Brewers Association - How to Brew

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Jaguar10301, Apr 24, 2017.

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  1. Jaguar10301

    Jaguar10301 Crusader (423) Mar 1, 2010 Maine

    Ok I'm a little miffed at them today. I got an email about the presale for Palmers updated How to Brew. 24.95 for non members and 14.95 for members. So a 10 dollar discount, great I'll buy it. I go and first had it in my cart without logging in, saw the 24.95 and noticed it was 6 bucks for shipping. I logged in, now it was 14.95 but shipping was 11 dollars.

    They are charging more for shipping to members to make up for the discount and hoping you don't look at it logged in and logged out to realize it. That is pretty sleazy to me. I'm buying it on Amazon with free shipping and for 15 dollars.
     
    #1 Jaguar10301, Apr 24, 2017
    dorsiaonfridaynight, GreenKrusty101, FeDUBBELFIST and 2 others like this.
  2. GormBrewhouse

    GormBrewhouse Pooh-Bah (2,111) Jun 24, 2015 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah

    Good catch!
     
    #2 GormBrewhouse, Apr 24, 2017
    Jduche17 and Jaguar10301 like this.
  3. Tebuken

    Tebuken Initiate (0) Jun 6, 2009 Argentina

    It seems you were living in Argentina, LOL
     
    #3 Tebuken, Apr 24, 2017
    Jaguar10301 and GormBrewhouse like this.
  4. CarolusP

    CarolusP Zealot (590) Oct 22, 2015 Minnesota

    Maybe there's a $5 convenience charge to cover the convenience of the cheaper price...
     
    #4 CarolusP, Apr 24, 2017
    Jaguar10301 likes this.
  5. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,348) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Maybe you should ask them...
     
    #5 SFACRKnight, Apr 24, 2017
  6. Jaguar10301

    Jaguar10301 Crusader (423) Mar 1, 2010 Maine

    I did, I wrote an email to the only contact I could find at the Brewers Publications section.

    I will let you all know what I find out. Still even if it was a mistake, or an error. Members aren't really getting a discount if you can get the same price on Amazon without a membership.
     
    #6 Jaguar10301, Apr 24, 2017
  7. Jaguar10301

    Jaguar10301 Crusader (423) Mar 1, 2010 Maine

    I got a response which I was somewhat surprised by, but she didn't say anything about the shipping issue. She basically said why Amazon could afford better prices than them. I should have let out my purchase from Amazon as she took it as an opportunity to talk about that than deal with the larger issue of the difference in shipping costs between members and non-members. I responded back being very direct about that point.
     
    #7 Jaguar10301, Apr 24, 2017
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  8. Jaguar10301

    Jaguar10301 Crusader (423) Mar 1, 2010 Maine

    No response as to the shipping issue. I have no problem that they can't compete on price with amazon. I like to support organizations that help something i'm interested in. I would pay more to order it from BA than Amazon, but the sleaziness of charging members more for shipping than non-members to make up for the "discount" can't be ignored... The irony is, if they had just given a 5 dollar discount instead of offering 10 and taking back 5 on shipping. I would have ordered it from them still...
     
    #8 Jaguar10301, Apr 25, 2017
  9. epk

    epk Pundit (849) Jun 10, 2008 New Jersey

    Hey there, I decided to test...

    Without logging in you are given shipping of $6 and change, like you said. However, when you add your zip code and hit calculate, it adjusts to $11.39 (my NJ zip code).

    Now, when you are logged in, the zip code is auto filled via your account details, so the price is already adjusted.

    EDIT - did one more test, inputted the same zip as where the BA is located - 80302 - shipping price stayed $6.60.

    We can all relax. No conspiracy.
     
    #9 epk, Apr 25, 2017
    InVinoVeritas, SFACRKnight and minderbender like this.
  10. minderbender

    minderbender Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2009 New York

    Thanks for checking this out @epk, it is good to hear that it was innocuous.
     
    #10 minderbender, Apr 25, 2017
  11. epk

    epk Pundit (849) Jun 10, 2008 New Jersey

    No problem. It just didn't feel like the sort of thing they would do. I've recieved a couple books completely free in the past due to one promotion or another.
     
    #11 epk, Apr 25, 2017
    Behlal likes this.
  12. Jaguar10301

    Jaguar10301 Crusader (423) Mar 1, 2010 Maine

    Good to hear, I hadn't thought of that. Would have been nice of her to respond and let me know :stuck_out_tongue:
     
    #12 Jaguar10301, Apr 25, 2017
  13. epk

    epk Pundit (849) Jun 10, 2008 New Jersey

    It's easy to miss. She was probably confused as well.

    Side note, $11+ for shipping out to the east coast is a little high in my opinion.
     
    #13 epk, Apr 25, 2017
  14. Jaguar10301

    Jaguar10301 Crusader (423) Mar 1, 2010 Maine

    Yeah, I can mail a box of books for like 15 bucks... I've done that many times from VA to NE, VA to ME, and VA to FL...
     
    #14 Jaguar10301, Apr 25, 2017
  15. telejunkie

    telejunkie Savant (1,107) Sep 14, 2007 Vermont

    Because books have no advertising, they can possibly go media mail for like $3 shipping nationwide for a book...but if Brewer's Pub decided to do any inserts to promote other products or had advertising in any form, then the shipping rate goes up quite a bit.
     
    #15 telejunkie, Apr 25, 2017
  16. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    Already done without catching the shipping difference. I don't really care. I'm going to assume the difference isn't calculated. Even if it is an extra charge, yes I'd prefer honesty, the good of the BA still vastly excites the bad. I'm more than willing to make an extra donation!
     
    #16 InVinoVeritas, Apr 26, 2017
  17. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Buying the book will get you the latest updates, and put some money in Palmer's pocket. I know I can get it cheaper through Prime, but buying from the BA supports that organization with more funds.
     
    #17 hopfenunmaltz, Apr 26, 2017
    Curmudgeon and telejunkie like this.
  18. epk

    epk Pundit (849) Jun 10, 2008 New Jersey

    So today I finally went back to order this book and found that the shipping stayed $6.60 even for my east coast location... I wonder if they realized the inflated shipping charge and corrected.
     
    #18 epk, May 3, 2017
  19. Jaguar10301

    Jaguar10301 Crusader (423) Mar 1, 2010 Maine

    No we found out I was wrong :stuck_out_tongue:

    If you don't log in it shows shipping for a local CO delivery for them, once I logged in, yes it recognized me as a member but what I failed to think of was that it now knew my address and charged accordingly.

    So the difference wasn't member vs. non-member it was CO vs. ME

    Still they could ship cheaper :wink:
     
    #19 Jaguar10301, May 3, 2017
  20. epk

    epk Pundit (849) Jun 10, 2008 New Jersey

    Yes, I know - I was the one that pointed it out, silly. What I'm saying is that when I posted that before, shipping was like $11 for my NJ address, yet today when I finally got around to actually ordering, only $6.60. I felt 11 was high, 6ish isn't so bad. I guess I just had to let it get a little more age before I ordered. Let the dollars mellow out.
     
    #20 epk, May 3, 2017
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