Opinions on "Muling" Groups

Definitely a First-World problem....having said that, haters gonna hate, and dicks are gonna, well...be dicks.

 

^^Preach on, nano!!!

 

I've used a mule, I've been a mule. No different than trading.

 

I got your mule right here...






I highly recommend the Chevy Tahoe for all your muling excursions. This fucker was well over payload and still got great mileage from Vermont back home to the Philly burbs.

 

Everyone wants some Heady but then they think someone is a DICK for helping someone get some? WTF?

 

Dude, we've had people fly in from the mid-west for Fremont releases.

Jokes on them when they show up and there's no lines and plenty to go around.

 

That was beer for nearly 2 dozen people. Lot of fun getting good beer into the hands of good people.

 

Thank you Retail1LO! Your an OK guy and a Hell of a mule! I bet you have tired hands after carrying all my beer!

 

Big corporations with trucks and government protection mule beer all over the place. Why is it bad if regular individuals want to do it too?

 

There were bottles left over at the end of the night so you didn't lose anything. Muling groups are just the next level of trading without all the "my shelf walez balz are worth M + Dave" bull shit.

 

There should be a law against people buying what amount beer stores will allot them to buy, just because of their intent. Then, they should be forced to report every beer bought to a central data base and receive regular audits and outrageous penalties for any and all discrepancies found; I'm thinking $100 for every ounce of beer involved, with a 20% increase per ounce for each additional discrepancy. And a mandatory 180 day jail time sentence for proven fraud, where the definition of fraud is so vague, any lawyer can find something to imply it.

Best of all, before any beer is sold, they should go through an interview, selection process, and background check; that would only take about 2 weeks, at the least... Not bad right?

 

True. I'm not even sure what a mule is...

 

There are about nine different "muling"s being discussed here. Paying a homeless guy to stand in line with you so you can land extra BA Mexican Cake is one thing, but I'd say that falls more under "hoarding" than "muling." Muling to me - and I think to a lot of people who've been into craft beer a while - is helping others around the country obtain what's local to you - i.e. I'm local to Firestone and sent out about seven total cases of Parabola to people who otherwise wouldn't have gotten any this year. I'm in multiple groups that are more about muling than trading, and they're full of super generous people who actually care about the craft beer community and, for the most part, aren't crazy hoarders. There's nothing wrong with that and I don't think the "muling" the OP is addressing even happens enough to complain about.

 

My progression of faces:
...............

carry on

 

I had no idea....My innocents was officially lost after reading this thread. I suddenly need a shower.

 

Part of me wants to call the Mulers scumbags. The other part says, "Why didn't I think of that?" It all seems very similar to ticket broker/scalpers. You're waiting in line. You know they're there. Unless you're in with them, you don't want them to be there. But you accept it. Hell, maybe you even "do business" with them. With the way breweries do their limited release events, it was only a matter of time. However, I tend to think that the beer mulers are perhaps a bit more altruistic with their intent.

 

Muling is all me and my "former trading partners" do any more. We get for one another what can't be had on our own without having to give up anything from our cellars. Essentially we still trade...but we exchange our services rather than beer. We still send one another boxes of beer out of gratitude, however, as it's the right thing to do. But it's so much more fun not having to haggle over who's sending what. Cash...beer...thank you.

 

I am part of a mauling group of eight people, so I find this topic humorous. Most of my best friends just so happen to live scattered around the country, and we all just so happen to mule like eeyore. Wanna fight about it?

 

I think this really just comes down to the old concept of winning the trade. If you're muling to trade and being cool about it, cool. If you're muling to win trades, not cool. There are both types and you'll likely know which you're dealing with pretty early on.

Both of these scenarios are capitalism, but one is free trade and one is price gouging.

 

A group of mules, eh? Sounds like a pack of jackasses.