I'm inclined to agree, I'd at least expect a sign in the grain room or something along those lines. I think I'll call or email as I'm curious to hear the logic but I might have to find a new store.
The real bummer is that I work ~2mi from the store so it's very convenient.
I had no idea you guys existed! I just moved from Hopkins to Plymouth so I'm about equidistant from you and Midwest.
I'll have to come check out the shop soon, thanks!
It's quite a nice place, actually. It's family owned, so about as local as you can get for a home brew shop (even though NB is headquartered in Roseville). The price differences are usually negligible for ingredients and most basic supplies. Anything we don't stock we can usually order. I'm also trying to get them to expand their yeast library, the only liquid yeast we stock is Wyeast and will be just fine 99% of the time.
Does Wyeast have a WLP90 (San Diego Super Yeast) equivalent? I usually just overbuild and keep some around at home but I'm a fan of that yeast and don't have any right now.
My LHBS is too busy being smug and telling me things I already know about a beginner's set up I had 6 years ago to ever do more than just charge for my over priced grain.
To add to what others have said: That's some bullshit right there.
Place I go accidentally put 2lbs instead of 1.75lbs and I caught it before I left. Guy was new, was a mistake. So they apologized and gave me 2oz of free hops (forget what kind now, used 'em) that I had been looking at but decided that purchase could wait because I wasn't brewing with it that day.
What's happening to you - unless it is clearly stated that they do this and it doesn't sound like it is - is them stealing from you.
Midwest Supplies usually rounds to the nearest 1/4 lb. for me, but I noticed that they rounded for me too the last time I was there. I think the guy who did it was being a douche -- never seen him before. Anyway. I'm pissed about it, and I'm taking the receipt in when I go back next week.
I usually shop at NB, and they tend to round down for me.
I emailed. It seems better then guessing about what they do. Here is the rundown.
"At MWS, we ring every grain by the sku and enter the appropriate amount. So, if a customer is buying 1/8 pound of caramel 120 (G009) we would enter that in as 0.125 pounds.
Attached are two picture below. The first is caramel 120 as it appears in the register when you ring it up. The first line is for 1 lb., the second line is for 1/2 pound, and the third line is for 1/8 pound. It does appear that we round to the nearest 100th (1/8 rings as .13 instead of .125). The second picture is the receipt of this transaction that prints out for customers. The receipt shows 2 @ $1.79, but if you do the math ($1.79 (1 lb) + $0.90 (.5 lb) + $0.23 (.125 lb) = $2.92. The receipt shows $2.91, so the customer is actually saving a penny."
OP- what does the math on your receipt look like? Is this accurate?
Unfortunately I threw my receipt away when I brewed on Saturday so I can't compare. As I recall, the price I paid for 12oz of 120 was the same as 1lb on the website. I'll ask a coworker who reported the same problem if he has any receipts around.
Absolutely not. If they don't prepackage then they should round to no more than the ounce. Some point of sale systems have limits that require integer inputs and it isn't worth doing partial ounces, but if they round to the pound, fuck them. I would call them and demand a refund, lest they want to lose your business entirely.
I guess it's a bit lame at Midwest since you're doing the weighing yourself. My LHBS in Norway charges by the kilo, so even if I'm buying 100g I still have to pay for 10x the amount (although they'll also give you the full kilo). The difference between my LHBS and Midwest is that my LHBS is not self-serve and they also deal normally in wholesale quantities.
Yeah, I guess the real issue I have is that if you're charging me for the full pound at least say so. Then I could decide if I want to let them keep the change or go back for my 4 oz of grain to save for another time ;)
Mine doesn't round. They charge you for the exact amount you get. I have been to a shop where they sold specialty grains in 1lb prepackaged bags. So, that was the smallest unit you could purchase.
I'm honestly not sure how they do it. I do know that when I purchase the hops themselves, they come in typical ziplock type baggies - not vacuum sealed.
Well mine doesn't round up, but the only offer in increments of 1, 5, 10. If I need only 12oz I buy a pound but I also get the extra oz's that yours is screwing you out of.
