VIP membership & other deplorable practices...

To go back to the OP, The place originally mentioned in this does not make you have a VIP membership to have any of their draft beers. I went there yesterday and had no issue ordering a mango magnifico 10 oz draft. I am part of no VIP club at the establishment mentioned.

 

It's been hashed and re-hashed on this thread, but I still don't consider it "penny pinching" to charge $35 for what this bottle shop includes as part of its VIP program. It's more than just access to special releases they are getting, and they also don't have to rely on the owner's memory to be included.

I just don't understand why this $35 VIP club is being framed as some kind of insidious practice. If people don't like that way of shopping, they don't have to patronize this place. But what the owner is doing seems smart, fair and incredibly valuable to his customers. I see absolutely no problem at all.

PS - not implying you have a bad memory or that you're cutting people that deserve it out, just pointing out that the uncertainty might not appeal to some people.

 

I'm sorry I have what I think is an absolute top tier bottle shop quite a few actually and they have free memberships and points plan things for returning and loyal customers this works. They don't hoard beer because you aren't "In the know" they don't care, 99.9999% of the time if you come in looking for a limited release you like beer. The shit half of you are spewing out of your mouth is utter nonsense and elitest bull shit, anyone and everyone should be able to buy what the fuck they want to without having to be some special asshole.

 

After seeing what the you get with this membership in addition to notifications about limited releases, I'd agree that there's nothing wrong with this. From the OP, it sounded like all you got for your money was an email telling you and who knows how many others that limited release beer was coming and you were hereby invited to race your fellow "VIPs" to the store in the hopes of getting some. THAT would be a really crappy marketing strategy. You'd basically be turning disappointment over not getting something into anger over PAYING to not get something. But, so long as there's some sort of value in addition to the chance of getting rare beer, then I'd say this is a pretty good deal.

 

I've even seen you split an infinitive, or two.

 

Cavedave, come into the 21st Century. Splitting the infinitive is now allowed. So long as you don't split it too much.

Edit: BTW if we ever wind up in the same place with a beer, remind me to tell you why we aren't supposed to split the infinitive.

 

In fact, I make it my mission to boldly split infinitives where no infinitives have been split before.

 

There are over 200 people in it now.

 

I would actually love to really share a beer with you sometime and you could certainly explain this infinitive splitting permissiveness.

 

I never claimed that there was a "best solution." I, as you asked, proposed the solution that I think is the most fair: sell the product in the store to the people in store with the money, limit the amount of product one person can buy to spread out distribution. If you think having a special list is more fair, awesome. I don't and I've explained why.

Best customers meaning the people most willing to join a club to get beer?

 

Fair enough.

And I imagine it would be easy enough to identify the customers who come most frequently and spend the most money. I assumed the idea is designed to appeal to those folks best.

 

A lot of liquor stores get fair-weather customers who drive distances for special releases and don't shop there for everyday stuff. I've got no problem the idea of VIP memberships, but I would give free memberships to my best customers. Many businesses have "reward programs."

 

Other advantages Mr Assumer:
Discounts on food
Celebration in your honor
Dinner for two on first anniversary of your feat
Invitations to private events
Exclusive first tastings
Priority reservations
Table reservation priority
A t shirt
Unlimited free soda
Bragging rights
Hugs from owners

 

There is a place like that in Madison that calls it the "Birthday Club" with much the same privileges (no mug though). Their beers are largely mediocre, but the food is pretty good.

 

As someone who loves certain rare releases, can't afford to buy many of them (grad student), and works annoying hours (normally 7 days a week 8 or 9 to 6) I actually think an idea like this could be modified to work to satisfy many people. I agree you will always piss someone off, but the idea is to try and be somewhat fair about it. I think (personal opinion) the one group stores are willing to piss off are the truck chasers and rare release visitors only.

Due to my hours at work and lack of free time, I am unable to get to stores when most deliveries occur, if I had a single store in my area which I consistently shopped at I would definitely pay them a small yearly fee to ensure I have a chance at purchasing the beer without taking a long lunch or leaving early. Here is how I would propose it would work.

A shop has a VIP program aimed at providing their consistent/best customers an opportunity to purchase rare releases. This program costs a minimum amount, say $35, and it comes with a lifetime 5% discount on all purchases at the shop. The VIP list is set at a maximum of 24 people (2 cases). These VIPs will be tracked both for length of time as a VIP and yearly expenditure. To maintain VIP status, members much purchase a specific amount (whatever the shop sets) annually. Those who do not are rotated off of the VIP list (but maintain their lifetime 5% discount) and the shop owner offers VIP membership to new shoppers who may be purchasing more (new shoppers are not required to purchase of course and the owner may need to offer membership to multiple people down the line, this ensures rotation of VIP members). Each consecutive year someone is a member they receive a nice little prize, maybe a beer or something who knows. But ranking wise, the longer you are a VIP the better the chance of getting the chance to purchase that single case release where not all VIPs can get it (simple, straitforward no bias). Now the important thing is these beers are simply held/offered for purchase to VIPs for only a set period of time. Once that time period, say two weeks, runs up, it is now available to anyone to purchase. This provides the opportunity for customers to purchase the beers, it means rare beers may randomly appear on the shelves at any time making it worthwhile to always visit, and it makes it more difficult for the truck chasers to guess when the beers will be available.

Seems strait forward, pretty fair to everyone (you spend more you should have the opportunity to get more if the store deems it reasonable) and it makes it more difficult for chasers to chase. I would support a shop with this system (once I make more money)

 

They can keep the hugs

 

money talks ...bullshit walks !

 

The question is "if it's $35 today, what will it cost when that's not enough to keep the club exclusive enough to maintain it's appeal?"

Let's say the store gets one case of a limited release bomber. If he's got more than 12 VIP customers, your entrance fee still doesn't guarantee you're going to get the beer you paid for the ticket to purchase at an additional price. So do you keep hiking the fee to keep the perceived value of the club in tact? Do you raise the fee just because you can?

It's not a matter of whether it's prohibitively expensive. It's a matter of being charged two times by one store for one item. No, you don't have to shop there/buy that beer/sign up for that club. But the more success that stores have with it, the more prevalent it will become. And the more prevalent it becomes, the more it'll cost. VIP clubs imply a more elite status, and if too many people have that...well, it's not exactly VIP anymore, so then why pay for it at all? And so as more stores charge more money, more people who make modest wages will lose out on yet another hobby that they enjoy. And thanks to the ballooning cost of higher education and poorer wages, that's a struggle that far too many people are already facing. Fewer and fewer people are able to afford anything but the bare necessities this day. From my own perspective: my grandfather was an honest blue collar worker who raised seven kids who were far from spoiled, but never at want. I do similarly (frankly, a touch higher) skilled work, only for much longer hours and under some extremely physically and mentally challenging conditions, and I can't even afford to buy a crappy house in a poor part of town. And children? I could never even dream of raising a single child, even if I wanted to.

Sorry, veering a bit off topic. Overall: fine, store owner is within his legal rights to do this. And sure...capitalism, blah blah blah. But frankly, I'm sick of the ballooning cost of doing virtually anything that isn't 100% vital to my survival, so personally I'm a bit peeved by programs like this.