How Do They Price Bombers?

The value of any good is determined by what the consumer is willing to pay. Don't like the pricing on these products? Then don't buy them. Business decisions are influenced more by sales and margins than the gripes of active consumers.

 

Take the per oz cost for a 6 pack of that beer and multiply x 5 x size of bomber. Bombers are horribly priced in most situations.

 

I am not in the brewery business, but it seems to me the cost of having to design, manufacture, handle, and fill 4 and 6 pak holders would be greater than the cost of having to reset bottling machines twice for every run of bottles.

Many breweries only run lines for bombers, they don't have to reset, or have to reset for the occasional run of 12 oz.ers. I doubt you will find an equivalent increase in the cost of small format in that circumstance.

Nope nothing there will shake me from my belief it is a scam pretty much purely and simply.

 

They start at $50 and bring the price down until you are willing to buy them

 

I kinda felt like we were heading the same place, just using two separate cars to get there!

 

I think you are off by 2X there - 31 gallons in a barrel, right? Then 128 ounces in a gallon, so it would be 3968 ounces. - I think you may have used 64 ounces per gallon, maybe? Either way, you get 3.3 times more 22's (182) than you do six packs (55) and by your cost, 2.2X mo' money.

 

Stipulated. I knee-jerked the keg ounces.

 

Works out the same either way...

 

For sure that's your prerogative. Just don't be surprised when many of us don't buy into your belief.

 

Dave, I have your back. You da man!

Cheers!

 

That is very true and is a sentiment stated by a number of others. Be that as it may, some of us still desire to know and understand the market forces that drive the pricing anomaly, thus the discussion.

 

Exactly people pay to get the desirable beers. Surly Darkness was out in Chicago last week and at $22 a bottle people were following the damn trucks and lining up at the stores - all sold out within the hour and people went freaking nuts for it. They could have marked it up another $10 per bottle and still sold out.

In contrast, Pipeworks has a new release every week now, and the damn stuff is piling up on Binnys (big liquor chain here) because people have tried some and aren't coming back because it is over priced and not that great. New entrants try to price at $10-14 a bomber and some bite, but a lot of it just sits

The rarity and quality drive the price - just check out the dates on some over-priced bombers and see how long they sit in some stores - the every day stuff is just sitting there and not moving most of the time

 

Absolutely the value of an ounce of beer is subjective! That's really what I'm getting at. If a purchase is made or not made based on how much that ounce costs, then that part of the equation is being lost on some level.

I won't buy Hopslam at $0.28/ounce (roughly), but I have no qualms about buying Pliny the Elder at $0.36/ounce, because an ounce of PtE is worth more to me than an ounce of Hopslam.

I agree that, in theory, this idea is a good one. After all, consumers wield a great deal of power as a collective group in relation to breweries. However, in practice, this idea breaks down because consumers act on an individual level. While I'm sure most people you talk to would love to pay less for their favorite beers than they currently pay, the number who will willingly abstain from buying their favorite beer in the hopes that a brewer will change the format of that beer is significantly smaller, I'd guess. At some point, a choice must be made on what's more important: buying your favorite beer at the price point/format it's offered? Or boycotting your favorite beer in hopes that it might someday be offered in a different price point/format?

While I find the constant price-based discussion to be tiresome and, for all intents and purposes, fruitless, I have no ill-will to those who choose to purchase beers based on their own personal price sensitivity. As noted, if you refuse to buy beers in larger formats, then by all means, continue to do so with nary an unkind look from me.

However, I disagree that BA forums are a significant enough presence in the market at large to create any change on the part of breweries' selling behavior. As you noted, the most effective means of changing selling behavior is the bottom-line, and the unfortunate truth is that BA already represents a small subset of the craft beer buying public, and the BAs who will boycott beers based on the format is an even smaller subset of that subset.

To me, wisdom in purchase behavior amounts to buying products that deliver sufficient value to the person purchasing for the price asked by the seller.

Some large format bottles are worth the price asked. Others are not. The same is just as true for 12 oz bottles in 4-/6-pack formats

 

Is it within the realm of possibility that if consumers "succeed" in boycotting bombers (and bomber-like pricing) that a number of breweries that rely on those prices will fail? Those unit-price and COG numbers are doubtlessly finding their way into business plans (and people's paychecks), right?

 

So long as my favorite brewery maintains its bomber-only bottling format, I'll buy bombers and like 'em.

 

Excellent question. Don't really have an answer, only an observation, may or may not be on point.

Captain Lawrence has switched all its mass releases of its regulars/seasonals to 6 pak, 12 oz. format. Really reasonable in price too, for the quality. Their facility is located in one of the most expensive areas of real estate in our state. Somehow they are making a pile of money with it as they expand production yet again.

 

Cheers to Captain Lawrence for putting their beers in 12 ounce bottles within 6-packs. They are a consumer friendly brewery!!

 

Not long ago I encountered Stone IPA at something like $6.99 a bomber and the 6-packs next to it were I believe $8.99 or $9.99. I really hope nobody bought those bombers

*This was a little while ago so I may be slightly off on the prices but regardless the price per ounce difference was insane

 

A. Some people don't want a 6er of one beer
B. Many 22oz are limited release, barrel aged, or the alcohol content is too high (in the brewers opinion) for 4/6ers
C. They know we'll swallow hard and buy them

 

We buy them.