The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-09-16
Ten-0unCe Stein Can Be
Sold for Nickel at Profit
Wholesalers Say.
BREWERIES ARE TARGET
Retailers Pass Buck High
er Up in Attempt to
Hush CIamor.
This is the second of three stories on
beer prices in indianapolis.
BY ARCH STEINEL
Times STAFF Writer

Ten-ounce stems of beer can be
sold at a fair margin of profit for
5 cents a stein in indianapolis.
The distributors and wholesalers
say this is possible.
The local brewery officials ad-
NIT that it Will come.
Even today, with the wholesale
cost of local beer at sic a barrel,
retailers can sell 16-ounce stems for
10 cents instead of twelve ounces,
or two 12-ounce stems for Is cents.
Retailers point out that local beer
is sold at sic a barrel, despite the
fact that it does not go through an
importer, who receives a cut OF 81 a
barrel from foreign beers.
Cost sic a Barrel
But foreign beers are bought in the
states in which they are made for
So a barrel. BY the time the beer
reaches Indianapolis. and the state
tax and importers cut are paid, the
foreign beer costs the wholesaler SIG
a barrel. or the same price, approx
mately, which the retailer pays the
local brewery for its beer.
Now the retailer points out, If the
local brewery sold its beer to him at
the price of So barrel, as foreign
beers are sold to wholesalers OF this
city. that a general scaling down OF
prices eventually would reach the
consumer, so that a large scent
GROWER would be a reality.
Examining the comparative profit
in beer sold today by an Indianapo-
lis brewery and the profit if that
same beer sold at S12 a barrel to the
retailer. one finds this:
Bartender Blank has a four
barrel-a-day business. He pays $64
for his four barrels of beer. He pays
an average of 81 a day rent, S160
for ice, $40 a day for salaries, 81 for
heat and light a day, ST for his Ii
censes and bond. This totals $60.60
Profit is $50
He daily sells those four barrels
in twelve ounce stems for 10 cents
and reaps S132. His gross profit, ex-
elusive of payment on equipment or
interest on his investment or the
lean winter months, is $50 day.
In turn, if Bartender Blank paid
but sl2 a barrel for his beer, he
could gross. in profit S146O a day at
the rate of 5 cents for ten-ounce
stems.
If he charged Is cents for two
stems of twelve ounces each, his
gross profit would be s2840 a day,
or he could give his customers six
teen-ounce stems for 10 cents and
gross profit of s34.60 daily.
Profit figures and estimates Of
revenue from a barrel of beer are
taken by The Times from the
schedules of breweries on what a
barrel of beer should produce.
Retailers complain of these sched-
ules and say that from one-half to
a gallon of beer is lost at the tap
and through serving. Breweries
contend that beer waste depends on
the bartenders and equipment.
Bartender Gives Views
In dealing with Bartender Blank,
it must be remembered that The
Times refers TO a whole barrel OF
beer Of thirty-one gallon capacity.
The major portion of the beer sold
in the city is from half barrels,
capacity of fifteen to sixteen gal
Ions. But the local brewery's price
on half barrels is on the same ratio
as for a barrels for the half-bar-
rel and sic for the barrel.
Bartender Blank, when questioned
why a $50 daily profit on four kegs
of beer is necessary, retorts with
medley of answers:
First-He pays too much for his
beer.
Second-The NRA schedule forces
him 10 hire more help.
Must Get His"
Third-He must make hay while
the sun shines 10 pay his $500 yearly
tax to the state. $50 to the federal
government, pay on his new equip
ment. and take care of the lean
winter months. when beer drinking
drops of and his rent still must
60 on.
But Blanks critics-and they are
in the beer buSineSs-charge that
the brew he buys from a local
brewery. if sold in bigger stems at
a less margin of profit. would gross
more in the end. in that Blank
would sell more beer.
Bartender Blank can turn on the
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