Anyone participate in a hop club membership program?? Niko brew, where I get a lot of my hops is giving 40-50% discounts on all hops if you buy their membership... and they already have 5.00 flat rate shipping and very affordable hops (for some varieties) like my favorite Columbus 14.75 with out membership 7.00 with membership..thats per lb??

Anyone use programs like this?? I am curious and want to see if anyone has experience with memberships or if it would really only be worth it if you are buying huge amounts..

Also what you think of Fuggles, EKG, and Columbus for a trio of hops to use over a variety of beers.. not necessarily all together in the same beer but for use in many ??

I doubt I'd be able to use enough hops to make something like that valuable to me.

What does the membership cost?

5bucks a month so that's not bad But I think my 15-20 gallons a month is not sufficient to justify the added 60 a year.. I have been breaking it down and I go through around 6-8 lbs a year so If I was doing 10 gallon batches @ my current rate that would be around 14 lbs a year which would make it more reasonable..

Yeah, you would basically have to go through a # each month to come out ahead.

I just keep prices reasonable in the first place. I sell columbus (13.2% AA) at $9.75 / lb all the time with no membership required, and no maximum quantity. When I run out, I'll just get some more!

www.atonofhops.com

Shaun - i'd be interested in planning out brews and splitting orders with you from there... that might help drop the costs a bit.

that might make it worth it I mainly use them for certain hops for the 5$ flat rate but some of their prices are higher (significantly) and their selection is not as wide since they undated this year( they are a very small family hop farm) But a group buy would be Ideal using B crosby or even hops direct with 7 buck shipping up to 5 lbs and a better variety it may be a better option.. I know I Have to have my Columbus and then I like to have at least 2 others on hand to play with and splitting a purchase means we could have 1/2 lbs of 4-6 even better...

( sorry Tonton 10+ for shipping over a lb too much, reasonable prices though If I were only buying single pounds, so I may be getting my Columbus from you when I buy )

Sorry about the shipping $, but that is exactly what the USPS charges me. I could charge more for the hops or start doing "clubs" and charge less for shipping, but isn't that just offsetting the costs to you (the consumer) anyway?

Do the math. I sell your favorite hop (columbus) for 9.75/lb. That's $5.00/lb cheaper than Nikko! If you were to maximize your purchase by getting your 2 to 5 other pounds (whatever they may be), I will blow nikko out of the friggin water.

Here is a for instance. I just picked at random 3 of the hops we and nikko both sell on our sites (one pound of each), Centennial, Columbus, and Amarillo (which I just got in today). Total with shipping from Nikko- $59.50. Total from atonofhops with shipping- $47.45. That's a savings of $12.05!

I win again.

LOL yeah there amarillo is insane high.. Like I said when I first started buying from them they were cheaper than hops direct on the few hops they had... they just upgraded and expanded and their prices are significantly higher now.. But for my Cascade, Columbus, Willamette combo that I do for those 3 lbs its still cheaper with them.. Like I said Ill be getting my columbus from you next to try but for the hops I mainly buy 10 for anything over a lbs is too much in shipping when both hops direct and b crosby farms are both 7 up to 5 lbs for shipping and prices are cheaper or comparable... I appreciate you making them competitive and will for sure try to help a fellow brewer with their business but in this economy price is my motivator..


on a separate note.. USPS has flat rate shipping if it fits it ships for 7 something why not do that?? the last time I got 5 lbs thats how they came and they fit perfectly...

I thought Ton of Hops was using flat rate shipping.

I do use flat rate shipping. The shipping cost through the USPS is exactly what I charge, no more no less. I could very easily raise my prices to match Niko's and do a flate $5.00 if that's what your looking for but my prices would be higher.

I did the math for Cascade, Columbus and Willamette (we just received Williamette in, ours is the same price as our Cascade) Niko is with shipping $42.50, B Crosby hops farm with shipping $42.05 ($11.30 for shipping) atonofhops.com with shipping is $39.45, a savings of $2.60-$3.05.

WABrewer, I could argue more about the prices but I am wasting my time. Obviously, you have number in your head and no matter what we at Atonofhops.com do it is not going to meet your need.

Damn tonton what part Of I was planning on getting my Columbus from you did you not understand... you certainly have lost my business now..

first off B crosby does not offer columbus hops so you are outright lying about the numbers you are coming up with.. and not sure your location but shipping for 3 lbs (random since they do not carry columbus) was 7.41 for 3 LBS. again a blatant lie..

Lying=poor sales tactic..

Secondly having ordered through nikobrew and putting in the hops total cost with shipping was 37.50 Again you lie or just can not read..

business tip.. when trying to make a sale its best not to talk condescendingly to your potential customers and even better Idea to not lie and make stuff up...

Good luck with the business...

Sorry to lose your bis, but I just ran the numbers on niko again, and I came up with $42.50. You must get free shipping. Good for you. (I won't call you a blatant liar).

B Crosby does have Columbus, however I must apologize because they are only available through a commercial account. My bad. Heck, he also sells Sorachi Ace, but I can't get them through him commercially. So here I am plugging a competitor. I must be crazy.

