Hauling vs Hoarding

I would never accuse someone who has been able to purchase a case of beer of being a hoarder. I don't care how "limited" it is perceived to be.

 

This is a pretty general statement, care to clarify? Because while I agree with this philosophy, technically bringing three legal-age acquaintances in with you to buy beer (that they are really buying you as a favor) is just fine under this view. Sure all parties involved may be legally able to buy the beer, but they're more or less colluding to undermine the bottle or case limit the store has imposed. It may not be illegal, but it depletes that particular store's limited inventory of a sought-after beer and is a shady way of making sure none of the store's other customers get any.

 

This... I can remember the days when this beer sat on the shelves for months. I can walk into a store 8 months after this beer was released and find the current years and several packs of the previous years.

 

Those were the days. I'm constantly told now is better, though, where it is almost impossible to buy it. Cheers to progress, Tilley4.

 

I think if you drive around trying to buy as much as you can for purposes of drinking or sharing with friends, that does not mean it is hoarding. That would be like saying that someone who works two jobs while someone else works one is hoarding all the money. If you love a beer enough to commit yourself to having more than 4 bottles to last you the next year, and you commit yourself to finding places where you can buy it, good for you. Put in the work, enjoy the product of your effort. If you do that to turn around and sell it for double on the internet, though, that is another thing altogether.

 

Yeah there is a difference between a proxy and a mule. A mule is simply there for you to get more beer. They have no interest in what you are getting. A proxy is there to pick up for others when they can't do it themself. They have no intention in keeping all of the beer.

 

There are a lot of people on this site that end their rant on whatever the current topic du jour is with the mantra of, "At the end of the day, it's just beer."

So I say, "Buy what you want, as much as you want, and do whatever you want with it." I don't care enough to get that upset. But, that's just me.

 

Depends on the beer. If you go out of your way to buy the limit of a special release at every store possible I would say you're a hoarder and also kind of a dick. There are other people trying to buy it too.

 

My Opinion:
Hauling = you got your limit and numerous other purchases a 1 or more stores.
Hording = you got your limit every year but sit on it for god knows why.
Selling for a Profit = you are a bootlegger.

 

Starting to think I'm a fairly simple cat for my approach to the whole thing. I show up when an item is released / available, buy my allotment, drink one and cellar "x" amount of my remaining allotment, press on with life. The only deviation is when I see the item the following week still sitting there (I really try to limit trips to once a week...) AND enjoyed it, I may get one more of the item. If not, so be it. Even if I miss out on a release completely, there's still an ass-ton of great beer out there. Just won't be able to participate in the obligatory "how's "x" drinking this year" threads......

I think it is indeed a dick move to mule for the explicit purpose of coming away with that "Ha, I got over on them and got SO much more than others!" feeling.

If you have someone that reaches out to you (friend away during release, friend in another state, ets.,.) that cannot get the item,so you enlist a non craft fan to help you out on the friend's behalf? That's not a dick move or hoarding.

If you hit every spot in town to get your allotment out of some pathological or primal urge to collect (without intent to resell or trade), than you may have a problem but you aren't necessarily a dick either. Just someone who may or may not also have Mason jars of cash buried in the backyard....

 

If it's a limited release and you think you are entitled to bend the rules of how many you personally should get. i.e. If you think you're being a dick. You are, in fact, being a dick.

 

You buy what you like. What you do with your money is no one else's buisness. You don't need approval from strangers before you spend your own hard earned money. End of story.

 

Drawing a distinction between buying for personal consumption vs. buying to trade vs. buying to resell suggests there's a difference between "because I want to, regardless of anyone else" and "because I want to, regardless of anyone else." Own your choices without hypocrisy and you'll sleep better.

 

What you do with your money can affect others and therefore can be someone else's business. At an extreme, if there's a limited quantity of something and you buy all of it, no one else gets any. That's the whole point of this discussion: where do you draw that line.

 

It's all good and we're community until, kcuf me? No, kcuf you!
End of story.

 

Yes I understand the sequence to follow but as many many others on this site has stated before, there are many other great beers more readily available anyways, why is there a need for so many to get upset over one beer? We are all feeding more into the already monstrous hype with this beer. I personally would've been disappointed as well but I wouldn't be pointing fingers and lashing out at others for taking away "my" bottles from the stores. I'd find something else to buy and move on. On the other hand as in your example, if there was a limited stock of something at a store let's say the 12 bottles of vanilla rye and I was first in line with 11 others behind me and they had no limit, if I bought up all 12 bottles of it knowing well that 11 others were behind me wanting the same thing then absolutely that is a shame thing to do.

 

All things equal (i.e. assuming no mules involved), this would be a retailer/brewery issue. If a retailer/brewery knows that only 200 bottles of this beer is made, and puts no limit on the number of bottles sold per person, then this scenario is a real possibility. In this example (ONLY) there was no line drawn, therefore, no foul if the first person that shows up buys it all.

In this case, right or wrong is truly a matter of persepctive and opinion. In reality, if this occured a person would be playing within the rules prescribed.

To get back on topic... Would thIs scenario be hoarding? Of course it is. This is, in fact, the purest definition of hoarding.

 

To touch on another theme that seems to be running through this thread...

When, exactly, did an inability or unwillingness to put up with Black Friday-esque lines, camping out overnight, looking for ways around per-customer limits, and similar behaviors get classified as "failing at craft beer, bro"? I don't understand the mentality that has a person decide that a specific beer release is worth literally devoting hours of their life to tracking it down, or being willing to completely disregard rules in a fervor to get more of a beer fix - and then to look down on those who don't share that mindset.

This isn't a sour grapes type post, nor is it limited to one particular release - I didn't go looking for anything that was recently released, aside from casually and involving no lines whatsoever grabbing some Backwoods Bastard that was sitting on shelves. I've had BCBS before, thought it was good, and did not think it (or any other beer brewed by anyone anywhere ever) was worth any form of standing in line. If I happen to see any of it on a foray into Kentucky, I'll pick some up. Otherwise, well shucks, there's BA Siberian Night just sitting on shelves around here all nice and pre-aged, and a Coffee Edmund Fitzgerald firkin tapping coming to town shortly that I'll have more money available for. Darn my luck. Darn it to heck.

 

Here's my issue, being the "nice" guy will probably only lead to allowing more to the "a-hole" that comes in later.

If my local store get a case or two w/ no limit, if I only take 1 or 2, I can almost guarantee it's simply just a matter of time before some idiot comes in to buy a whole case to sell or hoard. Leaving beer on the shelf has really great intentions but the 100% truth is that you just never know what's going to happen to it after you leave the store. I say just buy what you feel is a "reasonable" amount and if you have to sit there and think about how many to buy, something is wrong with you.

I have NEVER felt guilty, ever, about buying beer...IT'S JUST BEER. There have been many I have missed out on, and I know for a fact, I have purchased the last beer causing someone else to miss out; it will continue to happen and it's life.

 

When I do it is a haul when others do it they are hoarding. Pretty simple!