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| | The **The Business Consortium** Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | What do you think? Negative, Positive or No Consequence? | Views: 289 | | Jun 09, 2008 3:34 pm | | What do you think? Negative, Positive or No Consequence? | # | 
Susan McCool | | A Pint-Size Problem
Beer lovers nurse a grudge as some bars switch to smaller glasses
By NANCY KEATES
June 7, 2008; Page W3
Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline may be a cause for outrage. But it pales next to the righteous fury provoked by five-dollar-a-pint beer.
Beer prices at bars and restaurants have risen over the past few months, as prices of hops and barley have skyrocketed and retail business has slowed alongside the economy.
Some restaurants have replaced 16-ounce pint glasses with 14 ouncers -- a type of glassware one bartender called a "falsie."
And customers are complaining that bartenders are increasingly putting less than 16 ounces of beer in a pint glass, filling up the extra space with foam.
Two of the world's biggest glassware makers, Libbey and Cardinal International, say orders of smaller beer glasses have risen over the past year. Restaurateurs "want more of a perceived value," says Mike Schuster, Libbey's marketing manager for glassware in the U.S. Glasses with a thicker bottom or a thicker shaft help create the perception. "You can increase the thickness of the bottom part but still retain the overall profile," he says.
Dedicated beer drinkers are fighting back, with extra vigilance about exactly how much beer they get for their buck. They are protesting "cheater pints" and "profit pours" by outing alleged offenders on Web discussion boards and plugging bars that maintain 16-ounce pints, in hopes peer pressure will prevail. And they are spreading the word about how to spot the smaller glass (the bottom is thicker).
Read the rest: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121279252381153273.html
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Do you think this will hurt the bars that are being sneaky with the falsies and profit pours?
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Susan McCool
Spotlight Marketing & Design
...Guiding balanced business owners to enjoy the spotlight of success!
http://www.spotlightmarketinganddesign.comPrivate Reply to Susan McCool | | Jun 09, 2008 7:42 pm | | re: What do you think? Negative, Positive or No Consequence? | # | 
Julie Bestry | | I'm not a beer drinker, Susan, but I think this reflects a larger effort to sneak lesser value for the same dollar amount. You see it with candy bars, packaged foods, restaurant meals, etc. Some believe that as consumers, we'd rather pay a constant price (even if "fooled" into getting a lesser value) because it's psychologically less distressing than higher prices. However, I think the difference for bars (and possibly restaurants) is that patrons aren't just buying the tangible (quaffable) beer, but they're usually buying the whole beverage-and-atmosphere experience.
Thus, I think if someone has a favorite pub, perhaps within easy walking distance of home or work, where convivial friends meet after a long day, the patrons may shruggingly put up with the stable beverage price for decreased value or increased price for stable value because of the larger picture. They might be annoyed, but convenience breeds its own particular type of loyalty. The food at my absolute favorite restaurant has become pricier; I get the same amount of food (so I don't feel like I'm being cheated, as in the beer examples), but the amazing flavors that I can't get anywhere else stay constant. I may eat there less often (opting, instead, not to eat out at all), but barring changes that reduce the quality of the experience (replacing cute waiters, changing the recipes, etc.)
That said, our willingness to put up with such "cheating" is very much tied to the collective experience. If we find that a packaged food is selling for the same amount, but we're getting fewer ounces, we're more likely to notice it because we're paying more attention to details (like cost and value) when grocery shopping than when we're socializing. Frustrated enough (or often enough), we'll eventually consider changing brands because we're ticked off. Our loyalty to packaged goods isn't, I surmise, dependent upon convincing anyone else (except maybe family members who care little about price); our loyalty to the favorite pub or restaurant sways (in part) with the loyalty of our friends. If all your friends are offended enough, you can find a new "our place", but I'm betting most people would rather be ticked off but too lazy to change rather than so ticked off that they DO change.
What say ye, drinkers of beer?
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Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
Best Results Organizing
"Don't apologize. Organize!"
organize@juliebestry.com
Visit http://www.juliebestry.com to save time and money, reduce stress and increase your productivity Private Reply to Julie Bestry | | Jun 11, 2008 11:33 pm | | re: What do you think? Negative, Positive or No Consequence? | # |
Susan McCool | | While I am not a beer drinker, I do have friends and family who are. And, I know that they would rather pay a little extra for the full 16 oz that they went to the bar to drink.
