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August 21, 2007
If kegs are outlawed, only outlaws will have kegs
What is it with scrap metal lately? People are stealing all kinds of things in order to sell it for scrap. Manhole covers. Copper wire from food pantries. And now... Kegs???
The state aims to stifle the cash flow of thieves who have tapped into the empty beer-keg market, and forced buyers of beer in kegs to put more money up front for their brew.
The governor Friday signed a bill that requires scrap metal dealers to keep track of who they buy from, a means to save an ailing beer industry millions of dollars in stolen aluminum kegs. The new law takes effect Jan. 1.
Part of an increase in general scrap-metal thieving spurred by higher prices the metals command, empty beer keg theft has retailers asking customers for more than the traditional $20 deposit.
The empty containers bring up to $75 at a scrap yard. As a result, area distributors began making retailers put down bigger deposits. The stores then made their customers put more money up front when purchasing kegs of beer, raising deposits 25 percent to 50 percent.
Binny's Beverage Depot increased its deposits from about $20 to $25 two years ago to $50 to $75, said Ted Sullivan, beer buyer for the company.
Breweries lost about 300,000 kegs -- about $45 million worth -- in the past year, according to the Beer Institute in Washington, D.C. About 10.7 million kegs, which cost about $150 each to replace, are in circulation
Now, despite this, I definitely know of one particular use for a stolen keg that will never go out of style. You know what I'm talkin' bout.
entry no. 944
Posted by oz115 at August 21, 2007 09:12 PM