Do beer stores hate cans?

That's what the owner of the store I buy most of my beer at told me. He does not have enough room for both so bottles only, except for BMC.

 

I've heard the opposite here, but I guess there are two sides to each coin. If anything cans are easier to display and merchandise, you can fit more in a door as they are not nearly as tall, you can usually get at least one or two more shelves in a door.

 

Interesting. Cans store better. Take up less room. Are an awful bit lighter, and easier to move on a full dolly. Cans also do not break.

 

Drop a six or twelve of cans and you might lose one, maybe two. Same scenario with bottles and there are multiple fatalities plus the added bonus of handling broken glass.

However, I'm not a fan of multiple package sizes of both bottles and cans. I, like everyone else, have only so much shelf space.

 

A smart store owner knows that cans allows for more product to be packed into cold (or other) retail space. Cans are a better package than bottles for many reasons. Fuddy duds once said the same about screw caps on "good" wine. Screw caps are a better closure than corks by far.

 

All things being equal, we are way bigger fans of cans versus bottles. Take up less room, no light struck issues, chill quicker, on and on, same reasons breweries and distributors like them more. No downside except for some customer's quality perception about good beer in a can, but that is changing rapidly.

 

We love cans at the store I work at. Most of the distributors we deal with have embraced the can as the future, one has not and it's silly. Most of our customers who may have had the idea that bottles are better than cans have changed their minds.

 

I don't see how they would be upset. Cans will take up less space, preserve beer better, easier to arrange, and lastly don't shatter if dropped. I really think this is nothing more than people who are clinging to glass is better when it really is not. Also, they are allowed into certain venues where glass is not, so that is also a perk when wanting to take a beverage into an event.

Cheers

 

If this is the kind of canned swill they have in Europe I won't complain one bit.

 

Cans are awful; a long term threat to human health; an evil foisted on us by the massive, greedy, corrupt corporate class.

Don't believe me? Just ask the food babe!

</sarcasm>

 

From a consumer's perspective....

When I first saw the transition from bottles to cans, I was less than enthusiastic. The perception for me was that cans make beer taste metallic and bottles were superior. However, after reading up on it, I realized that cans protect beer from sunlight and seal air-tight. Tasting the can is not an issue as modern cans are very thin. I always preferred draft beer over bottles and kegs are... metal (mostly).... so, I have done a complete 180 on this issue.

My best friend still thinks that cans suck. I think it beckons him back to the days of Old Milwaukee and Red White and Blue and the cheap crap we drank when we had no money!

Maybe consumers just need a little edification.

 

To the OP, you should really consider what other decisions that ignorant store manager may have made that affect the beer in his store.

 

The only problem I have is when both are available...one SC brewery recently canned a majority of their year-round line (and I'm not a fan of their beers to begin with). So now I have 2 shelves of their stuff, one in bottles, one in cans. Now space becomes an issue

 

Several of you mentioned above about the lighter weight of cans vs. bottles, so for those stores in the 8-10 states that have deposit laws, handling those bottles or cans twice and storing them again doubles the handling issue.

 

My only gripe with cans is the breweries who use those shitty thin plastic spaghetti things to secure them. I get tired of unloading cases and throwing a can across the shop because they don't hold for shit. Sure, a cardboard sixer can tear/rip too, but I usually catch it way before it happens.

 

I like cans just fine but packies aren't serving craft beer enthusiasts exclusively, and there's still a widespread perception out there that "canned beer" means "low end swill."

 

As a consumer, I think it's all perception that canned beer is lower quality. I still struggle with that perception. I know it's not true, but it was ingrained while growing up in a BMC dominated culture.
The two things that I do think are better about bottles are that they are easier to pour, and they are more appealing to look at.

 

Here's a shocker for you, most beer sale people (bud or MC houses) know absolutely nothing about beer or brewing, craft or AAL, and often know nothing about sales even. So you were smart to not engage. When the managers and upper management made their living slinging 'suits of BMC, and they are in charge of training the 30 and under employees... what we get is what you described.

 

I sell beer in a store and love cans. As others have said, cans are lighter, won't shatter, stackable, opaque, and more picnic/pool/travel-friendly. Downside is the plastic stuff that holds them together which kills seagulls and is pretty flimsy (though snap-tops are better), plus you have to turn the cans so the labels all face out on the shelf if you want them to look nice, but neither of those are dealbreakers. We don't stock a ton of beer, so worrying about space for canned and bottled versions of the same beer isn't an issue for us.

Also, when I say cans don't shatter, it's also worth noting that if you do poke a hole in a can by accident either while stocking them, putting them into a shopping cart, or just dropping them onto the floor, they will spray like a firehose and nothing pisses off customers more than getting spritzed by beer mist in the middle of an afternoon shopping trip.

Mainly, the downside of cans is that customers are still as wary of them as they are of plastic wine corks, both of which are generally unjustified concerns, but that often just gives me an extra reason to enlighten customers to the benefits of cans.