VIP membership & other deplorable practices...

Yeah, I was actually about to say that if the above post is true, that $35 membership is not only not an issue for me, but something that I'd definitely sign up for. The notifications alone would probably be worth it for me, but the 10% discount and decreasing yearly costs make this...actually a pretty sweet deal.

 

It's another obstacle, an additional cost to add to the gas and payment to mules. Just like employment is an obstacle to folks being truck chasers. Nothing preventing anyone from doing anything.

Okay, now that we are clear that you are against the truck chasers and mule situation, and that you feel the club solution isn't perfect, what is your idea that is better than the club idea?

 

Yo,

The VIP fee would have to consider the location,how many stores in the area sell craft beers, how many customers there enjoy craft beers,and what is the daily selection at the deli/bottle shop you visit. The 35.00 VIP fee is about ten cents a day.

 

My main takeaway is that I would LOVE to have access to that kind of program at a shop near me. Exclusive bottles have to get allocated somehow and I hate the system as it exists now - hoping that the shopowner notices you when you're in there buying your beer or kissing his ass in the hopes that he'll write you down on his special list. I hate that stuff for the same reason I hate shops that don't have prices on all their bottles - I like to have all the information on the table and make an informed decision.

If I know it costs me $35 to be a VIP and it comes with benefits X, Y, and Z I can make an informed decision about whether that's something I want (and it totally is). As things stand it takes some unknown number of $ or visits per week or ass-kisses of store manager X or some other unknown formula. It just doesn't appeal to me to play that sort of grab-ass game.

 

lol $35 for the right to buy a mango beer lol

 

A serious flaw in this scenario is the assumption that everyone gets the product at the same time and has it available on release date. That's almost never the case. I've picked up some "rarities" a few times by asking the "beer guy" and once I got the response that they were going to release it tomorrow but, since I asked, I could have one today, another said they had some on the floor but would check out back (and sure enough found another case), another gave me the delivery date (6 weeks after the initial release), another guy volunteered a "rarity" that they had in the back room (another store in the chain had the same item on the floor at the same price). In short, as many different responses as there are stores. No advantage for mules or truck chasers.

 

Thanks for providing some additional clarity to the situation. Having read this post, I'm now annoyed at the OP for even posing the question in the language "deplorable practices". I mean, what in the actual shit? There is nothing "deplorable" or even close about this.

You pay a modest $35/year (less than $3/month), and in exchange you get 10% of everything at the store, a free meal once a year and after 5 years it's FREE?!?!?!? What is there to think about?

I don't know how much a meal runs at this place, but for argument's sake, let's say $10. Already, your membership fee is really only $25. And then with the 10% of everything deal, you only have to spend $250/year at the store to COMPLETELY get your membership fee back. That's a little more than $20/month, which seems like a modest beer budget... but I dunno.

So even if you ignore the fact that you're avoiding the hassle and time of hunting down limited releases and battling the hordes of people also hunting down those same releases, the other benefits from membership seem to more than pay for themselves. I would gladly pay this much, with my only fear being that at such a great deal, others will jump at the opportunity and make my benefit a little less awesome, although still great.

 

So the way things are now is the best way? The club idea sucks? Not sure what your opinion is about the club in question. Seems like your post is merely ...geez, I can't figure out what your point is.

Here is a quote from a bev store owner: "In the past, when we would get in a limited quantity item, I would send out an e-mail, letting you, our valued customer, be the first to know the date and time the product would be released. I thought that this was a fair system, but I still received complaints that it was not fair to everyone because of their schedules. "

My point is that there are folks who would complain that the beers aren't all released at the same time, etc. etc., there are folks who will complain no matter what system. Either it's locals more entitled than non locals, great customers more entiltled than occasionals, etc. etc. etc.

The system of that wonderful club with so many benefits, including allocated bottles of small release beers, seems a great way to run a business. If I was a business owner, and I realized some folks would be unhappy no matter what I did, I would make sure the ones least unhappy were my best customers, and the ones at the other end of that spectrum were my most infrequent customers.

 

The one store here that has a stated policy on their website actually does make it better for frequent shoppers. They give you a card and punch it for every mixed 6er (any size--so 6 bombers of same thing qualify, but a standard 6-pack or 4-pack only counts as 1 of 6) you buy. After a certain number of punches, you get a "hold ticket" which you can use at your discretion on any release in the store. If you happen to use it on something that is not rare? Well, that's your choice. And it's FCFS for holds too--if there are more holds than availability, you're shit out of luck if your hold is late in queue--but, at least, you get your hold ticket back to use on something else. Membership? Sort of, but a far more fair one and certainly a clear direct reward for frequent customers. At 6er a week, this approach takes about 4 months per hold, so if you're a regular, you get 3 holds per year. No VIPs that get all holds.

