A beer rant AKA you can't return beer (really long, you probably shouldn't read it, but it's a lil insight into the retail world

[Joey P]

The primer: When I first took over the buying/selling of beer at my store the person that was doing it told me something "you can't return beer". I don't remember if I bought something that I was worried about not selling well or something but I said 'meh, the guy said he'd pick it up' and my boss said 'won't happen, they never pick up beer, they say they will, but they never do'

That was six years ago. In those 6 years, there's been quite a few times where I've asked for some beer to be returned. I think I've successfully managed to have it picked up maybe once...maybe. Even having out of date beer picked up is a major hassle.

Anyways, here's the story, I just need to vent. A few weeks back I was approached by a brewery rep. For those of you 'not in the know', a brewery rep is someone that works for a brewery, not a distributor. We'll call him Sam. He's super nice. Asked if I'd like to sell his beer, brought in some samples and they were all very good. He gave me the pricing and said if I bring it in he'd do a tasting in a few weeks for my customers. Sounds great. I gave him an order for 10 cases, he emailed the distributor and a few days later the order showed up. Problem was, all the cases were $3.00 to much. I asked the driver about it and he shrugged his shoulders (I know, not his problem) and I said 'well, take it back, sorry'. But as we was loading it, I quickly called the distrubutor and asked them why I didn't get the pricing. Turns out they were 1 case short which means I lost the 10 case deal...so I could wait until it comes in and have it re-shipped next week. I suggested that they just give me the 10 case deal price rather than load it back on the truck, unload it at the warehouse, restock it, then pick it next week and drive it all the way back out here. They agreed, I put it up for sale. Sold half if it before the tasting, half of what was left during the tasting and just about all the rest between then and now. Awesome.

About three weeks ago I emailed the brewery rep back and told him I needed to order more and just sort of said 'you know it better than I do, pick some out and send it to me'. A week later it wasn't in. I called him back and he told me that he was holding off until September so I could get the 10 case deal again.

Beer shows up last Friday. I wasn't there, we're a COD account with them so it was paid in cash. I called up and spoke to a supervisor (I don't have a sales rep with this distributor at this point, at least not one I've met since I haven't ordered from them in years). I ask them why I didn't get the deal (all prices $3 higher than agreed. Super said 'who told you that' "Sam did, he told me I need to wait until Sep to get the 10 case deal in'. At this point, I just assumed they would tell me I missed the deal because only 9 shipped and they would make an adjustment, no biggie. But instead he said 'look, Sam is just a volunteer with '[beer company] he really shouldn't be quoting prices without talking to us, we don't have any kind of deal running this month' at which point, fed up with them, I said 'fine, come pick up the beer'. There were a few more words exchanged and the guy said 'I'll take care of it'.

Today, my actual sales rep from the dist showed up. My boss mumbled 'gotta hand truck', but he didn't quite catch it (implying that he should pick it up, but he's not going to, see the callback to the beginning). He asked what the problem was and I said 'I was promised one price, but I got a different one' and the rep said the same thing the other guy said. Sam doesn't work for us/can't quote prices blah blah blah. I said 'that's fine, I just need you guys to come pick up the beer. This load of beer cost me almost $30 more than it should have. His compromise, which I accepted, was that he would bring me $30 worth of beer (I hope it's not some out of date/crap beer). I thanked him.

Now, here's where doing what I've been doing for as long as I've been going it comes in handy (ie, for as non-confrontational as I am in general, I can be very confrontational in business, especially with people I don't know).

His next like was 'So, do you want me to stop in every week? Every other week?" as he hands me a card.

I said "Bring me the $30 worth of beer, then we'll talk, but you guys really shafted me on this order, and the last one and your supervisor treated me like dirt on the phone, when you make this one right, then I can see what else you have and talk about another order?" and I tossed his card in the garbage as I walked away. I really don't know if he saw me throw out his card. I didn't mean for him to see it. I just didn't have any use for it because I don't have any intention of ordering from them in the future.

About 10 minutes later I walked back into the store to see one of my employees rather wide eyed. I said 'what? was I too mean to him?' and the employee said 'he looked pretty mad when he walked out'. Good, he should be. A)If Sam can't give prices, Sam shouldn't be allowed to take/place orders. B)Until I have that beer in my hands, I'm getting charged 15% over. I had no way of knowing that was going to happen. In the mean time that load is sitting in the backroom, waiting to see what happens. I'll call them next week and ask for it to be picked up again. I'm not going to put it up (at the wrong price) and find out a month later that they can't bring me the beer or refund me the money or they want to pick it up but can't know because it's sold or whatever. Also, if the sales guy does stop in each week, I can keep pointing to that stack of unsold beer and keep telling him that until it gets cleared up, he doesn't need to bother me for another order*.

I really don't have much use for them. It's a small dist, I know their portfolio. That have a very small selection of major names and their craft stuff is almost always out of stock. It's one of the reasons why I stopped ordering a few years back.

I know I was harsh, but harsh is what gets through to sales people. Don't give them the upperhand. The problem is when employees come back to me and say 'why were you so nasty to him [in general, not with this guy], you didn't have to throw him out of here. Ummm, yes I did, I've asked that exact sames Quill sales team to stop coming in 3 times now, including just last week. Their prices are higher than the Office Depot 2 miles away...and I wasn't mean, it's just that I said 'no thanks, and please stop coming in every week' as soon as they handed me a Quill brochure.

And you know who's the worst, credit card processor sales people. Ugh.


*I found that's a great tactic to get sales people to stop selling me crap. Point to some of their items and say 'when that's gone, then I'll put in another order. For some reason, saying 'is that a good seller' doesn't work because they'll tell you everything is great. Even saying 'are you sure, remember, if I only sell a case a month, you only make commission on a case a month, if you find me something that sells 10 cases a month, you're commission goes up by 10x' doesn't even work. But, when they stop in to see if you need something and you say 'nope, I'm good, you sold me 3 cases of that, that right there, 2 months ago, when it's gone then we'll take a look' seems to get through to them.
But I have a feeling that's because their supervisors start breathing down their next about why they haven't made any sales into that/my account in two months.