Beer Pricing - A Moral Responsibility?

Lol what? Way to make us all sound like a bunch of dickheads

 

Born and raised in NYC and still live here. Been to hundreds of bodegas in all 5 boros. Most bodegas aren't like your local whole foods or trader joes. Most don't have anything digital, prices vary depending on who is working, cats roam the store, the cashier is asleep until you wake him, there is an inch of dust on the ritz crackers that have been on the shelf for a decade..... many/most of them are not visibily well run operations.

Does that help?

 

I'd pass it up - bc its KBS

 

Beer makes me tired too, but if the yawn was out of boredom, I can't say I sympathize.

 

Maybe "beer karma" was being favorable to you!

 

Sorry, I should clarify: in SF corner stores, which are almost identical to NYC bodegas (I used to live on the east coast and visited NY many times), they only have the standard beers (IPA, Steam...) from those breweries. While they're all good breweries, it would be nice to see something different at these stores. They're typically priced on the high side, so I guess it doesn't make sense to buy beer from them anyway.

 

I'm a native NY'er with almost 40 years here. I don't have a lot of tolerance for people who've visited a few times saying their limited experience is representative of this gigantic and awesome city.

 

I have an even better situation then the OP, Firestone Parabola was released recently, and 18 bottles were released to a shop in my town, and the shop posted the price at $11 a bottle, now on good authority I have knowledge that the store only paid $9 a bottle so its there preference to mark up as they wish, but what cracks me up and I do feel bad, is I heard a guy went in there on the release, and at $11 a bottle he carried all 3 cases to the register, the bar code on the box is the same as the bottle, bleep, bleep, bleep, 3 scans folks and 18 bottles of parabola walked out of the door for $33 plus tax, I am pretty sure someone got in trouble for that one....IT WAS NOT ME, I DONT KNOW WHO IT WAS,,,,,I HEARD ABOUT IT FROM ANOTHER GUY AT AN ON TAP PARABOLA RELEASE.....I would have paid $11 per bottle and bought them all but $33 for the lot, hard time getting sleep after that

 

All I said was I think it's safe to assume that most bodegas price their products according to cost. The fact that this somehow offended you or was taken as a put down of NYC, which I love, is beyond me.

 

I like the book stores and many restaurants and have been going to New York since the 60s. I hate the noise, dislike what huge cities do to manners, and am always very happy to get home. Still, I go to New York because there really is no other place quite like it. I do prefer Paris, London, and Chicago. When I go to NY, I'm not a tourist I'm a visitor spending money.

 

If it was my personal buddy or friend who owned the joint, I'd ask how much they were getting it for and clarify why it was at least six bucks less than I have (personally) paid for a four pack.

If I didn't know them I'd probably buy the four pack and leave the next lucky beer lover to score in a similar fashion.

If it was whole foods I would buy every last sixer (or the max allowable, then quickly call all my buddies and have them mule for me) and run out the door as fast as possible. Given all the woo and pseudo/anti-scientific nonsense they promote there, it wouldn't bother me in the least, no matter how "small" their profit margin supposedly is. I would then proceed to slowly drink my new found hoard, maybe give away a bottle here and there to a worthy friend or trade for something interesting, but I wouldn't trade it in the "trader" sense*.


*because I live in a big city now, where the giant liquor stores have many, many beers that I haven't tried, I don't trade anymore. Not that I'm against the idea or wouldn't hook a brother up now and then, or maybe trade for some new glarus Belgian red or raspberry tart or enigma/apple enigma should the opportunity arise. But until I no longer have new beers to try in my local area, there's just no need to trade. Besides that, my rate of trying new beers is a bit lower these days because there are so many locally brewed delicious beers that tend to be 1.50 or so cheeper than the rest, I'm drinking lots of local beer these days.

 

You cited personal NY bodega experience based on visiting a "number of bodegas" and your 6 pack purchase. Then you say you are surprised that they wouldn't know the wholesale cost of their items. My point is a lot of NY bodegas appear completely capable of not knowing anything about their business... or at least the guy at the counter doesn't. Your perception doesn't align to my experiences

Edited to add i'm not remotely offended

 

You certainly make it sound awesome with your vivid description of its many dirty and neglected bodegas.

 

Sounds like the SF stores are alot more sophisticated than the NYC stores, many of which do not even have cash registers.

 

Oh, well an unofficial majority of commenters on a random BA thread agree. Guess the time for debate is done. Shut it down mods.

And as far as I can tell, no one is talking about putting anyone in jail or on trial for failing to exercise some common courtesy. Nice strawman.

 

Only been here a paltry seven years myself, but I'd say @chcfan 's anecdotal evidence was as valuable (if not more so) as the comments from the native NY'ers in both this thread and the original one, who instead assume the worst about the bodega in order to make it ok not to say something. Not saying every bodega is a shrine of good business practices, but there are both good and bad, and I prefer to give benefit of the doubt.

 

Thank you - I try. My point is that this isn't as "simple" as some pretend. It's not black/white or right/wrong. People feel differently. It's not a big deal

 

My only comment is that its very possible that those businesses don't know what they are doing based on my experiences. How well or poorly a bodega is run has no bearing on whether i say anything or don't. I'm not saying anything regardless

 

This happened to me last year. I came across some KBS, 7.99 a four pack. I asked the clerk if he was sure that was correct, he asked the manager, the manager said yep, 7.99.
That was a good day.

 

i would buy every last bottle, right down until i had no money in my pocket. point straight blank. same as i would do in the stock market or any other market that i see mispricing. to imply that there is a better economic outcome if the retailer is the one to benefit by repricing is pure hogwash