Manx Beer Prices

[Pragmatopian]

You should all move to the Czech Republic - Pilsner Urquell is about 80p for half a litre and a Gambrinus sets you back about 50p

[Hugh Jampton]

Now thats proper beer, not the tastless piss served up in our pubs called lager at nearly £3 a pint.

and fools pay it!

[Declan]

I had someone trying to explain the 4p to me, didn't really make sense!

 

1p, then you have to add VAT on, then they have to keep their profit margin on the pint. I'm told the same happens in the UK.

 

Are you sure?

 

1p duty

 

17.5% vat = 0.17 of a penny, round that up to the nearest penny = 1p

 

So say they make 50p on £3 pint that's 16.666%, therefore to keep the same margin with the extra 2p (duty plus VAT) added they need to add a happenny, round that up = 1p

 

In fact by rounding up to the penny on the VAT they are actually increasing their profit margins. So a 2p increase would be enough.

 

At one pound profit per pint they'd have to add an extra penny. So for your statement to be correct they'd need to be making £2.00 per £3.00 pint.

[xbones]

I had someone trying to explain the 4p to me, didn't really make sense!

 

1p, then you have to add VAT on, then they have to keep their profit margin on the pint. I'm told the same happens in the UK.

 

Are you sure?

 

1p duty

 

17.5% vat = 0.17 of a penny, round that up to the nearest penny = 1p

 

So say they make 50p on £3 pint that's 16.666%, therefore to keep the same margin with the extra 2p (duty plus VAT) added they need to add a happenny, round that up = 1p

 

In fact by rounding up to the penny on the VAT they are actually increasing their profit margins. So a 2p increase would be enough.

 

At one pound profit per pint they'd have to add an extra penny. So for your statement to be correct they'd need to be making £2.00 per £3.00 pint.

 

Which was the thing that confused me. Dad said on a Carling it's about a 40% margin, I was doing quick sums in my head and it just didn't add up either. It's them bloody accountants

 

And I'm SURE what he said, just not sure how the brewery got their figures

 

And it's not a 40% margin not profit, as there are many many other costs involved as you can imagine.

[xbones]

Having said that, I've just done an iterative formula (as margin is 40% of full price, not 40% mark up) and it comes out at a 3.33p rise.

 

Assume £3 - £1.8 fixed £1.2 Margin

 

Then have £1.82 fixed ends up at £1.21333 to keep the same ratio

 

So they round it up to £1.22

 

There's your 4 pence

[Declan]

Ha! Clever.

 

However, the amount they rounded up for VAT is 0.825 of a penny, and the amount they rounded up on the margin is 0.6666. So in effect the first more than covers the second, therefore the increase could have been 3p?

[xbones]

I agree, but I guess if I set the price I'd do the same!

 

Oh, maybe the VAT is on all of it too? That would change things as well!

[Declan]

Yeah you're right it would be 17.5% on the whole increase, so ...

 

1p duty

 

Assume £3 - £1.8 fixed £1.2 Margin

 

Then have £1.81 fixed ends up at £1.204 margin to keep the same ratio, so a total increase of 1.4p

 

Add 17.5% V.A.T = 0.245; Total is now 1.645p Round that up to 2p.

 

(However, if you round up before adding the V.A.T. and then round uo again it becomes 3p).

[Miss Take]

- think also of the extra Duty they collect - how long do you think it is before they pay it over to Govt after using it to earn interest on in the meantime.

 

gaah, must not rise to bait.....sod it. They don't keep the duty for very long - otherwise Customs seize all their assets and put them out of business - not really worth it for a few extra quid of interest.

 

As for the 4p vs 1p thingy, if it's anything like fags, then when they say there is a 1p increase, that's an extremely simplified view of things said to make for a good soundbite.

 

On fags, there are two types of duty (at least in the UK there are) - a fixed rate and a rate that's proportional to the sale price of the fags - hence there is more duty on the more expensive fags and their sale price has to go up more to compensate (leading to more duty payable and even higher sale price, etc, etc - it could go on forever). The Chancellor says 'oh increase it by 1p' and then the fag merchant's accountants have to go away and work out what that actually means in terms of duty per fag. Then they work out their new margins and what increase needs to come in to compensate for margin loss - then of course they add on a couple of p just because they need to show increasing profits each year rather than static ones and, with less people buying fags each year (legitimately at least), that's a tall order.

[copycat]

but exactly why do hte brewery put hte price up not long before a budget, rather than not long after one? is there an accountant out there who knows hte answer and can inform us all.

[xbones]

Price rises come from the suppliers.

[Cambon]

Sigh.....This is ridiculous. Now I am going to have to go out tomorrow night and do an extensive study of beer prices, just to see how much each pub has put up prices.

[Millman]

Beer on the Isle of Man is a complete rip off. I was over in Liverpool about 3 weeks back and lots of pubs had offers for various beers, a pint was anywhere from 1.41 to about 2.50. It was quite easy to get a pint for less than 2 quid.

 

I bet the brewery can't wait until the smoking ban then they can blame the reduced consumption on something other than the stupid beer prices (oh and the way they destroy pubs in the name of refurbishment).

 

Honestly I would love to see more competition over here from the big breweries across. If that meant the end of H&B so be it, it would be no great loss.

[alpha-acid]

Beer on the Isle of Man is a complete rip off. I was over in Liverpool about 3 weeks back and lots of pubs had offers for various beers, a pint was anywhere from 1.41 to about 2.50. It was quite easy to get a pint for less than 2 quid.

 

I bet the brewery can't wait until the smoking ban then they can blame the reduced consumption on something other than the stupid beer prices (oh and the way they destroy pubs in the name of refurbishment).

 

Honestly I would love to see more competition over here from the big breweries across. If that meant the end of H&B so be it, it would be no great loss.

 

Big Breweries in the UK have a thing called economies of scale, i.e the larger the volume you produce the lower your overheads. Okells and Bushies don't have that. Some of these UK beer factories, thats what they are not breweries, will produce in one day what the 2 breweries produce in a year. Its not rockey science to work out why they can produce it cheaper. For a true comparison look at the price of beer from small regional UK breweries and its no different to the prices here.

[Sidney]

Beer on the Isle of Man is a complete rip off. I was over in Liverpool about 3 weeks back and lots of pubs had offers for various beers, a pint was anywhere from 1.41 to about 2.50. It was quite easy to get a pint for less than 2 quid.

 

I bet the brewery can't wait until the smoking ban then they can blame the reduced consumption on something other than the stupid beer prices (oh and the way they destroy pubs in the name of refurbishment).

 

Honestly I would love to see more competition over here from the big breweries across. If that meant the end of H&B so be it, it would be no great loss.

 

Big Breweries in the UK have a thing called economies of scale, i.e the larger the volume you produce the lower your overheads. Okells and Bushies don't have that. Some of these UK beer factories, thats what they are not breweries, will produce in one day what the 2 breweries produce in a year. Its not rockey science to work out why they can produce it cheaper. For a true comparison look at the price of beer from small regional UK breweries and its no different to the prices here.

Carling is not brewed over here, so why are we paying so much more for it? You can only put so much down do transport costs.