A lot of issues due to Covid 19 virus for most companies. We know they are a great company in normal times. The whole landscape has changed dramatically most places.
Click to expand...

I disagree. They are using the Covid-19 thing to discontinue free shipping, and I can't fathom any reason that covid should have any impact on that. Delays yes, shipping prices, no. Since I live in Arizona, it always takes at least a week to receive an order from them, after they ship it. I'm done with them.
 
Shouldn't Norther Brewer be ditched solely on their insane prices? Sure, some of the equipment isn't bad, but there's no reason to buy ingredients (online) from them. Ingredient prices aren't too bad in-store.
 
Dave Sarber said:
I disagree. They are using the Covid-19 thing to discontinue free shipping, and I can't fathom any reason that covid should have any impact on that. Delays yes, shipping prices, no. Since I live in Arizona, it always takes at least a week to receive an order from them, after they ship it. I'm done with them.
Click to expand...

Morebeet still has free shipping. Comes from East Bay Area, CA. So you are like 2 days away.
Note- their free shipping now takes about 7 days before it leaves warehouse.

I just ordered from both NB and MB. Paid for 2 day shipping. Yeah it sucks, but at least its an option.

I think ALL "free" shipping is down- it is just a logistics system designed for "X" orders, and is slammed with more than it can handle.

I am grateful it is still operating!!
 
brownni5 said:
Shouldn't Norther Brewer be ditched solely on their insane prices? Sure, some of the equipment isn't bad, but there's no reason to buy ingredients (online) from them. Ingredient prices aren't too bad in-store.
Click to expand...

The high prices are designed to pay for the free shipping. With free shipping "temporarily suspended", they're taking in both ends.
 
NB is my LHBS, and the retail stores have been closed for a while, so I had to resort to ordering online. Yes, before the free shipping was taken down, the prices were a bit higher to compensate for shipping. When I was shopping on the website, the prices all seem to match what I recall paying in the store. To me it seems that they reduced prices on the products online since free shipping is currently suspended.
 
Just noticed 55 lb sack of grain was about $55 shipped with the free shipping and now is $39 plus about $60 shipping. Have shipping rates gone up that much?
 
nickblythe said:
Be patient with them. A lot of issues due to Covid 19 virus for most companies. We know they are a great company in normal times. The whole landscape has changed dramatically most places.
Click to expand...

Most people haven't figured out the real implications of this economic downturn. Most of these businesses may not even survive the coronavirus crisis much less have some temporary decline in their customer service. This is going to last at least a year till there is a vaccine. Good luck with a business surviving through that.

In fact, I recently saw this article on the possible collapse of the whole craft brewing industry. All of these businesses survive on low profit margins with minimal tolerance for downturns.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/garyst...ollapse-from-coronavirus-impact/#306d4c511c6d
 
Jim R said:
Most people haven't figured out the real implications of this economic downturn. Most of these businesses may not even survive the coronavirus crisis much less have some temporary decline in their customer service. This is going to last at least a year till there is a vaccine. Good luck with a business surviving through that.

In fact, I recently saw this article on the possible collapse of the whole craft brewing industry. All of these businesses survive on low profit margins with minimal tolerance for downturns.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/garyst...ollapse-from-coronavirus-impact/#306d4c511c6d
Click to expand...
Yup- Exactly why I just paid two different companies for 2-day shipping. I needed a larger stir plate to make sure I can cook up some 4-5L starters! And some other misc. things that I figure can keep me brewing thru summer just in case!
 
All these posts made me check on Rahr 2-row that I bought last Fall. Ignoring taxes, in the Fall it was $54.99 for a 55 lb sack which included free shipping. Now it is $39.99 plus $49.39 shipping to AZ (the lowest UPS method possible) which the total equals $89.38. That is an increase of $35.38 or 64.3%! I guess I will find another source....

Maybe in the past the grain was a loss leader for them.
 
Earlier this year, (Pre-Covid) both fedex and ups announced significant freight increases on packages over 50#.
Add to that, this whole covid thing, and they are looking at how to maximize their logistics.
Shipping 50# sacks one-off is not top of their list right now.
 
Nate R said:
Earlier this year, (Pre-Covid) both fedex and ups announced significant freight increases on packages over 50#.
Add to that, this whole covid thing, and they are looking at how to maximize their logistics.
Shipping 50# sacks one-off is not top of their list right now.
Click to expand...

And that probably has more to do with "temporary suspension" of free shipping than covid does. That just reinforces my point that they are using covid as an excuse.
 
