VIP membership & other deplorable practices...

LIL....

To paraphrase Yogi Berra....

"If people don't want to join a beer VIP club, who's going to stop them?"

 

Most shops around here have 10% case discount on wine every day. Some have 15% or 15% on full case and 10% on mixed. Sale prices are often 20-25% on either 6 or 12 bottles, sometimes everything in the store, sometimes regional (e.g., Southern Hemisphere wines). Beer, there are only a few shops that give 10% or 15% on any 6 bottles or 6 large bottles. You already get case discounts automatically (although quite often 2 12s is cheaper than a "case"). There was one store here that offered a VIP club for $20 that involved early notification on sales and arrivals, plus a store-branded glass, an extra week to get discounts before they were announced and an occasional exclusive event. There is a wine store near where I worked that offered free pedestrian tastings on Tuesday and $20-in exclusive tastings on Thursday, when they would open top-shelf bottles (with price tags far more than $20). The latter were limited to 12 people at a time. But no freakin' VIP club!

 

Stores (with possible local restrictions) have the right to do this.

Patrons have the choice to shop there should they choose to-no one is forcing you to go.

If you don' like it, don't patronize the store. If it is not the deal you wanted it to be, don't renew.

If that one store is your only option (and not likely to be), you are SOL.

 

Pa bottle shop prices are on par with NYC. I'm sure MA is also high.

 

This might be getting old, but...
First rule of VIP Club is don't talk about the VIP Club. It degrades the exclusivity...

 

Totally oppose the whole special club special status members only beers etc being pushed by some breweries. Sounds like something you guys would accuse 'Old Europe' of doing when in fact it only seems to happen in the States.