VIP membership & other deplorable practices...

Sam's Club and Costco can't do it (in most states). Doubt this guy can either.

 

It's a known fact that the people from three towns over are far more douchey than the people who live closer.
If you think about it, it's kind of weird how it works out like that. But it does.

 

Can't do what?

 

I'd pay it depending on how it was run. If there's 50 VIP members and the guy gets two cases of bombers of a LTD release then what? On some of these releases from Founders you sometimes can't go two cases deep, some VIP memebers are going to get shut out.

 

No it's not.

 

Yeah I would never pay a fee to shop at a store. I don't do it for the local organic co op or for sams club or for any store so why would I pay the bottle shop to shop there. They can keep that beer. And look at it for a year or more until they have to write the loss down on paper.

Listen! I'm a good shopper.

 

I'd pay $35/year if it meant a better chance at getting the bottles that normally sell out before I can stop by my local spot. I'm sure I'd be drinking a heck of a lot more Pliny at home if that were available locally.

 

I don't think its quite deplorable, but a free loyalty program that rewards your best customers (punch card, beer log, etc.) could accomplish the same/similar result with people feeling better about being a part of it.

 

Exactly, thus making what appears on the surface to be a benign act of capitalism a deplorable act of capitalism where he never turns down the fee that "guarantees" VIP access to unkown beers of unknown quanties he will stock in the future. Also how does he decide what is a VIP beer? If too many semi limited things make it onto this list too many people might join to get the semi limited beers and VIP benefits. He will have to either raise the price or create another hoop to jump through to get the membership. Vise versa if too few beers make it to the list he might not have enough people to purchase the reserved beer.

I suppose its not impossible for this to be mutually beneficial to the store owner/ customer but I don't see it working out as well as the beer stores that do this kind of stuff envisioned.

 

Industry needs more of this. We're long overdue for better solutions to such outpacing of demand relative to the limited supply of stuff that's out there.

 

I knew it seemed like those lottery drawings were getting less frequent!

 

Look at it for what it is: $35 to get put on a priority list for limited quantity product which is in high demand. That he offers this convienance to regular customers for a small fee is a pretty nice deal. If that's not worth $35 to not have to beat the rush on stuff that's flying off the shelf then don't buy it.

 

I see both sides but think it is short sided.

I hope good bottle shops who do this don't alienate good customers who don't sign up.

My impression is that many bottle shops do this already in a more subtle way. The "VIP fee" is the their spend or the number of folks they send in.

In general, I don't like the fee. Too transactional and will inevitably cause the problems noted earlier when demand exceeds supply. The small number of "VIPs" you could please with a case of Black Note would not be worth it. One or two pissed off VIPs busts your profit line.

 

It also gets you storage of the beer on the grounds.

 

Just a reality check: the massacre of protesters in Egypt is "deplorable." Not to go off on a political tangent, but some corner store owner charging a VIP membership fee may be a lot of things; it's not deplorable.

 

Nobody entered the raffles.

 

Do what now?

 

sure, but then what happens when everyone's paying the $35? A "Super-VIP" club at $70? I think most beer geeks who gobble up limited releases at $15-30 a bottle aren't going to mind a $35 yearly charge, once the righteous indignation (quickly) subsides.

 

Just how everyone complains that everyone else on the road is a terrible driver lol

but seriously, F those kids over in shelbyville.

 

I don't think it's deplorable, but I do think it's a bad sign of where this industry is starting to trend. That said, I would gladly spend $35 a year if it guaranteed me access to limited releases.