Free beer continues at Anheuser-Busch; What does Brito think?
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It’s a perk that certain Post-Dispatch writers (not naming any names here) would LOVE to have: A couple of free cases of beer from their employer. Every month, like clockwork.
Free beer has been a part of the job at Anheuser-Busch for as long as anybody can remember. But when InBev swooped in and took control of the company last year, wags predicted that the benefit would soon fall victim of cost-cutting. They wondered: How long before the suds go dry?
Well, it ain’t happened yet. Lager Heads recently did a little investigative journalism - which will win a major award if there’s any justice in this world - and confirmed that the free beer program IS still going at Anheuser-Busch. Maybe it has escaped the notice of the folks planning budgets. Or maybe the budget folks like free beer as much as the rest of us.
Either way, this little oasis of employee appreciation continues in these troubled times. It warms our (admittedly skeptical) heart.
The little perk gives a sense of Anheuser-Busch’s massive scale. Let’s assume that the roughly 4,400 A-B employees in St. Louis take advantage of the offer every month for a year. That’s about 106,000 cases of beer given out in one year. Just for comparision, the guys at Schlafly would have had to work for about four months last year to churn out that much beer. Impressive.
We got to thinking: Wonder what Carlos Brito, the ultra-focused chief executive of Anheuser-Busch InBev, thinks about such perks. Wish we could ask him. (Wait, what’s that? Somebody already did ask him?) Let’s roll the tape.
A Reuters story finds Brito giving a speech to Stanford MBA students shortly before he launched a takeover bid for Anheuser-Busch last year:
The man who would be King of Beers is a no-frills leader without a company car or even his own desk.
Carlos Brito, chief executive of brewer InBev SA, says he doesn’t care for perks - and neither should the people who work for him.
“I don’t want the company to give me free beer; I can buy my own beer,” [he said.]
Two words: Uh oh. Get them suds while y’all can!
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
my understanding is that the free beer will stop at the end of the year for the office workers. The union workers will still get the free case because it was written into their contract. I guess it is a matter of waiting like everything else with Inbev to see what all they do
It’s my understanding the free beer is overstock and/or beer that would ultimately have to be destroyed anyway. Might as well give it away as destroy it, especially if it makes you look good.
overstock?? very incorrect.
Doubt this will end anytime soon, it is a very inexpensive perk…..heck the discount at Best Buy/Macy/s/Dillards etc works out to be better.
There is no such thing as overstock at the brewery. Everything that’s made is shipped out within 24hrs, normally. The beer they give away is “fresh” beer.
1 packaging line can produce over 100,000 cases in less than 2 days. The St. Louis brewery alone has 11 packaging lines. There are 10 other brewery’s around the country.
The free beer is a drop in the bucket, but based on InBev’s way of doing business, it’s probably going away, eventually.
jc, why is this your understanding? Do you have some evidence of your ‘understanding’, or are you passing on a rumor? Please enlighten us.
dc, It’s not overstock. You’ve never known anyone who worked at the brewery and brought home beer if you think it’s overstock. Again with the rumors that have no basis.
Jeremiah - it may very well have escaped notice. I’m sure all those people taking home free beer are thankful to you for having pointed it out.
Brito is probably on the Bat phone to St. Louis now, screaming “Não há mais cerveja grátis!”
the union is still receiving the beer - it is in their contract. As far as the “safety” beer that employees used to get, they no longer get it. that was a perk employees got for having no accidents. If someone got hurt, EVERYONE lost their beer. A very inconsequential price to pay when compared to workman’s comp payments. Since they no longer offer it workman’s comp claims have skyrocketed.
Why would the editors allow him to say “Well, it ain’t happened yet.”? The dumbing down of America continues unabated.
Hey stlexpatriate, don’t blame editors for anything that appears on Lager Heads. This stuff is all me, for better or worse. And if you think redneck writin’ is bad, you should really check out my use of the word “irregardless.” It’ll blow your mind. Thanks for reading.
b: Two people had already noted your brilliant overstock revelation, but thanks.
Jeremiah: Good response to the grammar police, I wish they’d stay off the blogs and in the papers where they belong.
b
That is what i was told by someone who still works there and has direct contact with the department that deals with the vouchers for the free beer.
Well of course you can “buy your own beer” King Carlos. All CEO’s who rape their companies of millions of dollars a year for doing absolutely nothing can buy whatever they want. Duh! But all good things will end anyway because I see A-B Inbev no different from any other company that borrows billions of dollars to buy up their competition and then cannot repay their loans. Bankruptcy!