 

Actually, yes. They make a point that you can get membership at any time--even when you call for a tow. More to the point, if you're not a member and don't want to join, they will send someone out if you call them, but you'll pay the local rate--it won't be free for you. You don't just get a discount with membership--you get an allowance of free services, so it is essentially risk management. Where's "risk management" in membership that just charges upfront for access?

 

My point was that your description of what is and what might be simply does not fit reality. No discussion of what should be or might be--just to say that what you claim "is" actually isn't.

 

The bottle shop is not exclusive because it has doors that open to the public presumably to do business. If it charges a fee to release to you personally, beer that doesn't see the shelves then how is that a practice that will attract customers? I understand that you want your special releases and you want them first. But if it's the demographic that supports the walk in business then why go over the heads of your patrons and charge a fee on top of the sale price? It seems so unamerican. I know there's sam's club and they charge a membership fee so that you can recoup that investment on all the bulk bargains over time. I don't shop at sam's club.

I expect that if there is a store front and that store wants to see me walk through those doors then they have something to offer. If you want a private club, keep it secret.

The outrage? I have green money just like you but I won't give it away. 10 cents a day to fund the overhead of a bottle shop that doesn't care enough about me as a customer to offer me a product I can find on the shelf except for an additional fee and doesn't guarantee that either with the fee? I'll be at the grocery store buying beer.

 

It is reality, and in the six years I have been on this site it is a frequent discussion, and my friends in the business tell me stories also.

Now your claim that a store owner forgot to put a rare beer out until six weeks after release? Well....

 

Not forgot--they did not get it until then. Things apparently work differently in MA than they do in NY. "Release date" means very little for most stores. If the distributor can't get it to them on that date it does not mean that they are completely shut out.

 

The membership encourages repeat business from locals who will actually shop there over the course of the year and support the store as opposed to the guy who drove all over the state picking up all the [insert rare beer here] the day it was released. If you actually shop there you will recoup your modest investment very quickly and have the opportunity to purchase beers that would otherwise be extremely difficult to get. Good luck strolling into a grocery store and picking this stuff up.

Also, I guess you didn't read about the guy who was not only afforded the opportunity to buy KBS, but was also offered a 3 year vertical of it. But you're right, I guess they don't care enough about their customers

 

Books and beer is a bad example. There is no limit to the # of copies of a book that can be printed. Unless you have twins, no one needs more than one copy of a book.

 

Based on the list of benefits that was described in detail, I'd say you're hardly giving your money away at this particular bottle shop.

The simple truth is that not every customer is after all the limited and rare releases. A lot of them aren't after ANY limited/rare releases, they just want good variety and to be served well by the staff. This is no different than any retailer creating product level tiers to help sort out the customers who will pay a premium for premium benefits vs. those that are okay with regular benefits for zero premium.

This seems like a pretty fair way to make sure the most interested customers are getting access to the things they are interested in without any hassle. It's also a method for capturing loyal customers who will continue to patronize the shop over the long haul, rather than just when those rare and special releases hit.

I guess the question I would ask you is this: do you want those special releases? If yes, then I would think that this setup appeals to you. If no, then I would think you are ambivalent to this setup, because it doesn't hurt customers who don't care about the special releases.

Something to think about: the less hardcore craft beer customers can be turned off by the mad rush for limited/rare bottle releases. There is a bottle shop here in Kansas City that is super popular, both with hardcore BA types and with more casual craft enthusiasts. I know for a fact that when they do tap takeovers or other events where they end up getting some special/limited/rare beers, that the customers who aren't interested in the RAREZ get frustrated having to wade through the ones who are. Some kind of system, whether it's a fee or some other way of identifying and segmenting the different types of customers would certainly serve them well.

 

The first claim is simply not true. There are plenty of books that have "limited releases", "numbered copies", etc. To make things worse, a lot of academic publications now only come out in enough copied to make them available to libraries and no one else (some as few as 1200 copies). Actually, there is less limit, in general, on brewing beer--when a batch runs out, you make the next one. Sort of like reprinting popular books... It may not be 100% compatible, but nor are book reprints.

 

If it serves to further isolate the Wale Street traders and the silly beers they lionize in their weird little self-important beer bubble, then I'm all for it.

 

I wish Wal-Mart had a plan like this for buying ammunition.