Brewery swag

You could...

1) Stop paying for the stickers
2) Go to a Beer Festival and get the stickers for free

 

I can’t speak to stickers but I will say I’m prone to buy a glass at breweries I visit as are many others. I never considered the angle I might be entitled to it for free but I guess it’s not “advertising” as you described with the sticker. At the end of the day, I don’t buy anything I don’t deem worth the money I’m paying for it. I suppose if you feel the sticker should be free, don’t buy it. Cheers, Bill.

 

This was going to be my answer -- seems like you can always get more swag than anyone really needs at festivals.

 

I don't buy stickers for the same reasons you outlined. My water bottles represent brands I'm stoked about - and that didn't charge me for a sticker.

Yes, I could always ask after buying a bunch of product, but it also feels scummy (to me) to ask for something free when they clearly have it priced. Others will have different opinions, obviously.

I'll go a little further to say - I don't really buy swag at all, unless I'm:

1. Really impressed with the beer and atmosphere.
2. It's very reasonably priced.

Everytime I wear a logo, I associate that brand with me and provide free advertising for the brand. I don't take those lightly. Especially paying $35 for a meh comfort t-shirt.

 

I don't need no stinkin stickers so I don't see what all the fuss is aboot. Shrugs.

 

Magnets are better anyway.

 

Ever see somebody with a car/truck where the whole side glass/tailgate/back glass is covered in stickers (not just beer, any stickers, but let's focus on beer stickers)? Like a dozen or 20? How much advertising value is each one of those stickers providing? They're all jammed together, overlapping, and pretty much one big bob, where is the value to the brewery? Is it worth maybe 1/1000 of a cent every time someone sees it?

And what about folks who just stick them on their Nalgene bottles? How much value to the breweries is there of the 6-8 stickers on each one of my Nalgenes, when I'm pretty much the only one who is going to see it? They should give me those stickers? Dudes who cover their beer fridge/kegerator with stickers, what does the brewery get from that?

 

I guess I am just questioning why you expect something for free. You go and spend the dough because you like the beer, right? I enjoy going to breweries/brewpubs and will do anything to support them so they don't go away- glassware, T-shirts, stickers, magnets. Do you expect a Red Lobster sticker after you've blown all that cash on the Shrimp Extravaganza?

I am also wondering why someone from SoCal is complaining about anything that is only 2 bucks. Isn't that like about 60 cents for you guys?

To your point though, car dealerships will sell you a car with a license plate frame that has their name on it (some back in the day would actually have their name in a chrome emblem slapped on the car, the nerve)- then I will ask how much of a discount I should get for advertising for them. I have no loyalty to car dealerships, as I can get the same car somewhere else.

 

May I qualify a bit by asking, based on your idea that you're doing the brewery some kind of favor by displaying their branded merch, how many times has a sticker/t-shirt/or anything that wasn't the beer itself made you want to go spend money there sight unseen? I'm not trying to sound like a dick but I feel there's an undue sense of entitlement in your "opinion." Feeling that it's cool when breweries do decide to give away free stuff is one thing, but I'm getting the idea that you feel owed for spending money at the breweries in question. Owed more than the beer you paid for. Why?

 

My experience has been that many breweries will offer stickers for sale on a website or in their store, but you can often get them for free. I've always guessed that they made it available for purchase to those who wanted to buy them, but also to have on hand if they wanted to give them away. I don't think they're expecting people to just buy a sticker online and pay for shipping and handling, but it would also be weird to have a large inventory of stickers and not make them available for purchase.

I've seen them for free at beer tastings or a tap takeover where they are trying to break into a market or promote their brand. Often times a bottle shop will get a handful and keep them at the checkout counter for free as well. I've also seen it where they chuck one into a bag for free when you buy a glass or a shirt. It really depends on the brewery, the scenario, and who you're talking to at the time.

 

There's lots of variables, but a lot depends on how many you're buying. First order? Set-up fees. Are they doing the graphic design, or are you sending in an already created design? Did you pay a designer for that design, or have an employee (who you're paying) do it? Your quantity? Local company for easy pick-up/delivery, or a company from away where you've gotta pay shipping? For smaller breweries, a buck a sticker is probably about the cost.

Sure, your Stone, Deschutes, Firestone sized breweries are paying a lot less than that, but there's still a lot of behind the wall labor involved. Go to a brewers night for the brewery you want the sticker of, and they're probably giving them, and coasters, away. Plus, every beer you buy, you get a raffle ticket, ya might win a glass, t-shirt, or growler!

 

When I first got into visiting breweries 25 years ago the stickers were easier to come by for free and I collected a bunch. My perception is that most people stick them on their beer fridge to impress beer-drinking guests (or yourself), but my beer fridge is in the laundry room in an ugly corner of the basement, and I don't want my guests to see my piles of dirty laundry, etc. Eventually I gave the stickers to my son-in-law who did stick them on his beer fridge.

But I didn't get many stickers in the last 15 years or so except for this incident: I was visiting a new brewery on its opening day, so the owner was there and glad-handing everyone by visiting tables and chatting. He came to the table where my wife and I were sitting and handed me a brewery sticker. I said thanks but I don't collect them anymore and that I'd probably just stick it on the wall of some other brewery when I see a collection of them already started there. He said, "Here take these," and handed me 8-10 more of them.

So, OP, try that line the next time you want a sticker and see if you get more than you want.

By the way, right after I accumulated those 8-10 stickers, COVID hit and I didn't visit any breweries for a while. I stuck them someplace out of the way and haven't pasted a single one anywhere yet. So this thread now reminds me to go looking for them.

 

One of my Nalgenes has a spot......

 

I'll let you know once I find them. It better be a big spot; I remember these being big stickers.

 

I’ve gotten a lot of free stickers from breweries. When I’m ready to close out my tab I say, “How much for a sticker? My son collects those things.” I think I’ve only been charged once or twice. The other way is to bring him with and he’ll just ask if he can have one.