VIP membership & other deplorable practices...

The air at gas stations concept applies because it takes something that folks said would never happen and shows that it can indeed happen (ie, they'll never charge a VIP to buy a sixer of SNPA. Never say never....)

Not everyone can get every beer. I get that. That's cool, I have no problem with it. I am just concerned that ths VIP thing is a slippery slope, albeit it a long one, to the days where you need to pay a membership fee just to shop at a store. This is not an unheard of thing and I would hate to see it happen with beer. So while I understand the VIP concept, it's just not my cup of tea.

 

What would the shops do with all the everyday shelf beers members didn't buy?

 

This is the AAA membership equivalent.

 

I don't know. What do bottle shops do with all the everyday shelf beers customers don't buy in your or my local bottle shop these days? Give it back? Discount it? Target practice? I have no idea. That's irrelevant as, in this scenario, they already would have collected their membership fee.

 

OH NOES! Your post-apocalyptic future is here! I mean, what about Sam's club or Costco?!?

 

I never said anything about a post-apocalyptic future, I was just commenting on something I'd rather not see happen.

I am unfamiliar with Sam's club and Costco. Is there a membership fee to shop there? Those are the buy in bulk type stores, no? Perhaps the membership fees have a place in such environments, I don't know. Nevertheless, my concern still lies with regular bottle shops, not places where you buy in bulk, having membership fees. I don't think it's a completely out of the question possibility right now.

 

I'm sure I will get killed for this comment, but there is one way to solve all these problems with limited releases... have the breweries raise prices to the point that supply and demand are more in line. Is this gouging? No. I don't see a hurricane coming and rare beer as a necessity that is going to get people through it. The brewery's products are worth what the market will bear. Who are we to determine what a "fair" margin is? I'd rather the brewery get the extra money that they can reinvest into making great beers instead of someone else profiting from them (hoarders, etc). I may complain that KBS is now $10/bottle, but at least I could likely get a bottle or two each year to enjoy without jumping through all sorts of hoops, following trucks, joining clubs, knowing the beer guy at the bottle shop, etc. That's probably less than I'd spend trading for it if I didn't get a bottle. And if I don't think it's worth $10, I buy something else. If enough people do that, the price comes down. Just like every other product sold in a capitalist society.

 

Huh? I am asking if you ask membership based business for services that you don't subscribe to and how that works out for you. You expect to be able to take part/buy whatever without being in any membership, when in the real world there are plenty of member only things....why so different in the beer release world?

 

This explains so much

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Memberships have to be worth something. No one is going to pay just to get into a store unless it offers a significant advantage over other retailers.
So maybe if a bottle shop had nothing but rare beers, or offered big discounts, otherwise why would I pay?
The VIP club is a happy medium, you can pay to reserve the special beers, or whatever the hell they want to offer for VIP membership.

 

What does it explain exactly? I only know of those stores by what people on these boards talk about. From what I gather you buy stuff in bulk at them. I think we have a Sam's Club or two somewhere in RI, but I don't shop there. I have never seen a Costco in RI.

So again, what does my response explain exactly? Do you know what Job Lot is? That's where I buy a number of food items. I don't get what kind of information could be inferred from such a comment.

 

thanks for the info. very interesting

 

He was saying you're unfamiliar with stores that charge for a membership to simply walk in the door. As in, "Oh, no wonder he finds a VIP membership strange and wrong, he's not used to having stores that charge for memberships around."

 

At Costco/Sam's/BJ's you pay a membership fee and get access to items priced more cheaply than they are at a grocery store or even walmart for things ranging from food to household goods to electronics to jewelry to vacation packages.

The VIP membership is exactly like that since they are offering members a 10% discount.

 

V.V.I.P. Club?

 

Yes, I ask for things that I don't pay for all the time.

No. I said if I walk into a bottle shop I should be able to buy whatever they have for sale. That shop is free to have a "members only" shelf, and I am free to tell them to fuck off and take my business elsewhere because I think that's a shitty business practice.

 

Isn't that a bit different though? Those stores purchase and then sell the products in bulk, which the liquor store may not/can not do.

 

jivex and Curt hit it on the head. All I was saying is that not knowing major nation-wide stores that do this sort of thing explains you not having experienced it in other places besides beer stores.

 

Isn't that a store side decision though? As a customer, you are still charged a fee and still get a discount, so isn't it the same from the consumer side?

 

A better analogy to what we're talking about here would probably be concert tickets. Many artists have a fan club that requires a small membership fee that (among other things) gives fan club members first crack at the best seats to the show. That's no different from bottle shop VIP programs.