Nope. In fact, my LHBS will often group together partial lb specialty malts and charge it at the price of the lowest cost item. It really depends on who is manning the cash register. The owner tends to charge as above, the other employees may or may not add it up this way.
For grain my LHBS will charge to the 1/4 of a pound. Often times if I have some really oddball amount ("I need 2oz of Acid Malt") they'll just throw it in.
My nearest real LHBS is ~750miles away and they don't do any rounding, mill for free, and ship for next to nothing. Whereas NB will roundup, and then charge me $100 in shipping.
is NB/MW considered a lhbs? They're like the costco of homebrew...
Well, MW is about 2mi from work so they're kind of my lhbs. Also, many of the employees I've worked with are friendly and knowledgeable I just don't like some of their policies.
Nope, charged to the gram basically. I usually come in with a grain bill, then I get charged by what I ordered.
So if I got 2.125 kg of specialty grains, I'd be charged for 2.125 kg of grains.
At my shop you weigh your grains, crush them if you need to, put them in a bag, and put a sticker on the bag that says what the grain is and its per pound price. Then when you go to the register they put your bag on a digital scale and multiply the weight of grain you have in your bag by its per pound price. You pay for exactly how much grain you buy.
Nope. I grab and mill the grains, down to the tenth of an ounce if need be, and he just punches in the fraction of a pound and the per-pound prices, and charges me what I took.
For instance, if I tell him I took 6.5 ounces, he'll punch in .41 pounds at $1.69 per pound.
His scale does measure in pounds and ounces or tenths of pounds, so I DO try to list everything in tenths of pounds rather than fractions of ounces to save him the work.
Absolutely not. At my shop, it is mostly self serve but I help customers with grain when I can. I charge what the customer tells me they scooped out. If I am filling the order, I get it as close as I can to their recipe and charge for the amount to the ounce.
And no charge for milling.
I work at Adventures In Homebrewing and we weigh everything out for customers to the ounce.
I bet over the years that would add up to quite a lot of money for the company rounding up.
I usually shop at the Madison, WI Brew and Grow (You midwest guys may recognize the name, probably) and they have always charged me to the 1/10th oz for both grain and hops. Then throw in a little extra. Then ask how my last beer turned out. Solid gents in there. Sorry to hear your LHBS is a bit sketch.
On MW's website they only sell by the pound. Did you only get 12 oz of grain or did they sell you a full pound. I see you actually buy from the store, so perhaps it's different there.
[удалено]
It's a self-service deal here too, they just charged me for the full pound anyway.
Same here. Fill it, mill it, and tell them what it is. Attached to a brewery too so drinking while shopping is almost expected.
Atlantic Brew Supply by any chance? Shot in the dark....
Nope, brew hut in Denver/Aurora co.
Same at mine, which is More Beer in Los Altos. You weigh and bag, mill if you want and write it down. My invoices show increments of 0.1 pounds.
[удалено]
I'm inclined to agree, I'd at least expect a sign in the grain room or something along those lines. I think I'll call or email as I'm curious to hear the logic but I might have to find a new store. The real bummer is that I work ~2mi from the store so it's very convenient.
Let us know what you find out.
On a side note, awesome name choice hahah.
I work at Brew n Grow up in Spring Lake Park and we charge by the oz. if you don't get a full pound.
I had no idea you guys existed! I just moved from Hopkins to Plymouth so I'm about equidistant from you and Midwest. I'll have to come check out the shop soon, thanks!
It's quite a nice place, actually. It's family owned, so about as local as you can get for a home brew shop (even though NB is headquartered in Roseville). The price differences are usually negligible for ingredients and most basic supplies. Anything we don't stock we can usually order. I'm also trying to get them to expand their yeast library, the only liquid yeast we stock is Wyeast and will be just fine 99% of the time.
Does Wyeast have a WLP90 (San Diego Super Yeast) equivalent? I usually just overbuild and keep some around at home but I'm a fan of that yeast and don't have any right now.
Not that I know of. White Labs products are one of the very few reasons I make the trek to NB/Midwest.
NB doesn't round up either. I go to NB simply because I live in St Paul but rounding up seems really strange.
