Prices clearly marked?!

Now it's time to get dirty. It looks like Maryland has a price labeling law ( https://www.nist.gov/pml/weights-and-measures/laws-and-regulations/retail-and-unit-pricing-laws ) that should give you leverage to make things work for you. I hate reading legal documents, so here's a .pdf file that you can read to verify there is no exclusion for beer or alcoholic beverages. There is probably a method of filing a complaint in there somewhere too that you can use to get action. Good luck. https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2017/05/09/MARYLAND.pdf

 

Ya man I hear ya... wait whaaat? Gas stations?

 

I did not read through all the posts here so please forgive me for that. I believe this is an issue with many products across a wide range of categories in stores. I realize it's a pain but not a beer buying exclusive. Work with places that do a good job at it or deal with it.

To me a more exasperating thing is breweries that do not keep all of their info up to date on a daily basis on their website vs little comments on FB etc.

 

This is what I call the NAPA effect. My local Napa is notorious for not pricing anything so it's either you ask them for the price of everything or just go up and cringe while waiting for check out. Needless to say, I don't go there often if at all. If I've bought the beer before from the same place...and the price isn't marked, I have an idea as to how much it is. However, if it's a new beer to me and it's not marked, I generally won't get it because I don't want to be surprised at $25 4 pack. However, if I know before hand...then that's fine. It's my choice.

 

I coulda written this post.

 

Very annoying, agreed... Almost as annoying as finding old and out of date product on shelves...

 

I have a slightly different experience with this. I'm heading out of town this weekend and plan on stopping by a well renown beer store on the way to my destination. They update their draft beers and new arrivals on untappd about once a month. I sent them an email asking some questions about inventory and pricing in hopes that I could place a to go order and not have to enter the store. I did not receive a response, so I called the store. The rep I talked to gave me vague answers about inventory while ringing up customers, so I didn't even as about prices. Consequently, I'm going to stop there to in person shop now, which I don't feel great about, but I know there beer prices are well marked inside the store. Should I be upset that they weren't more receptive to my email? I've had great customer service from this store before, including via email, so maybe my expectations were too high.

 

Are they selling beer or trading innpork belly futures? The fuck you mean "prices change so often"?! I'm pretty sure sierra Nevada 6 packs have been $8.99 the entire decade plus I've been buying beer. Same with the $4.99 old Rasputin bomber, same price it's always been. Does their distributor call them up randomly with price increases on the beer.they already bought?

 

Sounds like you need a new beer store.

Also, why has it just been deemed acceptable for (often newer to the scene) small time craft breweries fo charge $20/4 pack for their standard/regular offerings? Apparently local is justification for over priced. Striking how the rise in cost has paralleled the rise is mediocrity.

 

to be fair, $10 in january of 2000 is the equivalent of $15+ today. The long time regional/national breweries have been losing functional margin because they couldn't raise their prices inline with inflation without upsetting their consumers. These newer brewers do not have the scale to tolerate those low margins and also aren't trapped by the price perception their consumers have developed over the years. In general though I do agree that there are lots of middling quality and overpriced beers floating around these days

 

One area of overlap is the lack of pricing information on pints in beer bars. It's one thing to go to your local and order your usual but when you go some place where there are 20-100 taps available and the beer menu might mention a style, description, ABV, etc but no price, it is frustrating (although brewery taprooms are usually an exception).

Maybe Bob was right (you guys know Bob, right?): if I gotta ask, I probably can't afford it.

 

How old is Founders Barrel Runner? I was in a "shop" last nite trying to sell it... 4 dollars a bottle.

 

That was an '18 release and was on the shelves around now if I remember correctly so right at two years. Can't lie, I would be a little curious but probably not at that price [unless it's a bomber]. Lots of people didn't care for it but I enjoyed it.

 

As someone who works the retail side of craft beer, that just sounds like a douche move. Unless you know 100% for sure that the staff member you're making put away the beer is the dude who decided that the store wasn't going to put prices out for the beers, you're just giving a, likely low-paid, person extra work to do. Better to just ask staff if there's a way to leave a suggestion. The person working on the floor probably agrees with you.

 

Or, maybe they will learn and have the guy who restocks the shelf start putting the price on the beer. I don't find it a douche move. If I get something at a store on the shelf and it isn't priced, I will ask the cashier to check the price before ringing me up. I am not going to leave the line and go put it back. I tell them no I don't want it, wasn't priced and I am not willing to spend that for it. Onus is on the store to manage this.

 

Things have changed a lot in the past few years at WF. Much more strict on organization, tags being correct and proper tags on every facing. Usually when they cut new beers in on order days, you have to scan all of them and go print them out in the SSS office. Sounds like that particular beer dept wasn’t running a tight ship and generally being lazy. Nowadays that shit doesn’t fly.

 

I don’t ever recall seeing that at any brewery or bar either in Chicago or while traveling, beyond a few restaurants. Would walk out / not return if I ran into this situation, if you have a menu list the price.

There are a couple of squirrelly places here where they don’t list prices and charge preferred customers a different price, hold bottle sales for regulars only, our make you buy something else to pair with your “whale” (outside of BCS Black Friday which usually is one of the each and is reasonable). These are all no go places on my end.

 

I find it equally as annoying when they have the price and not the size of the pour.