Hops Bulk Buy: Problem

[warrenlw63]

1. Whatever goes upon bulk buys is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon (HBS) grain or hops, or has kegs, is a friend.
3. No brewer shall wear clothes.
4. No brewer shall sleep in a bed.
5. No brewer shall drink alcohol (weeell that one's a little self-contradictory).
6. No brewer shall kill any other brewers.
7. All brewers are created equal unless you do BIAB.

Warren -

 

[white.grant]

Room 101 is full of VB

 

[boingk]

7. All brewers are created equal unless you do BIAB.

Good ol' BIAB...I knew I was 'special'!

 

[JasonY]

The bulk buy scene has certainly changed over the years ...

 

[SJW]

Good on Hopco I say. Evertime theres a bulk buy, thats another kick in the balls for some retailer. Why not just pay the couple of cent's extra per kg and support your local HBS. We dont go and get s/s sockets welded into our kegs from wholesalers online or elements pull in our HLT's. That seems to be the time when we need our local or when we need brewing advice.
Support your local HBS

Steve

 

[dpadden]

Good on Hopco I say. Evertime theres a bulk buy, thats another kick in the balls for some retailer. Why not just pay the couple of cent's extra per kg and support your local HBS. We dont go and get s/s sockets welded into our kegs from wholesalers online or elements pull in our HLT's. That seems to be the time when we need our local or when we need brewing advice.
Support your local HBS

Steve

What he said

 

[brettprevans]

SJW - so you buy you commercial beer by the single bottle and pay single bottle prices as opposed to a 6pack or slab price? no bulk buy of meat or other produce (like grain)?

Im all for supporting LHB but im also not going to throw money away just for the hell of it. I dont have a clue about bulk buy hop prices but im sure its more than a few cents (please correct me if im wrong). Grain its more than a few cents.

In case im misinterpreting, do you have a problem if its a bulk buy if its through a LHBS or site supporter or only if its through a big retailer/supplier?

 

[blackbock]

I can understand why both parties would be annoyed about the 'bulk buy' situation, realistically though what amount of savings are we talking about here??? At the end of the day you're not going to save that much on say a 5kg purchase (unless you're comparing to the 12g prepacks at the HBS

Personally I could not be bothered, for the amount of hops I use I'd rather buy in small quantities from a reputable retailer and know that they are fresh, and that I am supporting another small business.

Most people who try to screw down prices to the last cent are very sad lonely people who have way too much time on their hands...

 

[Batz]

SJW - so you buy you commercial beer by the single bottle and pay single bottle prices as opposed to a 6pack or slab price? no bulk buy of meat or other produce (like grain)?

Im all for supporting LHB but im also not going to throw money away just for the hell of it. I dont have a clue about bulk buy hop prices but im sure its more than a few cents (please correct me if im wrong). Grain its more than a few cents.

In case im misinterpreting, do you have a problem if its a bulk buy if its through a LHBS or site supporter or only if its through a big retailer/supplier?

What he said

At the end of the day you're not going to save that much on say a 5kg purchase

B.S.

Batz

 

[Adamt]

(Real) homebrewing is evolving. This happens to everything that gains popularity. It's popular enough that we have businesses now that deal with the wholesalers, keeping a big variety of stock for customers to purchase in non-wholesale quantities. No more organising bulk buys, no more deciding what ingredients you need over the next x months, no more organising x people to pay you, no more sorting through orders, no more splitting up hops/grain, no more organising delivery/pickup of orders. We just pay a little extra now.

Is it worth it? For most people, yes:

Those new to mash brewing (from a recent poll there's quite a portion) don't want to buy a 25kg bag of malt straight up, and likely don't have a mill anyway. Those who don't go through a lot of beer (like me) and/or like variety don't need a kg of hops. Those who have little space may not be able to keep stocks of malt and/or a mill. There are those who like the convenience of being able to get what they want from one place.

The inability to purchase direct from the wholesaler now is unfortunate, but that's business; it's not illegal. I just think that the hurt in the hip pocket (let's face it, are ingredients really that expensive?) is miniscule in comparison to the variety and access to ingredients we have now.

 

[AndrewQLD]

Most people who try to screw down prices to the last cent are very sad lonely people who have way too much time on their hands...

Wow :huh: that must make me one of the loneliest people in the world, bit of a harsh comment I think Blackbock. I must remember next time I buy something not to shop around for the best price, I should perhaps just pay whatever Joe blow says I should?

