Deceptive Beer Pricing

You're the first to complain about beer pricing...

 

Ask?

 

Yeah, asking works pretty well usually. Plus, as a bar owner especially, I would find it unbecoming to list the prices of beer up on a chalkboard or the wall and inefficient to put a printed draft list on every table, especially if it frequently rotates.

 

A price list must be prominently displayed by law in this country and of course all draught beers have to be in measured quantities of a pint, half or third.Also, there is no tipping of bar staff so the customer knows exactly what it will cost.
If priced by the pint , a half and third pint must be half or a third as much rounded to the nearest legal tender coin but many pubs round up a bit more in which case separate prices must be listed.
It isn't necessary to list each beer separately, for example "guest beers" may all be priced the same and bulked together.But any self respecting landlord will want to keep customers well informed regarding what beers are on offer and update regularly.It doesn't take long to wipe an expired beer off the board and chalk up its replacement.

 

I know exactly what the price of beers I buy will be even with tip. It's the cost of the beer + $1. I know it every time.

 

A dollar just for serving a beer? If only I was so wealthy.
The Marquis of Granby a few years ago was run by a Canadian couple who had spent quite some time doing bar work in Canada and the US , they regarded tipping $1 a beer as a huge joke.

 

Different country, different customs. And especially if you want to get noticed at a crowded bar.

 

When the technology is inexpensive enough, every bar will have a video screen with up to the second selections and prices [like some do now] and restaurants, depending on their snob appeal will either have video screens or individual tablets for every table with prices, sizes, etc. Be patient, someday you will be complaining about too much information.

Of course, the immediate solution is to drink at home.

 

Asking doesn't always work so well. I've been to many liquor stores where they don't put price tags on everything, and if you ask the price, they act like you're asking for the moon. If I have such an experience, I avoid those liquor stores.

 

What happens when all the people in a crowded bar are good tippers? Who gets attention first?

 

If it's too much trouble to keep your customers informed you shouldn't be in business. It isn't that much trouble anyway to keep a list updated.

 

Then it becomes extortion, which is the way that American service industry would like to have it.

 

If you have to ask the price of a Corona, you probably shouldn't buy it. They are "priceless".

 

Don't worry. It never happens.

 

Yeah, as social workers my wife and I are swimming in cash! I drive a Ferrari to South Providence where I help former inmates re-enter the community. My wife, who works with pregnant women dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues has a private helicopter drop her off each day!

Joking aside, you're starting a separate argument here about whether or not tipping is good or bad. My comment was simply designed to show that with or without tipping, predicting the cost of a beer is just as possible.

 

To tell you the truth, I think complaining about it (both to the manager and on social media) is a good way to handle it. Voting with your feet is another. If I see prices aren't marked I usually leave empty-handed. As an American I have come to accept a degree of uncertainty about pour sizes, but price should be clearly marked or my patience will be very thin.

 

I disagree, my favorite bar (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/20010) has clipboards with a printed draft list on it with up to date pricing, how many ounzes, abv, and style. They have around 10-15 of these just sitting by the bar and they are constantly rotating drafts (weekly). I don't think it is inefficient for a bar owner, it's pure lazy or them hoping you won't ask and just buy without knowing the price.

 

Yes, those places are exemplary, and yet they still don't indicate pour size, only price and ABV.

 

I've never tended bar or served tables, but service oriented jobs like these are often low-wage positions in this country. Employers get away with this because there is a semi-formalized expectation that the employee will be earning some portion of wages via tips. It's a backwards system, to my way of thinking, but it's not enitrely without merit.

I'll let it go so the focus can be more about beer pricing, except to say that if this system were to change so that employers directly compensated servers fairly, I imaging the price for a beer would have to go up.