Brewery (Industry) Question: How to handle stolen kegs?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by YardmanFTB, Sep 24, 2013.

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  1. YardmanFTB

    YardmanFTB Initiate (0) Oct 4, 2012 Maryland

    So I am new to the brewing business and have never dealt with something like this before. Someone sends me a link to an ebay sale of my brewery's keg. I know this sort of thing is bound to happen, but it still pisses me off. A keg deposit is only about $30, but a keg is worth a lot more than that to a brewery (especially a new struggling one). Do you file a police report every time someone tries to scrap or sell your keg online? The police probably won't really care anyway. Just an annoying situation for us.
     
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  2. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,282) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I don't have a real answer, but around here deposits are in the $50-80 range.
     
  3. gcamparone

    gcamparone Pooh-Bah (2,057) Dec 6, 2011 Rhode Island
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Definitely file a police report, doesn't matter what it is, it's a stolen property.
     
  4. Providence

    Providence Pooh-Bah (2,628) Feb 24, 2010 Rhode Island
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Easy. Bid on the keg and buy it. Then, ask to meet in person. When s/he shows up, you take the keg and load it in your car. When s/he asks for their money you pull out your wallet, open it, pretend like you're digging for money and then pull out nothing but your middle finger. Problem solved.

    Seriously though, in addition to a police report, I would contact ebay.

    Also, if the kegs are so valuable, you may want to consider upping the deposit fee.
     
  5. JrGtr

    JrGtr Pooh-Bah (1,689) Apr 13, 2006 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    First contact Ebay, then the police. Ebay can stop the auction immediately, and the cops can take it from there.
    I'm of 2 minds about contacting the "seller" (stealer) directly. The down side is that someone who would sell it online doesn't care that you own it and he's just borrowing it, and if you contacted him he's probably take it to scrap immediately anyways. The up might be that he won't do it again.
    I wonder how many other kegs he's sold online. I think you can check his selling history.
     
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  6. Sludgeman

    Sludgeman Grand Pooh-Bah (3,282) Aug 17, 2012 District of Columbia
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Also recognize that some places that sell beer by the keg will not return your deposit if you loose your receipt or otherwise cannot prove that you are the original "renter" of the keg. So I could see the situation where someone cannot get their deposit back and attempts to make the best of it.
     
    Eriktheipaman likes this.
  7. GoatmanBrewsMD

    GoatmanBrewsMD Initiate (0) Dec 16, 2010 Maryland
    Trader

    That's crazy, but happens all the time unfortunately. Yeah i would definitely contract Ebay first to shut the sale down and they might even be able to file a report to the police for you since they have the Seller's information
     
  8. checktherhyme

    checktherhyme Pundit (890) Apr 8, 2008 Washington

    Did you post this question on probrewer.com yet? You may get some more responses from brewers with experience in this.
     
  9. MCDub

    MCDub Initiate (0) Dec 17, 2009 North Carolina

    $30 deposit is too low.
     
  10. kelvarnsen

    kelvarnsen Pundit (944) Nov 30, 2011 Canada (ON)


    Everytime I hear this complaint from a brewer I wonder about it. Or if you don't want to do a deposit, just make the person renting the keg put an authorization on their credit card for the cost of the keg (that gets removed when the keg is brought back safely). I mean are there that many people out there renting kegs who don't use credit cards? I mean I rented a car last week and they they pretty much did the exact same thing.
     
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  11. Benish

    Benish Pooh-Bah (2,422) Mar 13, 2013 Utah
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    This makes me fuming mad. Stealing is wrong, period (I know I'm stating the obvious). Good luck, hope you get this one figured out.
     
    Bmore_Brew and the_trystero like this.
  12. SeaAle

    SeaAle Savant (1,237) Jun 24, 2012 Oregon

    Silver City now requires a $150 deposit because of so many kegs never being returned. It is a problem for breweries.
     
    checktherhyme likes this.
  13. BeerAssassin

    BeerAssassin Initiate (0) Aug 17, 2012 Antarctica

    All the time if me and my friends buy a keg for a weekend or something we all chip in and use cash. My question for the OP is are they selling the keg empty or full. If they're selling a full keg, I don't see anything wrong with that, maybe the person bought 2 kegs of a beer got sick of it and wanted to get some of their money back.
     
  14. JMagee

    JMagee Initiate (0) Jan 2, 2013 New York

    Depends on the listing. If the eBay listing said RARECANTILLONKINGHENRYkegCOLLECTIBLE!!1!!FFFCOASTERBOTTLECAP

    then it's probably full to the brim with beer
     
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  15. dbrauneis

    dbrauneis Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,837) Dec 8, 2007 North Carolina
    Super Mod Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    I'm pretty sure selling a full keg on eBay is a violation of the terms of service and the law (unless that person happens to have a legal license for distributing/retailing alcohol).

    EDIT: Also if the full keg is for sale, not sure how they are validating age when selling it since I do not recall having to prove my age on eBay.
     
  16. Providence

    Providence Pooh-Bah (2,628) Feb 24, 2010 Rhode Island
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Not a bad idea.

    By the way, HILARIOUS user name.
     
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  17. kelvarnsen

    kelvarnsen Pundit (944) Nov 30, 2011 Canada (ON)

    Ok so maybe there are some people that get a keg with cash. But even in those cases, a brewery could take cash for the keg, but then have a requirement that you have a credit card for the deposit authorization. I mean for a brewery the number of consumers who are paying cash for kegs has to be such a small part of their overall revenue, that I doubt any would lose any real money by this kind of policy.

    I mean I don't think you can rent a hotel room without a credit card (even if you are paying with cash) so why not make it the same for kegs of beer.
     
  18. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,282) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    And, kegs are more valuable to breweries than just the dollar cost. There are a relatively small number of keg makers, and most breweries can't just call up and order more. There's a waiting list for new kegs.
     
    Bmore_Brew likes this.
  19. TommyLiam

    TommyLiam Initiate (0) Jun 10, 2013 Arizona

    Some Police Departments will work with you. I would recommend calling the Detectives section and asking them if they'd be willing to help recover your property. Schedule a pick up from the seller and then let the police deal with it at the pick up. If your local department is overworked or just not that great then you're probably stuck with notifying ebay. It's defiantly worth calling over; it might just be the tip of the iceberg with this guy.
     
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  20. pinkgrenade

    pinkgrenade Initiate (0) Aug 19, 2011 California

    contact ebay in the mean time... but for the future, raise your deposit to $100. still not worth the price of the keg, but better than 30 bucks.

    or use microstar instead of purchasing your own kegs?
     
    rabbitguy and tarawho like this.
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