Did we ruin Bourbon County?

If you keep reading from where you copied and pasted from Wikipedia you will see why one cannot gouge on a luxury item

 

This is why we can't have nice things.

I guess I lucked out. Walked into my local shop to buy some hops Wednesday before thanksgiving and they had regular, coffee and barleywine. Got a bottle of each, and walked out. I wasn't going to hunt for it at all this year so I was happy to find it that easy.

 

If an $11 pint bottle is unreasonable, then so is a $25 four-pack. Either both are reasonable, or neither is.

Honestly, I think an argument can be made for either, especially from an individual level. But it needs to be consistent.

"...Usually this event occurs after a demand or supply shock: common examples include price increases of basic necessities after hurricanes or other natural disaster."

I realize that "gouging" has colloquially come to mean any price that represents an extreme markup over the MSRP or what is generally considered the going or "fair" price in most places, but the term itself comes from a very specific usage to deplore taking advantage of people with a true need. In no way is beer a need.

 

what do you mean?

 

It's a fairly common joke. People always ruin good things, it's human nature.

 

Nope. Spending Triple at retail is stupid.

 

Good lord, you're one of those technical people, I'm aware of the legal definition it still doesn't change a the retailer is trying to charge an unwarranted market premium vs available options.

 

I understand you're actually just focusing on a very technically detail, the fact still remains the retailers premium is unwarranted which is the spirit of the OP's argument

 

I certainly understand the spirit of the argument, but I think the counterargument would be: what constitutes "unwarranted"?

The reason I ask is because if someone is willing to pay the premium, while you or I might personally find such a premium completely ridiculous and unpalatable, if it sells, was it really "unwarranted"?

And this gets to the heart of why "gouging" is/should be limited to essential goods or services, typically in times of extreme need. Because the value of luxury goods is typically more closely tied to what people will pay for it, since there is no innate need for the good to be accessible to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay.

 

Not even close

 

I think this might be true. Were there lines around here? Yes. But the first people lined up one hour ahead of the stores opening and got entire allotments (at least two of each variant). No one lined up 3-4 hours ahead of time to my knowledge. Odd compared to Chicago.

 

Price-gouging is often defined in terms of three criteria listed below:*

1. Period of emergency: The majority of laws apply only to price shifts during a time of disaster.
2. Necessary items: Most laws apply exclusively to items which are essential to survival.
3. Price ceilings: Laws limit the maximum price that can be charged for given goods.
   
   M. Zwolinski (2008). "The Ethics of Price Gouging". Business Ethics Quarterly 3: 347–378.

1. A beer release isn't not a time of disaster it may be a personal time of crisis but that is just you.
2. Unlike water, grains and gasoline; beer is not essential to human survival.
3. There is no price ceiling for luxury items ( its whatever people wish to pay).
* MRSP is exactly as it reads Manufacturers Recommened Retail Price. There is a daily recommended intake of calories but many people go well over that too.

Im not saying that higher prices MRSP is a good thing and the fact that you can still find retailers willing to sell a product at a reasonable price is up lifting Everyone has their own threshold of what is too much to spend on something they enjoy. Its up to you not the retailer to decide how much money is too much to spend. You said it yourself one place wanted $125, and you said no then went to another location that had prices more inline with your own personal price point. ​

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Yep, well said. It just so happened that the OP exceeded his own personal threshold and Is experiencing a heavy dose of buyer's remorse and all of the related feelings.

It is why we have feelings, and a conscience. Best teachers there are...

 

South Bay in California. In the Gilroy/Monterrey area it seems that stores get it but nobody cares. If you go into SJ or SF people will line up at the bevmo's.

 

Um there's no reason to be a smug asshole. It's impressive that @Billy_Bars to share this on public forum. Beer culture has gotten so competitive that most of us have probably done something slightly embarrassing for beer. Personally I'm glad this thread is up because it reminded me that chasing beer isn't everything.

 

This ftw. So much new fresh beer out there that is awesome...I love me BCBS but good beer is everywhere now.

 

Place was selling a case for $230. It contained Rare, Prop, Rye, Coffee, BW, 2014 bcbs,2014 Rye, 2015 bcbs x2, and "the sour girls". I passed. The guy behind me got 2 of them. In hindsight, I could have maybe scalped the Rare for $220, but it would not have seemed right to me.

 

50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're right, either

 

Dude.... You're insane for paying those prices.

I had a Rare set aside with 1x each of the other variants, I left my alotted bottle at the counter because it rang up at $79.99. One bottle of beer....no thanks. I thought, I'd rather go snowboarding. At that moment I didn't give a shit if I ever tried that beer in my life. Some things are simply not worth the money.

 

You see, I'm a little strange. I got in line at 1AM. Why? Because I had never done it before. For me, it was a new experience I wanted to have. I will never do it again, not because I didn't enjoy it, but because now I've already done it once. I am happy that I'm in a place in my life where I can do frivolous, meaningless things like this.