“Pay No More Than …”

One of the biggest growing complaints from users on our site is price gouging. They can’t understand why a beer goes for $4 for a 16-ounce pint in one state, and $7 for a 12-ounce pour of that same beer in another. Hell, neither can we! Unfortunately, there’s not much we consumers can do about this, except act with our wallets—or rather, not act with them. So we implore everyone reading this to stop buying overpriced beer. Much like porn, you’ll know it when you see it.

That said, we’re a couple of old-school Western Mass. hardcore punks who recall small record labels and bands dropping a “Pay no more than …” price warning on their LP covers to thwart stores, especially chains, from jacking up prices. Even if they did, you had the warning right there.

It wouldn’t help with draft-pricing issues, but we’d love to see small brewers apply this thinking to their bottled product. Drop a recommended retail price on the label. This could force some retailers to fall in line, and those who don’t will be putting the fate of their sales in the hands of consumers who could then decide if any additional mark-up is worth it or not.

Just an idea. In the meantime, raise a fist at blatant price-gouging, and keep your wallets on chains!

Respect Beer. ■