Andrew

 

[blackbock]

Wow :huh: that must make me one of the loneliest people in the world, bit of a harsh comment I think Blackbock. I must remember next time I buy something not to shop around for the best price, I should perhaps just pay whatever Joe blow says I should?

Andrew

We all do it sometimes, Andrew, even yours truly.



Batz, if you want to buy 5kg of hops and can find a wholesaler to sell it to you cheaply, good luck to you.

PS I'm looking to start a bulk buy of wheat beer, would you be interested

 

[MarkBastard]

Nah I don't blame the seller, I mean the retailers that have 'threatened' the wholesaler. I thought that would be anti competitive or something?

Really stupid practise either way. Bulk buy isn't for everyone because not everyone wants to buy 5kg of hops at a time. These places that sell packaged hops in small quantities with great variety available offer a great service without having to worry about being 'cut out'.

 

[~MikE]

Nah I don't blame the seller, I mean the retailers that have 'threatened' the wholesaler. I thought that would be anti competitive or something?

Really stupid practise either way. Bulk buy isn't for everyone because not everyone wants to buy 5kg of hops at a time. These places that sell packaged hops in small quantities with great variety available offer a great service without having to worry about being 'cut out'.

yeah there's only like 1-2 types of hops i'd buy in bulk, and i'm not even close to being through experimenting with other hops varieties. the only thing this has done for me is breed contempt for, gee, hmm, some big hombrew retailer... one that makes a killing and has money to spare to throw at forums which it can watch like a hawk for bulk buys etc... bah, it'll come to me later...

 

[Hutch]

some big hombrew retailer... one that makes a killing and has money to spare to throw at forums which it can watch like a hawk for bulk buys etc... bah, it'll come to me later...

FFS, what's the deal with pussy-footing around this?
Why not spell out who's responsible here, and let us all in on the big secret.
I've been over the old threads, and there are no retailers singled-out, just a lot of "Oooo, big brother is watching".

Anyone care to dib-dob?
Is it a site sponsor perhaps??? h34r:

 

[Batz]

Good on Hopco I say. Evertime theres a bulk buy, thats another kick in the balls for some retailer.

Support your local HBS

Steve

Some retailers before they were retailers did bulk buys of hops,more than once and from guess who? Go on guess?

Hopco?

Correct !

That does not insinuate they have closed the market though,just an jnteresting fact.

Nice prices back in 2005 for private buyers too
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...536&hl=hops

Batz

 

[~MikE]

FFS, what's the deal with pussy-footing around this?
Why not spell out who's responsible here, and let us all in on the big secret.
I've been over the old threads, and there are no retailers singled-out, just a lot of "Oooo, big brother is watching".

Anyone care to dib-dob?
Is it a site sponsor perhaps??? h34r:

well, it's some retailer/s.

Fellow home brewers,

especially those who have been in touch with me by email re cascade hops. The hop supplier, Hopco, who had previously quoted prices for cascade hops supplied in 5kg lots, stopped replying to my emails, so I called him. The man said, "I saw you had a posting on Aussiehomebrewer so I decided not to supply you".

He then told me that he didn't have any cascade hops. He says that he gets grief from his retailers if he supplies people in bulk thru this website.
...

granted the sarcasm was unwarranted, but when a retailer is harassing a supplier - doesn't exactly fill me with warm fuzzies.

 

[troopa]

If its supplying to persons on AHB thats an issue
why doesnt someone here obtain an ABN, buy the wholesale lot and then supply to members here for cost price?

or would the same outcome with retailers acting out against a small portion of their supporters be the same?

 

[peas_and_corn]

The retailer/s involved last time (and AHB had NO sponsors the first time it happened BTW- hell, the controversy virtually created Craftbrewer, among other reasons) were not named, and the retailer/s involved this time will not be found either.

 

[MarkBastard]

I've only been here a little while but I've seen two hop related things that are fishy and paint a bad picture.

1 - Hop wholesaler makes a thread with great priced hops, then a week later the hops are double the price and it's all sort of not obvious and I guess they were hoping no one would notice.
2 - This bulk buy, which is much more obvious.

Okay I think a name and shame is in order. This practise is wrong and IMHO goes against the community nature of an online forum. Is there anything that can be done to stop this?

As said above I'm not interested in a bulk buy, I'd much rather buy in 90g quantities for the foreseeable future, but this practise has still left a bad taste in my mouth...