Kiss my BUTT Northerner

[rickcharles606]

I find it interesting Northerner gave their distribution to another company after putting so much time and money into setting it up. I am wondering if selling snus in the USA is harder to do than previously thought. I am thinking that the EU ban was a lifeline for Northerner.

Starting up a distribution (any product) is a very cost prohibitive endeavour, that being said...there were several reasons that Northerner gave up the US distribution. One of the main reasons is that these brands deserve to be distributed by the very best distribution house in US, especially when dealing with a "new style" of tobacco product that has legislative and regulatory issues with the FDA and needs a strong distributor that knows the turbulent waters of the US tobacco market.

In my eyes this can free Northerner up to be a better online retailer and get back to where they once were, and I hope that happens. Frank poured his heart and soul into Northerner and bringing snus to people around the world, and despite their recent issues (many it seems), they have done a LOT for snus in the US. Love or hate them, they've helped educate a lot of people in the US about snus and that will ultimately be part of what get's snus into each and every tobacco shop and convenience store. They gave me a platform to preach the good word of snus to a ton of retailers, which has opened up many doors in this market for the Oden's, Thunder and Jak's brands.

[GoVegan]

I find it interesting Northerner gave their distribution to another company after putting so much time and money into setting it up. I am wondering if selling snus in the USA is harder to do than previously thought. I am thinking that the EU ban was a lifeline for Northerner.

[Ephemeris]

Interesting article from the past!

http://www.snuscentral.org/latest-sn...-fda-pact.html

Quote from Larry in the article:

Is Northerner building a snus empire or did they miscalculate and build a house of cards in a wind tunnel instead? Was this move ill-timed...either 2 years too late or 2 years too early?

The article was written two years ago last month, and we're all still scratching our heads.

I don't know what's going on with Northerner, but during Sandy we lost our main warehouse in Charleston, SC. Completely decimated. Within a week operations were up and running in a new plant and customers at the most had a 3-4 day lag between purchase date and ship date. I think blaming Sandy two weeks ago may have been a believable scenario, but it's since becoming a catch-all for many companies with apathetic customer service.

[SnusoMatic]

Manage your business or it will manage itself until you are able again.

[GoVegan]

Interesting article from the past!

http://www.snuscentral.org/latest-sn...-fda-pact.html

[kaaayd]

I bought my first snus at Northerner and they seemed to be decent. My order always got here in about 2-3 days. Now I've been waiting about 2 weeks for my order and sent 2 emails... haven't gotten a reply yet. I see a bunch of people on Facebook are having the same problems (some as long as 6 weeks ago).

What really irks me about this whole thing is that they are still accepting orders and charging people, when they don't seem to be shipping. Not only did my snus run out, I made a huge order from another site (due to shipping fees). This is not money I wanted to spend, and could have easily been avoided... All they had to do is stop orders until they got their sh*t straight.

I don't think I will bother with them again. Blaming Sandy is no excuse not to communicate with your customers. I live in NJ and we were heavily affected by the storm... I still go to work and do my damn job. Do yours Northerner!

Sorry my first post is a rant... but I am annoyed. I would be A LOT more understanding if they just sent me an email with an ETA, and possibly an offer to get a refund or something. At this point I think it's a good idea to take my business elsewhere...

[chainsnuser]

As a long time customer you should be expecting all of the lack of communication and uncertainties.... Correct?

Largely correct. But the circumstances have changed dramatically since last year, due to the EU-anti-tobacco-nazis' attempt to push a prohibition.

Until 2010, an order where everything went wrong (snus-brand not in stock though advertised as instantly available, snow storm in Sweden, postal strike, unexpected customs inspection due to Northerner's unannounced change to an unusable mail-service ...) arrived after 6 days.

Nowadays, a normal order can take 6 weeks. Northerner's website is a mess, it's often unclear from where the snus is sent or which mail service is available.

It's a difference if you're doing business with a company that is able to deliver within a week and just does not want to share it's complete business model with everyone, or if you're doing business with a company that knows that the availability of some brands is uncertain, that heavy postal delays and customs-troubles can occur and practically ceases to talk at all with it's customers.

Cheers!

[jagmanss]

Yes, US-vendors normally state explicitly that their packages will take 4-6 weeks to Europe. Northerner should do the same.

Not everybody in Europe knows that the US Postal Service is nearly bankrupt and therefore has ceased air mail a few years ago. Everything from the US is literally "shipped" nowadays and often the ships even wait in the harbour for weeks till enough goods are accumulated so that the voyage pays off.

Long time customers know that the people at Northerner are reliable. Northerner also has never been overly communicative about their business practices. Again, long time customers know that and normally have no problem.
But in the current situation with a limited availability of brands, long shipping times and a high probability of customs trouble, Northerner would do well to communicate with us, no matter if they give more informations on their website or if they show up on this forum again.

I don't have an order pending. No, I simply do not order from them at the moment due to all the uncertainties and due to the lack of communication.
Cheers!

What! Wait! Shouldn't you as a long time customer know that Northerner has never been overly communicative and not have a problem ordering from them since you think they are so reliable... I mean you stated as such above, So why not order from them? What uncertainties ? As a long time customer you should be expecting all of the lack of communication and uncertainties.... Correct?

[Ephemeris]

In most situations, it's cheaper to send air mail than surface mail. Surface mail is usually reserved for really large packages, like 50 lbs or more. Example: I sent a giant box of magazines to Europe and the air mail rate was like 177.00. The surface delivery was about 70.00 cheaper. The difference is that the sea mail would have taken 4-8 weeks to get there while the air mail got there in a matter of days.