But, that really isn't the point. What I do not like about the sneaky businesses that are using "falsies" and "profit pours" is the fact that they are being sneaky about it. They are trying to trick their customers into thinking they are getting the very same thing they have always had, but they aren't. They are getting less. Its an integrity issue for me.
If I decided I needed to raise my prices, I would simply tell my clients, "I had to raise my prices due to..."
I wouldn't expect my clients to be happy if I just decided to start giving them less quality work, less time invested or only partial projects simply because I decided I needed to raise my prices and I didn't know how communicate the need.
So, if this weren't a case about beer, but rather became an issue with a professional service you use, how would you feel?
What if your service provider decided to give you less quality work, less time for your money or only partially finished projects without telling you about the price increase? How would you feel?
--
Susan McCool
Spotlight Marketing & Design
...Guiding balanced business owners to enjoy the spotlight of success!
http://www.spotlightmarketinganddesign.comPrivate Reply to Susan McCool | | Jun 12, 2008 12:57 am | | re: re: What do you think? Negative, Positive or No Consequence? | # |
Julie Bestry | | Perhaps I misunderstood. Is the issue communication or the change itself?
Susan said: "I wouldn't expect my clients to be happy if I just decided to start giving them less quality work, less time invested or only partial projects simply because I decided I needed to raise my prices and I didn't know how communicate the need.
So, if this weren't a case about beer, but rather became an issue with a professional service you use, how would you feel?"
I have to admit, I see goods and services in a very different light. Unless a service is a package of many smaller services, it doesn't lend itself to diminution; almost any consumable good, on the other hand, does. (Obviously, clothing, auto parts, etc....non-consumables, are more like services.)
When I buy a tube of toothpaste, a package of cookies, a bag of tortilla chips, etc., I don't have any expectation that the amount will be standard. Aside from bottled beverages or travel items that must be 3 ounces to get through the TSA screenings, I have no pre-conceived notion of how "much" the container should hold. I look at the price, I look at the amount, I make a judgement.
Like: yes, the $3.79 tub of Oikos tzatziki is more than I want to spend, but if I bought the Greek yogurt and cucumbers, it would amount to the same thing before I even factor in the value of my time, so I'll take it; or no, the English five-cheese block that used to be roughly $5-6 for a wedge is now $8, and as much as I love cheese, I know I'll eat my weight in cheese in a sitting, so the value for the increased cost isn't worth it.
With services, I see it differently. There's a standard, generally, whereby for the price of X, you get Y, and as time goes by, the price of the constant Y will be increased from X to X+some further amount. On the one hand, the "new" girl in the salon only charged $25 to cut my hair 18 months ago, but has become so popular that her rates went to $30 and $35 for the same services. I have a choice--stay with her and pay or go elsewhere. It would be rare to keep a service rate standard and decrease the value (like her cutting the left side of my hair, but not the right), whereas it's common and accepted with consumable goods.
I'm not saying I like it with foodstuffs or beverages. I'm just saying that while you generally cannot reduce the value while keeping the price stable on most services, it's a far easier accomplishment, and therefore more likely to be accepted (with chagrin) with consumable products.
And, of course, with non-consumable products, the only option besides increasing the price is decreasing the quality. I have a much bigger problem with getting an unsafe car or toaster at a constant price than a reduced-size beverage.
Plus, lastly, alcohol is empty calories. Diet Coke is perfection. Caveat emptor. :-)
Seriously, though, I don't expect anyone to communicate price changes at all. I expect that all price changes will be communicated in as sneaky and surreptitious a manner as possible such that all providers will hope I do not even notice the cost or value has been changed. Perhaps I'm cynical, but I don't find out that the dentist has changed the rate of my teeth cleaning until it's time to pay, post-appointment; I didn't know the salon had upped my stylist's rate until my hair was already cut. I'm not saying it's right, but it's certainly what's done by many service providers. People obviously put up with it. Would it be BETTER if everyone communicated openly and honestly? Sure, but I doubt it will happen.
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Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
Best Results Organizing
"Don't apologize. Organize!"
organize@juliebestry.com
Visit http://www.juliebestry.com to save time and money, reduce stress and increase your productivity Private Reply to Julie Bestry | | |
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