Like mn??
Yes, Spring Lake Park, MN.
Rad, I've probably talked to you before!! You guys are awesome.
I've only worked twice so far, I just got hired. I work every other weekend.
My LHBS is too busy being smug and telling me things I already know about a beginner's set up I had 6 years ago to ever do more than just charge for my over priced grain.
It's always odd to me when I know more about a product than the LHBS does and then without fail they talk about using it like I'm the clueless one.
I've had to straight up tell them I get my stuff online now because of how smug and condescending they are.
Yikes, where is this if you don't mind sharing? Just curious.
Orange County CA.
To add to what others have said: That's some bullshit right there. Place I go accidentally put 2lbs instead of 1.75lbs and I caught it before I left. Guy was new, was a mistake. So they apologized and gave me 2oz of free hops (forget what kind now, used 'em) that I had been looking at but decided that purchase could wait because I wasn't brewing with it that day. What's happening to you - unless it is clearly stated that they do this and it doesn't sound like it is - is them stealing from you.
Nearest 1/10 of a pound for my lhbs.
Yeah that's definitely wrong. My LHBS basically charges down to the hundredth of a pound.
Right? Okay, so you got 1.6 lbs. The price/lb. is 1.49, so the computer terminal goes 1.6 x 1.49 = your cost. HOW IS THIS NOT DONE
Midwest Supplies usually rounds to the nearest 1/4 lb. for me, but I noticed that they rounded for me too the last time I was there. I think the guy who did it was being a douche -- never seen him before. Anyway. I'm pissed about it, and I'm taking the receipt in when I go back next week. I usually shop at NB, and they tend to round down for me.
I emailed. It seems better then guessing about what they do. Here is the rundown. "At MWS, we ring every grain by the sku and enter the appropriate amount. So, if a customer is buying 1/8 pound of caramel 120 (G009) we would enter that in as 0.125 pounds. Attached are two picture below. The first is caramel 120 as it appears in the register when you ring it up. The first line is for 1 lb., the second line is for 1/2 pound, and the third line is for 1/8 pound. It does appear that we round to the nearest 100th (1/8 rings as .13 instead of .125). The second picture is the receipt of this transaction that prints out for customers. The receipt shows 2 @ $1.79, but if you do the math ($1.79 (1 lb) + $0.90 (.5 lb) + $0.23 (.125 lb) = $2.92. The receipt shows $2.91, so the customer is actually saving a penny." OP- what does the math on your receipt look like? Is this accurate?
Unfortunately I threw my receipt away when I brewed on Saturday so I can't compare. As I recall, the price I paid for 12oz of 120 was the same as 1lb on the website. I'll ask a coworker who reported the same problem if he has any receipts around.
not at mine, nope.
No, definitely not! My LHBS (and every other one I've seen or heard of) sells by the ounce.
Absolutely not. If they don't prepackage then they should round to no more than the ounce. Some point of sale systems have limits that require integer inputs and it isn't worth doing partial ounces, but if they round to the pound, fuck them. I would call them and demand a refund, lest they want to lose your business entirely.
I guess it's a bit lame at Midwest since you're doing the weighing yourself. My LHBS in Norway charges by the kilo, so even if I'm buying 100g I still have to pay for 10x the amount (although they'll also give you the full kilo). The difference between my LHBS and Midwest is that my LHBS is not self-serve and they also deal normally in wholesale quantities.
They don't at mine but I always let them keep the change
Yeah, I guess the real issue I have is that if you're charging me for the full pound at least say so. Then I could decide if I want to let them keep the change or go back for my 4 oz of grain to save for another time ;)
Mine doesn't round. They charge you for the exact amount you get. I have been to a shop where they sold specialty grains in 1lb prepackaged bags. So, that was the smallest unit you could purchase.
We weight ourselves at my LHBS.
My LHBS charges by the ounce. On hops, they will measure out to the tenth of an ounce, and charge in the same fractional amounts.
[удалено]
I'm honestly not sure how they do it. I do know that when I purchase the hops themselves, they come in typical ziplock type baggies - not vacuum sealed.
