Mystery Barrel Aged box

My store's mystery boxes are always made up of broke 6- or 12-packs (packs where they were dropped, but only 1 or 2 broke, but the rest are fine). As such, you get 24 12 oz. bottles (or cans) for about $17. A good deal for the customer, and the store avoids losing the value of those bottles completely. I do understand that with this mystery BA box, it can't work that way, but the store could easily give slightly more than the $200 price point, via utilizing slow movers, or giving discounts to the margin since they are selling quantity. There is no reason the store has to take the "screw the customer" route. And, it's very much to their detriment to go that way. Unhappy customers are former customers.

 

That's a helluva deal at $17 for a case of craft beers. Are the selections usually pretty good stuff, or at least fairly fresh?

 

Rules: No Domestic beers, no more than 3 of the same beer, no mixing of beers with ciders/alcopops (Mike's, Smirnoff's, etc.).

 

They aren't all the same beers right?

 

The customer knows they're not being screwed, because we are completely up front about how we pack the boxes. Just, not what is in them. If we told them exactly what was in them, they may not buy what was actually on the shelf. That's my guess, anyway. Honestly, the guy who usually buys them gets them for random company. He doesn't drink the beers himself. Also, people buy them to get a bunch of cheap beers with variety. They're also good for newer drinkers who aren't sure what they might like. No one's "getting screwed". Now, if we filled the case up with nothing but BMC, that would be terrible. Mystery beer boxes aren't for everyone, but there should be some kind of a value for your risk. Otherwise, you could just pick random beers yourself.

 

In other words, you're saying these mystery beers aren't good enough to sell on their own so you have to put them in a box/brown bag to get rid of them. Seems legit!

 

Thanks for cherry picking...

John, the problem is you're looking at this in the wrong light. Nobody is trying to screw anyone. When packaging is broken, we CANNOT sell the product as is. Mystery boxes are the only way we can sell that product. I'd imagine there are legal precedents. Or perhaps it's just typical corporate "writing it off as a loss is better than selling low" mixed with "we can still sell it this way, now", but all of this is conjecture. My point was, this system is way better than giving customers a "mystery" which is simply ripping them off. This system is a good value, with a bit of a risk, since you don't know what you will get, but that risk is mitigated by certain rules. I have no idea why you feel the need to find fault with this.

 

Provided the customer knows the premise, I can't see fault with this either. You're getting some decent beers for a good price, and it's kinda fun to not know what you're getting. I use Hotwire for much the same reason. I don't see how someone could be mad about what beers they got since you got them below market value.

And if you're upset about getting Honkers or 312 at a discount, or too "good" for it, you ain't someone I'd want to have a beer with, anyway. But that's basically what this site has turned into over the past few years. So I wouldn't worry much about it, True.

 

I would be a tad bit muffed if the beers in my mystery box were all beers I could get locally at the same price or lower. But, I would find it no fault of the people putting the boxed together. My own damn fault.

 

If a beer breaks or a customer swaps out one beer for another (that really pisses me off!!) I simply put the beers in the mix a six door. Problem solved.

EDIT: Also, I feel no one would buy a mystery box in my neighborhood. It's just not worth the effort.

 

Maybe it's my Illinois upbringing, but any man who cannot enjoy a Honkers (or Summertime, R.I.P.) is no friend of mine. Only slightly exaggerating. Though I have to admit, I don't find them as good as I used to.

I read most of the thread, and I think it's easy to get lost in it, but there's a difference between the mystery box from the OP and the "mystery" box that TruePerception was talking about. I completely agree with being upset if you spent $200 on a mystery box filled with slow movers when you were sold on getting more than your money's worth, a couple rare/great beers and all that business. In TP's case, he's talking about unloading some bottles that they couldn't otherwise sell (due to having an incomplete 12/6 pack for whatever reason) and selling them to the customer at a discount. Unless he's promising that they are in-demand or high-end beers, I don't see the problem.

As a consumer, I'd be pretty confident that whatever beers I'm purchasing at $0.71 per bottle are not going to be Hibernation Ale or Breakfast Stout. However, I'd be pretty psyched to get something much better (IMO) than Budweiser or Coors Light for a lesser price. So I feel like it's a win-win and I don't get why one would be opposed to it. As I read it, it's not a ploy to unload slow movers, it's a way to unload beers they literally could not sell even if someone asked specifically for a 10 pack of Honkers. I have to assume there is some reason why they couldn't sell them as singles or a broken 6/12 pack.

Either way, I'd pick up a mystery box every now and then for a cheap day drinking session. Chalk it up to a difference of opinion, I suppose. I'm sure there are plenty on both sides and I don't fault anyone for not purchasing it, I just don't get questioning the ethics of it. You don't know what you're getting, but in return, you pay less than you would if you bought a single or 6 pack of the same beer(s). I'd disagree with the idea if he were charging the same prices as they would cost normally, but since they're on discount, I think it's a neat idea.

Plus, with Hotwire you have an idea of what type of hotel you are getting (star level, brands in that level, and reviews) before you purchase. I have saved quite a bit of money a couple times when I looked up what it would cost to book directly through the hotel or through other travel sites that list them by name and I've never been disappointed in the property, though I am a man who enjoys Honkers Ale at the Reel Big Fish show, so I'm not the most discerning of consumers.

 

I'm still curious as to what's in some of the other $200 boxes from this original website that was talked about.

Our store has brown bag 6 packs for sale (not sure what the cost is) but I never seem to think to buy one because I'd rather spend a couple extra bucks on knowing what beer I am getting then spend a few less bucks and be pissed off. Maybe though when I go to Erie I will pick up a brown bag special and report back here. Could be interesting.

 

i just want to know what was in the recent mixed boxes out of curiosity. as for whether it's theoretically a good deal in this or that scenario: pretty big "who cares?"

 

You bring a good point. I don't know why the store in Erie has to sell them in Brown Bags as Mystery's but I'd be more inclined to buy a mix pack (pre-mixed by the store, no matter what the beers were or why they were in there) if I knew what I was getting and it wasn't a complete mystery. I tend to picture the brown bag 6 packs as crap that doesn't sell or old stock that needs to be moved and a gimmicky way to sell it than anything. I hope they still have some next time I go so I can grab one and see what's in it. I don't remember now, after thinking about it, if they still do it or not.

 

The concept of a mystery box, in any retail setting, is to unload slow-moving inventory. You throw in a couple gems to make up for the duds - items that would have no trouble flying off the shelf. But in no case should the items in the box be of less retail value than what you paid for it. It's about unloading inventory, that's it. CBK violated that sort of basic understanding between customer and retailer.