A couple of discussions seemed to have passed me by in the last couple of weeks and, when I did eventually pick up on them, roused some interest upon reading. The first was an article by Glynn Davis for Beer Insider, the second was a Hopinions podcast Twitter poll and the resulting audio show.
Both referred to the discussion of
whether a half pint should be half the price of a full pint. Whilst the results
of the Twitter poll at least were fairly one sided, there were still
discussions justifying any difference in pricing; areas where half a pint may
be more than a full pint because there is some sort of strenuous extra labour
involved in its production. With this I have discovered new types of bars that
have interesting pay structures.
The argument seems to be that the
labour costs are the same for serving a half as they are a pint and that must
be reflected in the price one pays. Therefore, there are areas in the country
where people either are or believed to be working in one of the following two
ways:
1) The bar staff are paid commission
on every drink served; a pay by play basis if you will. Each drink, whatever it
is, forms the wages of the staff and therefore they must be factored in as
such. Presumably they are just standing around waiting for customers and do not
get paid if nobody comes in.
2) Serving drinks at the bar is a
huge inconvenience and additional service provided by bar staff that is beyond
their original contracts. Each drink must be charged per pour because it is not
expected of them.
I’m intrigued by these bars as I’ve
never been in one. Those that I have been around work out their beer prices
based on a GP for all beer that at a bare minimum will cover the overheads of the business as well as turn a profit. Overheads usually include things like
electricity, rent, business rates, wages, maintenance and... wait,
that’s right – wages. Wages are included in the overheads. Wages have already
been factored into the beer prices - as has the use of the glass washer, glass
expense and wear and tear on the beer engines. This is already included in the
price of your pint or any other measure that you choose.
So there is no “extra” cost for
pulling a half over a pint. There is no comparable difference in the work
involved that needs to be factored in. That has already been paid for.
If bars are adamant that there are
further unaccounted costs in pulling a half pint over a pint then I encourage
them to base their GDP on a half pint and double it.
Further counter points are that this
is a discount for added quantity, like one may see elsewhere, but beer down the
pub is not advertising space or a carton of milk. Not everything in the world
is priced the same. If this was the case then it would be commonplace to see 6
pints for £20 offers as well (and yes I am aware such nonsense exists in
student bars and Yates.)
The reason it is not comparable to
the likes of milk is because the overheads are projected in the original price.
It is not:
£5.00 a pint + £50p service
charge = £5.50 a pint
THEREFORE £2.50 a half + 50p service
charge = £3.00 a half.
However, the likes of milk are
calculated in such a way:
A pint carton = 30p worth of liquid +
30p packaging and labour. 60p overall.
A 2pint carton = 60p worth of liquid + 40p
packaging and labour. £1.00 overall.
The only counter arguments can be
that it “has always been this way” so we are following some dormant tradition.
Or perhaps they are looking to the continent where uneven pricing for “small”
and “large” measures is common, though this doesn’t adhere to our stricter
measurement acts.
If any pubs or bars want to have a
specific pricing structure that increases price for smaller measures then they
have every right to do so. I'm also not bothered by the odd 10p here and there. This is not a flat out criticism of those
structures.
It is criticism of the outright lie
that this can be attributed as an extra service charge because wages are not
already pitched as overheads. Do not continue this folly that we are paying
service charges for pouring beer. It is insulting nonsense. The beer pulled at
your pub is different to that sold packaged in your local supermarket. It is
also very different to the meat at your butcher’s, the cost of travel insurance
or a new three piece suite. Those things do cost money and are priced in a
certain way. But to almost coin a popular phrase – what the hell has that got
to do with the price of a half?
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