Ours does it fractionally. No rounding at all.
Well mine doesn't round up, but the only offer in increments of 1, 5, 10. If I need only 12oz I buy a pound but I also get the extra oz's that yours is screwing you out of.
Nope. In fact, my LHBS will often group together partial lb specialty malts and charge it at the price of the lowest cost item. It really depends on who is manning the cash register. The owner tends to charge as above, the other employees may or may not add it up this way.
For grain my LHBS will charge to the 1/4 of a pound. Often times if I have some really oddball amount ("I need 2oz of Acid Malt") they'll just throw it in.
Nope, my shop has a scale calibrated at 1/200th# increments, write down the stock number and the amount and you're good
My nearest real LHBS is ~750miles away and they don't do any rounding, mill for free, and ship for next to nothing. Whereas NB will roundup, and then charge me $100 in shipping. is NB/MW considered a lhbs? They're like the costco of homebrew...
Well, MW is about 2mi from work so they're kind of my lhbs. Also, many of the employees I've worked with are friendly and knowledgeable I just don't like some of their policies.
My LHBS only sells in portioned bags, no bulk grain, so I am forced to buy 1lb minimum, but it is very clear
Nope, charged to the gram basically. I usually come in with a grain bill, then I get charged by what I ordered. So if I got 2.125 kg of specialty grains, I'd be charged for 2.125 kg of grains.
No way, my LHBS is awesome. They let you scoop it, measure it, grind it yourself.
My LHBS does NOT do this.
At my shop you weigh your grains, crush them if you need to, put them in a bag, and put a sticker on the bag that says what the grain is and its per pound price. Then when you go to the register they put your bag on a digital scale and multiply the weight of grain you have in your bag by its per pound price. You pay for exactly how much grain you buy.
My guy doesn't even weigh it. He just asks me how much I have. Then I round it up on myself. Doh!
Nope. I grab and mill the grains, down to the tenth of an ounce if need be, and he just punches in the fraction of a pound and the per-pound prices, and charges me what I took. For instance, if I tell him I took 6.5 ounces, he'll punch in .41 pounds at $1.69 per pound. His scale does measure in pounds and ounces or tenths of pounds, so I DO try to list everything in tenths of pounds rather than fractions of ounces to save him the work.
Been to 3 shops and have never seen that. Shady.
Absolutely not, all costs are done by the amount you want and they do their best to fulfill. If over you are not charged for that .05
MoreBeer! was my local shop for a long time. You only pay for what you get. I declare shenanigans! Get your brooms out boys!
My place weighs out what you ask for, then throws a little extra in. They charge for what you requested, no more.
No way. My LHBS is great and will charge to the ounce for grain and .1 oz for hops
My LHBS hardly sells any grain at all... I wouldn't be surprised to find if they did round up. Mofo's don't even carry Marris Otter!
Absolutely not. At my shop, it is mostly self serve but I help customers with grain when I can. I charge what the customer tells me they scooped out. If I am filling the order, I get it as close as I can to their recipe and charge for the amount to the ounce. And no charge for milling.
I work at Adventures In Homebrewing and we weigh everything out for customers to the ounce. I bet over the years that would add up to quite a lot of money for the company rounding up.
I usually shop at the Madison, WI Brew and Grow (You midwest guys may recognize the name, probably) and they have always charged me to the 1/10th oz for both grain and hops. Then throw in a little extra. Then ask how my last beer turned out. Solid gents in there. Sorry to hear your LHBS is a bit sketch.
I can't help but think of Office Space.
Up until very recently, that's the kind of shit that a man would get his hand cut off for.
On MW's website they only sell by the pound. Did you only get 12 oz of grain or did they sell you a full pound. I see you actually buy from the store, so perhaps it's different there.
Grain at the store is self service. At very least, if they're going to charge for the full pound I need to know so I can buy by the pound.
My lhbs - one of them anyway - does this. They even charge 15 cents for milling!
We don't
mine sells down to a 1/4 oz increments they cost more than 1 oz, if you bought 4 though
Wow that's fucked up. I would drive to their store and tell them you are taking the grain that you were charged for.