USPS changes their rates and services so often that it's hard to keep up with them. Every week it's something new. They did away with surface mail for about two weeks until the Feds made them bring it back. The reason? Family members stateside weren't allowed to send things like laptop computers and cell phones to overseas personnel via air mail because the lithium batteries were possible explosives, so the only route was via sea which was no longer available. So I guess one positive thing to come out of the never-ending war in the middle east was that we got our surface mail rates back, even though people tend to use them only as a last resort.

Meanwhile, UPS and Fed Ex thrive in a poor economy while the USPS is nearly bankrupt and everyone wonders why. :/

[chainsnuser]

That's interesting, lxskllr. I also don't follow USPS and have only heard some rumours. It's also some years ago since I last ordered something from the US. The delivery took around 3 weeks and was done by a mail service that I had never heard of before. Wikipedia is probably right.

Obviously other mail services still offer "sea-mail" and it looks like they are the only usable or affordable option for most vendors (and buyers). From what I've heard, normal shipments from the US take at least a week - and 6 weeks aren't unusual. You can also count in customs, who sometimes "sit" on a package for weeks, before the recipient is informed to pick it up at the customs office.

As I said, in the current situation Northerner should have every reason to give more informations to the customers.

Cheers!

[lxskllr]

Yes, US-vendors normally state explicitly that their packages will take 4-6 weeks to Europe. Northerner should do the same.

Not everybody in Europe knows that the US Postal Service is nearly bankrupt and therefore has ceased air mail a few years ago. Everything from the US is literally "shipped" nowadays and often the ships even wait in the harbour for weeks till enough goods are accumulated so that the voyage pays off.

Not saying you're wrong, cause I don't follow the USPS. Every time I go, I have to ask the best way to ship, but Wikipedia gives me this...

On May 14, 2007, the USPS canceled all outgoing international surface mail (sometimes known as "sea mail") from the United States, citing increased costs and reduced demand due to competition from airmail services such as FedEx and UPS.[97] The decision has been criticized by the Peace Corps and military personnel overseas, as well as independent booksellers and other small businesses who rely on international deliveries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...Postal_Service

[chainsnuser]

Yes, US-vendors normally state explicitly that their packages will take 4-6 weeks to Europe. Northerner should do the same.

Not everybody in Europe knows that the US Postal Service is nearly bankrupt and therefore has ceased air mail a few years ago. Everything from the US is literally "shipped" nowadays and often the ships even wait in the harbour for weeks till enough goods are accumulated so that the voyage pays off.

Long time customers know that the people at Northerner are reliable. Northerner also has never been overly communicative about their business practices. Again, long time customers know that and normally have no problem.

But in the current situation with a limited availability of brands, long shipping times and a high probability of customs trouble, Northerner would do well to communicate with us, no matter if they give more informations on their website or if they show up on this forum again.

I don't have an order pending. No, I simply do not order from them at the moment due to all the uncertainties and due to the lack of communication.

Cheers!

[nosscire]

In UK

Never had any problems before with Northerner when they sent from their European warehouse. Always delivery within a week, except that one time it got grabbed for by customs. Then it took 2 days extra. My last order however...

Ordered 30 cans. First of all the order was split up. Got a message the very next day saying that 10 (ten) cans had been shipped - with no explanation of where my other 20 cans were. Had to contact support about that. They still didn't give much of an answer, no why, but they did tell me they would ship the rest "soon".
A week later I get two new mails saying that the remaining 20 has been shipped in two packages of 10.

This order was placed Oct 22, shipments were made oct 23, 31 and nov 1. I have still not recieved any of these packages, even though they claim a 7-10 days shipping time.
When I sent in another ticket they said there OFTEN are delays, which means it instead takes 4-6 weeks! This supposedly is because of "delays out of their control with the postal services" (like what?) and customs (never delayed me more then a couple of days).

To be honest, it's not so much the delays that piss me off by themselves, but that they did not mention anything about them until I ask. If it's NORMAL with delays (and with 3/3 packages being delayed for me, that seems to be a correct assessment) then one would have thought they could have mentioned it on the confirmation page.


Also have a friend who is in the exact same position as me, except that she ordered one week before me, thus has waited even longer.

[chanilla]

i feel sorry for you. shipping from northerner to me is two days and no customs. it took 28 days for me to get 6 out of 7 cans ordered.

Tell me about it... at this point I have pretty much accepted that I will not get my order from Northerner... I am assuming they are either lying or shipped the snus with an incredibly poor mail service that resulted with my snus getting snagged by customs. I have a small pinch of nasal snuff in my lip right now, THANKS NORTHERNER.... no idea why they had to change their website and their shipping methods. In all likelyhood they had a team of monkeys design the website and set up the logistics, going by the idea "if 100 monkeys typed randomly on a typewriter, eventually they would reproduce the works of Shakespeare".... apparently, they are at the very early stages. F*ck Northerner and all it stands for, such BS.

[SnusoMatic]

Have been waiting 22 days since it "shipped", and 33 days since I ordered. Thinking maybe it got caught in customs (Germany), but then, wouldn't I have had a slip by now? Lol, Northerner.

i feel sorry for you. shipping from northerner to me is two days and no customs. it took 28 days for me to get 6 out of 7 cans ordered.