Dave Sarber said:
And that probably has more to do with "temporary suspension" of free shipping than covid does. That just reinforces my point that they are using covid as an excuse.
Click to expand...

Uh. By that logic, you would think that free shipping would have gone away months ago then... To the best of my knowledge it has only been the case for a handful of weeks now.
 
BrewerBrad82 said:
Uh. By that logic, you would think that free shipping would have gone away months ago then... To the best of my knowledge it has only been the case for a handful of weeks now.
Click to expand...

Ever hear the saying "no crisis should go to waste" or "never let a crisis go to waste"?
 
Northern Brewers' website states, and I quote verbatim: "FREE SHIPPING is Temporarily Unavailable Due to High Demand". I am struggling to understand how high demand equates to the suspension of free shipping; in my mind it would bring exactly the opposite as a result: More business, more profits margin, more to give back. To be clear, I love Northern Brewer, their prices are not the best, but their selection is wide, their products are always fresh and of high quality, and their CS is unimpeachable (at least that is my experience). I want to give them the benefit of the doubt in this case; but again, I do not understand what could possibly have happened.
 
Birrus said:
Northern Brewers' website states, and I quote verbatim: "FREE SHIPPING is Temporarily Unavailable Due to High Demand". I am struggling to understand how high demand equates to the suspension of free shipping; in my mind it would bring exactly the opposite as a result: More business, more profits margin, more to give back. To be clear, I love Northern Brewer, their prices are not the best, but their selection is wide, their products are always fresh and of high quality, and their CS is unimpeachable (at least that is my experience). I want to give them the benefit of the doubt in this case; but again, I do not understand what could possibly have happened.
Click to expand...
Really?
Think about ALL the people huddled up at home, using on-line shopping vs. going to the store. There is NO WAY FedEx, UPS, USPS, OnTrac, GSO, etc. could have prepared for this. When it is Christmas time, they rent up vans, hire temp workers, etc. Even Amazon does, too.
The shipping industry is SLAMMED right now. Bursting at the seams. It is not just about money- they literally cannot handle the shear amount coming in. Yes, they have contracts. There just is no way they can meet demand. They are pushing back shipment dates. Their super cheap basic shipping that all these companies use (for "free shipping") have built-in fail safes for these reasons.
Think about all the employees needed to work the warehouses. If the LHBS is closed, then those customers go on-line. Especially because they are "panic-buying" or "Stocking up" more than normal. (Even if each of just orders ONE extra 10# bag of grain of ONE more yeast, it all ads up fast!).

Now, add to that the supply chain from the warehouse to warehouse. Etc. Etc. Oh, and a lot of the products come from China....

We live in an amazing time of Just In Time delivery at almost all touch points. But no system is perfect.

Finally, nothing is ever free! (Not college, not stimulus checks, etc. Off topic). If they are giving you "free" shipping, then you ARE paying for it in the cost of the product. Period.
At least as one posted pointed out above, this way you can choose your shipping cost and speed and be better aware of when it will arrive.
 
Nate R said:
Really?
Think about ALL the people huddled up at home, using on-line shopping vs. going to the store. There is NO WAY FedEx, UPS, USPS, OnTrac, GSO, etc. could have prepared for this. When it is Christmas time, they rent up vans, hire temp workers, etc. Even Amazon does, too.
The shipping industry is SLAMMED right now. Bursting at the seams. It is not just about money- they literally cannot handle the shear amount coming in. Yes, they have contracts. There just is no way they can meet demand. They are pushing back shipment dates. Their super cheap basic shipping that all these companies use (for "free shipping") have built-in fail safes for these reasons.
Think about all the employees needed to work the warehouses. If the LHBS is closed, then those customers go on-line. Especially because they are "panic-buying" or "Stocking up" more than normal. (Even if each of just orders ONE extra 10# bag of grain of ONE more yeast, it all ads up fast!).

Now, add to that the supply chain from the warehouse to warehouse. Etc. Etc. Oh, and a lot of the products come from China....

We live in an amazing time of Just In Time delivery at almost all touch points. But no system is perfect.

Finally, nothing is ever free! (Not college, not stimulus checks, etc. Off topic). If they are giving you "free" shipping, then you ARE paying for it in the cost of the product. Period.
At least as one posted pointed out above, this way you can choose your shipping cost and speed and be better aware of when it will arrive.
Click to expand...

