How Do They Price Bombers?

Consumer demand is in my opinion the biggest driver of the current landscape. Today's craft beer consumer wants to constantly try new beers from all different breweries. To be competitive, a liquor store needs to have a big variety of beers available, and yes, bombers make it a bit easier to have a bigger selection (taking up slightly less shelf space). On the brewer side, no longer can a brewery get by selling 4 or 5 mainline beers all year long- the consumer is way too ADD for that. Much easier for breweries to put seasonals and special releases in bombers vs. 6 packs.
So, is there "value" in a bomber? Depends on what type of value you are talking about and who you ask. Personally, I see wonderful value in bombers in the sense it facilitates a much greater variety of beer to try. Is there value in the per ounce cost of the beer? Usually not, but that is what you sacrifice for your greater variety.

 

Again, thanks for the thoughts on this. Helpful in clarifying a few things.

 

I still don't get when people complain about the price of bombers. If you don't like the price, don't buy it. Posting on a message board isn't going to change the price.

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and buy bombers if the beer isn't available in any other format.

 

I used to think bombers were inappropriately priced. Then I realised I was looking at things the wrong way. I thought to myself "Doesn't price decrease as volume increases? Why am I paying more per oz. for 22 or 25.4 oz. than I am 12 oz.?" Then I realized the answer. Usually you're not buying 12 oz. You're buying 48 or 72 oz in the form of a 4 or 6-pack. Single 12 oz. bottles can be pricey as hell in bottle shops. Bombers are more expensive because you're simply not buying as much volume as a 4 or 6 pack.

 

So how much do people pay for a bomber? For local craft beer, they start around $5 and go up to maybe around $8. For a six-pack, I'd pay somewhere around $12 or $13.

 

I recently came across a bomber of Ba narwhal for 21.99.......right next to stone impy stout at 7.99 and big bad Baptist 11.99...cashier owner asked not going to try the narwhal.....replied ....And are you buying me it?

 

who cares ?

 

Apparently a lot of people given that this thread is now up to 3 pages and the topic shows up in a new thread 3-4 times per year.

 

Do I understand this to mean that the equipment to bottle into bombers is cheaper than the equipment that do 12 oz., or do both bombers and 12 oz.?

I wonder if you have info on how much six pack holders cost in bulk, and are they filled by employees or by machine? If by machine, how much add.al cost is that machine? If by employees, how much add.al time is taken to fill them with bottles? Thanks

 

there is one factor that I don't think anyone here has addressed. Breakage. Bombers being larger, one broken bottle is a bigger economic loss than one bottle out of a six pack. Breakage has to be paid for by someone, which means it sucks to be us.

 

yes. and i think your estimate of 3-4 is way way low. baffling.

 

Steady, growing flow of new members probably a big part of it.