Silver Eagle Boycott

Its not stealing if I didnt do it and the glassware was left on the table(leaving the keg out back for the distributor), and someone else takes off with it

 

I completely understand a unique glassware(small brewery keg), but when its the distributor raising the costs that irks me. The point was, if bars continue to be bullied by the distributors those cost will be passed on to the consumer. Rather it be higher pour costs, or as an example glass deposits.

 

That is still stealing, just not you stealing it.

 

I don't see how this is bullying by a distributor. Why should the distributor be stuck with higher keg deposits? If a bar loses a keg, why should the distributor have to fork out some money?

A $1k cost is not going to raise prices on beer. Nor does it raise prices in general. It is part of the business expenses, sure, but you are not going to raise beer prices because you have a deposit. You theoretically get the money back and you don't pay it every time.

They will slowly rotate through their kegs - so it may even come down to $100 per week over a course of 2 months. That is not some extreme costs that make you raise prices on beers.

When glasses start costing $15/glass, then maybe you will see deposits. Until then, they are a cheap commodity.

 

And if SE costs are too much, then order 15% less kegs from them - you would come out even.

 

Not sure if I noticed it here, but why not setup something on the vendor agreement that obligates the bar for any unreturned kegs? The comparison to an apartment deposit was made; if damages or losses exceed the deposit, the renter can expect to be invoiced. For keg deposits on the consumer side, provide a credit card that is temporarily authorized for the contents and value of the keg. People who can't float it probably shouldn't be trusted with it. Stop punishing the rest of the parties to the transaction on account of the knuckleheads.

 

I feel like people are focusing on the cost. Its not about the cost. Its about the principle. These bars are fed up with SE raising prices over the past 5yrs and giving nothing in return. When will the price hikes stop? Looks like September is the next hike. I'm not in the bar industry but from everything I read its not about the money. Its about the principle. You can't just bully your accounts because you have something they want.

I do air conditioning for a living, and as you know, its hot. If your ac is broke and I can fix it, I could ask whatever price I want, because you can't function without ac. But I don't, you know why? Because I don't bully my customers into paying high prices just, because I have what they want. If I did I'd be out of business. And this boycott is just the same as not calling me to come fix your air.

 

To me, deposits are still less than the kegs actual value. Breweries are taking the risk more than anything by having their deposits so low. How can you possibly say that the principle is wrong that a distributor is passing the deposit down to the bars when the bars are the people not returning kegs? I am not saying all bars do, but it does happen. Why should the distributor eat the cost when they are not the ones who lose the kegs?

Nothing in return? It is not a upfront cost that they will never see again. It is a deposit. Why should the deposit not be worth the same amount as the keg? I don't think that would be unreasonable at all to have the value the same as the keg.

You go on about it be unreasonable, and the principle of it, but what is so wrong with this? Why is the distributor not allowed to pass the deposits down? Why should the bars have a cheaper price when they are the ones with the responsibility?

 

Because, though its a deposit. Who's losing the kegs? Who's stealing kegs? What advantage does someone have by "owning" a keg? Someone said something about resale value, but why would you pay $130 for a keg why you can just pay a $50 deposit and own one? I just don't see the point in raising the prices when as it seems the distributor pays a minimal deposit price as well, and now charging more to the bars

 

Also, these breweries are LOCKED in with the distributors, so yes if you're going to tie a breweries hands with a bs lifetime contract you should absolutely be responsible for these costs.

 

Oddly, I don't see any breweries complaining. Just a couple of bars. Hell, the only brewery responding to this has says the completely see why they do this.

 

It is not only about people robbing them - they get lost. If it was not an issue, then there would be no deposit.

There was some figure (I think posted on facebook group talking about this) that somewhere between 5-10 million dollars in kegs go missing a year. It is not just some fee because the distributor decides it. The brewery decides it, and the distributor passes it down. None of this has explained why the distributor should have to pay a larger deposit than the bar.

 

Let me preface my post by saying I just drank a rumpkin and surette reserve, would putting tracking devices on kegs help? My friend has a border collie that he can hunt down miles from his home and this dog is fast. Kegs are slow. In all seriousness I hope this issue gets resolved quickly because the flying saucer and freetail are places that have provided some great memories for me personally.

 

Some form of RFID tag would work - but they are not GPS based as far as I know. If you want GPS capabilities, you would pay a lot more for it versus just a $0.15 RFID tag.

 

You'd need not only GPS tracking, but a radio to transmit that data (2G/3G/LTE, etc which is how pet trackers work). If you're looking to recover lost/stolen kegs (as opposed to simply tracking them), they'd have to be attached to the keg (and now you're charging a $150 deposit for a $200 keg).

RFID would be a replacement for bar codes and/or manually inventorying kegs, but from the rhetoric around keg loss, losing track of them doesn't seem to be the primary concern (though it *would* help in automating different keg deposits per brewer).

 

Mountain Vs Mole Hill...sounds like a Game of Thrones duel...

 

I just think it's funny that The Hay Merchant freaked out and grossly overreacted about Deep Ellum Brewing accidentally having one of their firkins and are now a part of this boycott that's going to do nothing but hurt the breweries they pretend to want to support.

 

Here's the way I look at it. As I stated earlier, a local brewery needs to provide a minimum of 6 kegs to maintain a dedicated line at one of their draft accounts. That means that the brewery has already invested close to $800 in cooperage for that one line of beer. And I'm supposed to be pissed about another $10 on my end?

 

I believe what started this whole melee was that InBev/AB is charging SE more. It's the BIG brewery forcing the higher costs. Does that affect Budweiser at bars? Not in the slightest.