OK, according to what you are saying, it is the shipping industry who eliminated the free option. I did not know that, hence my remark at the end: "I do not understand what could possibly have happened."
And you sound mad, in these times more than ever: RAHAHB. :)
 
Birrus said:
OK, according to what you are saying, it is the shipping industry who eliminated the free option. I did not know that, hence my remark at the end: "I do not understand what could possibly have happened."
And you sound mad, in these times more than ever: RAHAHB. :)
Click to expand...
Yes, you are right!!
But its still a little early for a beer! :)
Sorry about the tone!!
Sheesh what a cranky post i made! My bad!!

What i think happened is the "free" shipping was getting back-logged and customers were unhappy that there was no way track delivery day. My more beer order from two weeks that normally takes 2 or 3 days took 8 days.
I think someone made the call to make customers pay for shipping so they could choose how fast they wanted it.
 
Dave Sarber said:
The high prices are designed to pay for the free shipping.
Click to expand...

Still too high. Several times I've filled up online carts with identical items and RiteBrew comes out ahead (after I pay for shipping) every time. The problem is, NB has a good selection.

Ordered from RiteBrew on Tuesday, arrived this morning. True, I'm only one state over, but he's got my stuff in the mail within a couple hours.
 
brownni5 said:
Still too high. Several times I've filled up online carts with identical items and RiteBrew comes out ahead (after I pay for shipping) every time. The problem is, NB has a good selection.

Ordered from RiteBrew on Tuesday, arrived this morning. True, I'm only one state over, but he's got my stuff in the mail within a couple hours.
Click to expand...

I got a new AEB corny from them a few weeks back. Shipped to Cali. Best price i could find.
I wish he had shoved some free hops inside... but... oh well.
 
I think a lot of this has to do with close you live to the company.
For example, Williams Brewing in the Bay Area is very close to me, and their shipping, even on 55# sacks of grains, is almost overnight for me to Sacramento ca, and relatively cheap.
I wonder if the "big boys" like NB and MB are just getting slammed? Or... had to cut staffing?
 
For those of us who NB/Midwest are our LHBS, Midwest is opening up retail again tomorrow, offering concierge service. Limited store access and all that. Wear your masks if you got 'em, I'm sure they're gonna be busy. I may end up there this weekend.
 
Dave Sarber said:
I just checked NB's site, they're not even offering 55 lb bags of Rahr 2 row right now, at least online.
Click to expand...

I must’ve gotten one of the last full bags then. Ordered a week ago. Showed up today. Totally understandable wait time in my opinion given the circumstances
 
Dave Sarber said:
I just checked NB's site, they're not even offering 55 lb bags of Rahr 2 row right now, at least online.
Click to expand...

It was available earlier in the day as I had it in my cart and had checked out but did not submit the order since all I was really trying to determine was the shipping cost. I just went to my account with them and tried adding it to my cart again. You are correct, they no longer will allow you to add the 55lb sack.

EDIT: I just checked on Briess 2-row, Golden Promise and Maris Otter 55lb sacks and they are not avaialble as well. I suspect NB has temporarily stopped selling 55lb sacks of grain.
 
Last edited:
9Kegs said:
Northern Brewer in Milwaukee is my LHBS within a 10 minute drive. Their store is closed but curbside pickup is available using this form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJxWii8kv-WREsJvU7DASuT8OkI0qotPN6Iy-n8dcaM6jc2g/viewform

I buy all my base malt in bulk and their prices in store /online are not the same. I am sure this is to adjust for shipping costs. Example: CodeSection posted he paid $55 on Rahr 2 row with free shipping, last time I picked some up I paid around $35
Click to expand...

Very nice. With that pricing and only a 10 minute buggy ride, you have it made!
 
Nate R said:
I think a lot of this has to do with close you live to the company.
For example, Williams Brewing in the Bay Area is very close to me, and their shipping, even on 55# sacks of grains, is almost overnight for me to Sacramento ca, and relatively cheap.
I wonder if the "big boys" like NB and MB are just getting slammed? Or... had to cut staffing?
Click to expand...
I love in extreme northern California and the last order I placed with Williams arrived the next day.
 
Rite Brew is another vendor I purchase from. Great service and if you spend $50 (recently lowered from $75) you save $5 on shipping.
 
May well not apply to most, but consider local grain growers/malt houses if possible. You might just discover something exciting (which is kinda rare wrt base malts).

I got a bag of floor malted two row pale from a small-scale Massachusetts organic/non-GMO grower/maltster for $60 delivered last week (courtesy of a fellow HBTer from my town - thanks Niles! :mug:) and I have to say I'm cranked to knock out a Cascade SMASH with it in the next few days because it's hella fresh and fragrant - our ground floor smells like a malt house (loving it! :D)

Gonna grow up some stored Chico in the AM and should pitch it by Monday...

Cheers!
 

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