While everyone is expected to pitch in during these busy times, overtime pay can become a problem and erode the extra income. Additionally, the machinery on the production line tends to breakdown more often when it becomes stress from continuous use. Since the brewery must begin beer production before the summer season, over stocks can be a problem if the northeast experiences a prolonged winter. These warm days are celebrated will barbecues, hiking, and other outdoor activities by those who want to hang on to the very last vestige of summer. Beer is packaged either in kegs that must be returned or in bottles that are packed in cardboard boxes stacked on special pallets.
Distributors are slow to return the kegs and pallets, often leaving Cold Harbor short.
Cold Harbor has unsuccessfully tried to charge a deposit, but the distributors refuse to pay this, sometimes threatening to drop their line from their distribution. Cold Harbor s relative small size makes it a secondary player for its distributors. William has been pushing Cold Harbor to select one or two distributors who would give them the exposure that he thinks the company deserves. Over the past several years, Cold Harbor has started to brew and bottle beer that chains are marketing under their own label. While this strategy has diversified the end customer base for Cold Harbor, it has led to production problems.