Package store owners in Connecticut are forced to deal with monopolies when it comes to purchasing from beer wholesalers! You can only buy Anheuser-Busch products from your designated distributor, even though other A/B distributors deliver non A/B products in our area! This leads to poor customer service and deliveries, because we are held hostage to this system (restraint of trade?) we have no recourse to get problems solved! Most consumers will take their business elsewhere when service suffers, package store owners do not have this freedom of choice. This closed system also lends itself to higher prices with no competition. Ever notice how all the big brewers sell at the same pricing, Bud, Bud light, Coors, Miller ect...
Yes, I know, it's not all about me! It is about service! I cannot give my customers the level of service they deserve if I can't get product in a reasonable time. The distributor says" all orders received before 6 p.m. will be shipped the following day". So how come when I order on Friday A.M., and they are doing Saturday deliveries, I don't get my order until Tuesday (4 days after ordering)?
See, they got me started… while we are on the topic of beer…. Why is there no min bottle pricing as there is on wine and spirits? There may not be a lot of profit on some min bottle prices, but, it stops stores from selling items at cost, as a loss leader, to get people in the store. Beer is often sold at cost in the supermarkets to draw people in, again, this system only benefits the distributors!
And….
Distributors also charge a deposit on cardboard boxes! Yes! We pay $.06 deposit on any cardboard container that carries bottles (why not cans? Who Knows?) We have to break down and store cardboard boxes until we have enough to return. What do they do with all that money for boxes that don’t get returned?
Sorry,
Thanks for listening….
Now back to our regularly scheduled program….
Just another day in paradise
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