How Do They Price Bombers?

They "get away with it" because BA's are willing to pay it.

 

I agree that they tend to run high but am guilty of still buying them. I also think in many cases there is a flaw in comparing price points. A bomber = 1 item. A six pack = 6 items so to compare the two doesn't equate to me. Go to the store and price a single beer (always higher than six pack price ) then compare.
single price > six pack
Six pack > case
Case > keg
This is just my view point so take it with a grain of salt and vote with you wallet.

 

Second thread I've seen today on what is perceived as excessive charges on a beer product (bombers, rare RR offerings). It's days like today that I feel like I am one of few to grasp the free market concept. It's really quite simple - don't like the price? Don't buy the product. Don't like the price but really gotta have it? You still make the personal choice to purchase that product. Nobody forcing you to buy that particular beer or package, it's not as if the government is making you buy something you don't need or want at a ludicrous price.

If enough people balk at a price that seems out of whack, than eventually the price will regulate to a more approachable point. Of course, as long as there is some limited release out there, mass "balking" will likely not happen. At the end of the day, you do not NEED beer to survive (although I'm certain some will make a pretty good argument to the contrary), therefore there's no realistic regulatory control to address this conundrum. Perhaps as we approach an inevitable bubble (again) with so many breweries starting up and expanding, pricing will become highly competitive.

Now, more to your point. As for the pricing of bombers, I like what someone said about not purchasing year round available beers in bomber presentation. This reaction is a pretty good way (if done en masse) to help "invisible hand" the year round bomber size downward.

 

I personally think the sizes will get even bigger, i heard that some of the major brewerys were looking at putting growlers sealed and rerady to purcahse with limited releases to mark up sales and to grab the dollars of those who buy more at bottles shops than distrbutors.

 

I'm not sure if it's a matter of people not grasping the free market concept as much as it is that many people have this notion that if a given price is unappealing to them, it is therefore "unfair". Price is a favorite topic to gnash teeth about on this website and I think it gets tiring.

It always makes me wonder--do the members of CadillacAdvocate.com or MansionAdvocate.com [insert LuxuryItemAdvocate.com website] spend as much time complaining about prices?

 

That's funny - wish I'd have said it.

Fact is, I feel that several indeed have a grasp on economic theories, but they are Keynesians and just don't know it...

 

P= (Sx2)F

P= price for 22 oz in 6 pack format
F= fudge factor where F>1

 

I'm at the point where it's gotta be a good value or something really intriguing for me to consider a bomber. I can only think of a few I've bought over the last 6 months or so. Other than the Fin Du Monde 750ml's I bought at the duty free shop because they were $4.50, Lagunitas Imperial Red is the only recent one that jumps to mind. There's just too much great beer that is packaged as a better value.

 

I only buy bombers because it is the only format many beers are packaged in.

 

If those hypothetical sites existed, you may very well see some "complaining" if one mansion is drastically overpriced on a $/square foot basis. But the free market concept is the crucial point here. An overpriced mansion won't sell until the price is reduced to what the market will bear. Obviously there are enough people willing to buy high-priced bombers to keep them flowing. However, I'm not one of them.

 

Well as an occasional lurker (but not a member) on LuxuryItemAdvocate.com (sometimes I like to see how they other half lives, it’s a guilty pleasure...) they do spent time complaining about prices.

The big difference between there and here is the number of commas and digits to the left of the decimal place.

 

Could you provide an example of this? like in real life.

 

I only skimmed the posts here, dunno if someone mentioned something like this, but I used to work on the bottling line at a brewery where I was told that bomber bottles alone cost about $2.50 each. And this is for the wine bottle design that usually gets corked and caged (but we just crown-capped ours and shrink-wrapped the tops in fancy red plastic).

In the end, these bottles retailed for anywhere from $9-13, depending on the store. This was in NJ, btw. Basically, you'd get, what, 2 1/2 10oz tulip glass pours out of the bottle... Anyway, $2.50 of the cost of the beer was the bottle alone.

 

You were told wrong. They're $1 each in a reasonable quantity: http://buyourbottles.com/amber-glass-bottles/glass-750ml-celebration

Even at full retail, the bottles are less than $2.

 

My wife drinks Lindemans Framboise, I purchased her a case 12/25.3oz bottles for $100 this past Friday, at the same store they had a case of 24/12oz bottles for $118. seemed like a no braniner to purchase the bombers (sure i know not a true 22oz bomber) as i paid $18 less and got more oz of the sweet nectar.
I have also bought a case of Yeti Imperial stout 12/22oz bottles at a $14 savings over the 24/12oz but in this case i lose 2 12oz bottles of fluid.

 

Well, of course I was being a little silly, but here's the thing: pricing complaints about this site are more prevalent than just some random complaint about a particular beer that is "overpriced".

There are threads all the time (as noted in this thread, it's the second price-related thread that is currently active on the popular discussions list), and they go beyond "hey, this one beer is $35 for a 750 mL bottle--that's just outrageous", and often stray into territory questioning the motives and ethics of brewers, distributors and retailers. There is a common attitude that beer consumers are being ripped off that I find a little obnoxious.

My point (and admittedly absurd method of making it) was that there is a baseline level of complaining on this site that seems to ignore the fact that, at the end of the day, beer is a luxury item. Especially so-called "craft" beer. In reality, the market as a whole is still probably priced below what it could bear in reality--even moreso on limited beers that have a high demand.

 

I'm assuming that the "bottle cost" is akin to total packaging cost including freight, the label, cap, etc. However, even then $2.50 does sound high, depending on what they're including in that number.

 

Here's an instance where choice of words can be critical. The 25.3 oz bottles are 750 ml and are not what is meant by many on this site and/or in the industry by the term "Bomber," as on the records for bottling lines and sales purposes that is the 22 oz size. So without your details it appeared you were claiming in your prior post that it cost less to buy less beer as a case of Bombers (not 750 ml bottles) would be 24 oz less than a case of 12 oz bottles (as you recognize).

 

Hoping that breweries, distributors and bottle shops drop their prices of bombers will not produce results. Asking breweries, distributors and bottle shops nicely to drop their prices will not produce results. If you want to get the price of bombers to go down follow these straight forward steps:

1.) Find people who want bombers to be cheaper and are willing to boycott the purchase of bombers until the price comes down.

2.) Do research that shows how much money the breweries, distributors and bottle shops will lose if you and your like minded folks initiate this boycott.

3.) Go to the breweries, distributors and bottle shops, show them your data and tell them of your plan (make a powerpoint perhaps?)

4a.) If bomber prices stay the same then the number of people for your cause was not enough and the financial impact of your efforts are deemed insignificant. Go back to step one and try to find more people for your cause.

4b.) If bomber prices go down, drink up!

 

I don't know why I keep coming into these pricing threads. I just don't "get it", I guess.

As an example: I was at a brewery-only release last week. Pricing was $25 for two 16oz beers. As I was walking in (they had JUST released -- I was a couple minutes late) a guy was walking out with his two 2-packs. He threw his hand up and shouted at a guy that he obviously knew.. "Dude, I thought you said it was way too expensive!!". That guy was running towards the door, and said "Yeah, well.."

That's how I view this price complaining. The one's complaining the loudest are (probably) secretly the first in line to buy.

BUT, that's brewery pricing.. for a helluva beer. Normal "special" bombers are high because of the distributor and retailer margins, mostly. Don't blame the brewery... blame the distributor and retailer.