My flat rate box for 2 to 6 ponds costs me $10.70 to ship...period. I do not know of any flat rate box that ships for $7, but I will do my damndest to find it, and when I do I'll drop my shipping cost. Promise. I'll be sure to let everyone here know about it too, so you can say "told you so". (yeah that was a bit condesending, but I was the guy called a liar and my feelings are hurt )

Nonetheless, as I stated in earlier posts, this is a new business for us and I wanted to get feedback from the homebrew community. However, it seems to constantly turn into a bitch session. So to make it easier, I will no longer post anything related to the store (except the $7 shipping box if I can find it, so you can feel better). That means no updates on sales, special offers, nothing. If you have a question, go to the website and email us through there.

I do appreciate those people here at tastybrew that helped us out in the beginning, and I thank you.

See ya.

Please keep posting your specials. You're also a regular poster here, so by the rules, you're allowed to do a little business. Remember, you can make some of the people happy some the time, but you can never make all of the people happy all the time.

I think I'll just keep it simple and send email notices of specials and sales to people that started an account on the website. I'll also make sure to add a link in the emails to unsubscribe. That way if someone doesn't care to do business with me anymore, they can opt out of the notifications.

tonton, I hate to see this happen. One apple shouldn't spoil the whole batch. You have a good business going and we all like to have options available realizing that one site isn't going to have the best prices on each variety, and we all look hard at shipping so it's the total cost on the order that is important. For the rest of us, please stick around and let us know about your specials and whatever you have going on, it can only help everybody.

With that said, it's my opinion that you should ignore negative feedback on those specials. You are in business to make money and if a few people don't want to pay the prices, they have the right to go elsewhere.

Here's the thing, if I was to add up a few pounds of hops in your site store in preparation of an order and thought your shipping was too high, knowing that you ship flat rate, I'd send you an email to see if you could use a different box, method, etc. Sometimes it's hard to make every combination add up perfectly.

How many pounds can you safely fit in the largest flat rate box?

Medium box 6 pounds, Large box 10 and small box 1.

Tonton, there's no way 10# (vacuumed packed) will fit in the large box, unless the USPS has added a bigger one. If you don't vacuum pack, they might get squeezed in.

Oops, I was looking at the medium box. So 10# shipped for $14.50?

I just double checked again, and in a large flate rate box I can fit 10 pounds. I know in a medium box I can fit 6 pounds and we all know the small flate rate box can only fit 1 pound.

+1 to B4B - I hope you decide to keep us updated here. I only brew about 10 batches a year and usually only buy hops once a year, so this was a great way for me to keep up with your business, prices, specials, etc. I think there are probably more people like me out here, they just don't post as often.

tonton, +1. I'm sorry I haven't been able to purchase hops from you yet, but I expect to use you as my primary source in the future. I only do maybe 10-12 batches a year, so that cuts down on my usage, but I think you've got a great niche business.

Thanks for the support. I will look into more shipping options, but like brewboy BB said, it may be better for some of you looking to buy large quantities to email us with what you want and we will look into different shipping options to help cut costs. For now the shipping calculator on the site does it automatically, and I have a hard time tweaking the individual package sizes for the calculator to work perfectly. I'll keep at it though...

Also, if you email us we can possibly break some packages down to say 4 oz. incrememts and send you a quote. As long as the total quantity ends up in even 1 lb. increments.

example: 4 oz cascade, 4 oz centennial, 4oz chinook, 4 oz columbus = 1 lb. This would be a nice ale/IPA combo pack. Each would be individually packaged and I can fit them into one small flat rate box (4.85 shipping).

Combo pack would be great. I don't brew enough to by lb of individual varities but I sure could use a lb split up among a few varieties.

That is a excellent Idea Tonton that would also be a great way to pick up a few varieties with out getting a lb of each...

Oly- That's cool. Just take a look at the website to see what's in stock (hop shop tab) and send us an email of what you want. We'll email you back with a quote.

If I get some more interest in this, I'll just make each variety of in stock hops have an option for 4 oz packaging. If that's what homebrewers really want, then I'll make the changes to the site and our inventory.

I like the idea of making up variety packs like that. If you can swing it I'm sure others would be interested as well.

Ok, here's the scoop. My godaddy website manager will let me add an option for 4oz packages, but it still calculates the shipping on the original 1 lb. Basically it sees each item as a pound, not in ounces. I have another way to do it, but I'll have to build an entire new page or two to do it.

Stinkin' godaddy

Ok everyone. I think I figured out a way to make everyone just a little bit happier. We have just added a combo pack option on the website. You can pick up to four varieties of hops (4 ounces of each eaqualling 1 lb) of any of the in stock hops for $17.25 plus shipping. That would work out to $1.08/ounce. Even after shipping (if you purchase 1lb) thats only $1.38/ounce.

tonton - that's awesome. Thanks! I'll definitely use you the next time I order hops!

Cool

That's awsome tonton, I love the "variety pack" idea and at $1.38 an ounce it's still cheaper than I can buy hops from my LHBS.

beer4blood- Thanks for the support!

This is really working out. Within a few hours of putting up the combo pack, we've gotten a couple of sales.

To those that have purchased... Please leave feedback here on the forum so other homebrewers can evaluate us prior to buyig from us. I'm confident that your experiences will make others realize that we're here not to make a quick buck, but to pass on the savings to the entire homebrew community. We as homebrewers should not have to pay $3.00/ ounce if the real cost is half that.