news and updates -----------------------------------------------------------------

Hello fellow Homebrewers and Winemakers,

Sorry it has been a while since Midwest has sent a newsletter, the last 5 months have been very busy and exciting for us. We moved in to our new location on July 8th and the move was much harder than we anticipated. We sent out 25,000 of our new catalogs in early August just in time for winemaking season. We were extremely busy from September 1st through early November and we have finally had some time to get settled in to our new location. After much fine tuning we are in the best position we have ever been in to ship your orders in a timely manner. Please keep in mind that we get an annual holiday rush from Thanksgiving to around December 20th. We already have several "Packing Parties" planned where we stay late after work, order some pizzas, drink some homebrews, and pack enough orders to keep up with the demand.

As we go in to the hectic holiday season, remember that smiles and complements are contagious. As you interact with friends, family, co-workers and neighbors, try and go out of your way to spread a little holiday cheer. Share a homebrew or bottle of wine with someone close and give a toast to good food, good friends, good health, and living in America.

Cheers, The crew at Midwest

Let’s get to the good stuff. Here are our latest promotions:

specials -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Corker and Corks Promo: For a limited time receive a bag of 100 corks with the purchase of a Portuguese or Italian floor corker. These premium quality winery grade corks are non-chamfered and have agglomerated cork center with natural cork disc ends. Size #9 x 1/2". A $22.95 value. These quality corks are the perfect compliment to these quality corkers.

  Click here to order a floor corker

• Cornelius Ball Lock Keg Sale: Midwest has landed a semi trailer load of used Cornelius ball lock kegs. These kegs are some of the best looking kegs we have ever sold. They have been thoroughly cleaned with a caustic solution. This offer is good through February 28th 2006.

  sale price*: 1 keg -$25.00 2 keg pack-$48.00 3 keg pack-$69.00 4 keg pack-88.00 (reg. $26.95 ea)

  Click here to order kegs.

  *Does not include shipping charges. Remember, we charge you what FedEx charges us. We don’t make money on shipping.

Shipping News ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Fedex vs. UPS :

It has been 13 months since we switched from UPS to FedEx and we are still happy with our decision. FedEx delivers Tuesday through Saturday vs. Mon.-Fri. with UPS. Since most deliveries are to residential addresses and most cutomers brew on the weekend, we felt that Saturday delivery was more valuable to you. Based on damage claims and the feedback we get from our customers, the condition of our boxes and their contents arrive in better condition with Fedex. Our current on-time delivery (once they get the package) with FedEx is 98.2%.

The only problem we have had with FedEx is delivery times to remote locations. In some cases, customers who live in the mountains and other isolated addresses have had longer than normal shipping times. We have decided to add UPS as a shipping option on our on-line check out form. We will be getting a daily pick up from UPS. We feel UPS is better equipped to deliver to remote addresses than FedEx. Midwest still highly recommends FedEx as our preferred shipping company. However, we will gladly ship your order via UPS if you choose so.

Online News ---------------------------------------------------------------------

If you are a first time visitor to www.midwestsupplies.com your browser will default to a HTML version of our site. HTML websites are user friendly for people on a dial up connection. HTML webpages load faster and allow for faster navigation. In the upper left hand corner of our website you have the option of switching over to a JAVA version of our website. This version of our site is better suited for customers who have a high speed internet connection. This version of our website allows the user to access any page of our website with one click. Try each version of our website to see which web language (HTML vs. JAVA) is best for you. Your browser will remember which version you choose each time you come back.

www.brew-winemaking.com :

• Personal Account: After creating your own account, you won’t need to fill your information each time you order.
• Order History: View previous orders.
• Video clips and other new fancy features being added soon.

Catalog and Website

Customer Survey

Please type in an X to indicate your answer.

1. What is your internet connection?

   High speed ( ) Dial up ( )

2. How fast do midwestsupplies.com web pages load on your computer?

   Fast ( ) Average ( ) Slow ( )

3. Is webpage down load time important to you when decide where shop on on-line.

   Yes ( ) No ( )

4. Since Midwest overhauled our website in September, have you noticed an increase in web page download time?

   Yes ( ) No ( )

5. Overall, how would you rate www.midwestsupplies.com?

   Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

6. How would you rate Midwest’s shopping basket program on our website?

   Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

7. How would you rate Midwest’s ease of site navigation on www.midwestsupplies.com?

   Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

8. How would you rate Midwest’s product selection?

   Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

9. How would you rate Midwest’s prices?

   Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

10. How important is price when deciding where you buy your supplies from?

    Very Important ( ) Important ( ) Doesn’t Matter ( )

11. How would you rate Midwest’s E-mail communication?

    Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

12. How would you rate Midwest’s phone customer service?

    Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

13. How would you rate Midwest’s shipping speed?

    Excellent ( ) Average ( ) Poor ( )

14. How important is shipping speed when deciding where you buy your supplies from?

    Very Important ( ) Important ( ) Doesn’t Matter ( )

We are constantly making changes at Midwest based on customer feedback. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to better serve your homebrewing and winemaking needs. Please, tell us more………

End of Survey and the newsletter. Cheers.

New Beer and Winemaking Forum!