Free Beer………A few weeks ago I went to West Virgina to purchase my monthly supply of Yuengling.As I was loading my truck a van with A/B logos on the side owned by Proud Eagle of Parkersburg showed up and started unloading Yuengling beers.The driver informed me that A/B insisted that all distributors take an extra week of beer on top of the 2 weeks they normaly carry.And to pay for it now.SO carlos has flooded the distributors what else can he he do but GIVE BEER AWAY ? I sure as hell won’t buy any inbev kool-aide.
In the takeover agreement Inbev can not lower the overall employee benefits package (Total Rewards)until the end of 2009. Anheuser-Busch did Inbev a favor by reducing our medical benefits 25% and reducing the park ticket discounts from free entry to 1/2 off prior to the acquisition. Inbev has also announced that they will freeze the pension at the earliest date possible for them (2012). The beer distribution for salary employees is part of our total rewards package that will probably be on the block for 2010. It is probably as good as gone for salary employees.
Who cares?
I would enjoy the free beer while it lasts.
I am NOT an employee, former employee or do any business with the company.
But I have watched them cut out a major organ in the “St. Louis body” without any anesthesia.
Recently, an airline in Europe started charging for using the toilet while in flight. Could that be too far off at AB?
Do you think they could charge employees for parking like the others firms downtown?
Dont chuckle too long/loud.
STLMURPH
so why were the warehouse guys given notice to when there last day is ?or are they not the ones giving beer out anymore. -b I heard the same thing and around Jan. the words from Pee-pee ( peacocks new name at #1 whatever place.) it should end at the end of summer. Maybe the negative stuff here helped.
Anty ware tanks to the grimmer police… what u under employeed school teecher’s? or wat. Gona drik a Pbr write now.
And Brito saying he is going to buy his own beer…. come on , I believe him, dont you!!!! for sale eads bridge only $30.00 any takers???
I am hourly, we still get our monthly allotment of beer. I work at the warehouse that was brought up by hhmmm. We are not located in StL. We were given our layoff dates approx 2 weeks ago. Aug 28, Oct 30 & Dec 30. Now, just in case anyone wonders, we don’t get the benefits StL workers get. Also, back to the beer, the last 2 months our beer has been dated March & April. So, it is overstock, because the dist could not sell it, it’s too old.
Union employees will receive one case of beer a month if there is no accidents. We also receive two additional cases that we purchased with our contract that comes out of our hourly wage.
The beer for the Union employee’s is not free…….It is paid for out of the hourly wage. The monthly beer distribution started when the on-site beer drinking was stopped(mid 80’s)
I say we have designated flash mob appearances at the megabrewery’s tour center - at least we can still get two 10 ounce beers for each tour taken. How about for starters this Thursday at 4 PM? Perhaps if we could get 1400 people to show up someone might taken notice?
I can understand where a brewery worker may not believe that there is such a thing as overstock in the network; or believe that all beer leaves the brewery in 24 hours. I sit next to the guy who picks what beer (and quantities) will be given away each month - most is overproduction (ie. slowing sales trends since we started the brew cycle for the liquid indicate that we probably have bottled too much at the current time). If you want to call that overstock, overproduction.. I don’t care. The rest of the beer is, yes, aging or out-of-pattern beer that would otherwise be destroyed.
It is more costly to destroy the beer, since we process and cleanse the liquid before releasing it as fresh water into the city sewage lines. Therefore, we get THREE birds with one stone by giving it away to employees - save money, boost employee moral, and free marketing.
So technically, almost all of you have been right in some sense. I just wanted to clear the air so there isn’t any confusion on the topic. Now please drop it.
Well after writing this, you probably just woke up Brito and he’ll pull the beer. Nice job. This probably kills another tradition. Reminds me of the date rape story in Broadcast News and Aaron Altman’s reply “just took the fun out of getting nookie.”
I will name myself as the P-D writer who wants free beer. I’m sure there are others.
I assume that not everyone takes advantage, but were the company to be giving out 106,000 standard cases (four six-packs of 12 oz. bottles), we’re talking about the equivalent of roughly $2.5 million in retail sales, if your standard Bud six-pack sells for $5.99.
If those bottles were instead sold, A-B’s slice of that money would be far smaller, of course, and the figure may only be a drop in the beer bucket of A-B’s total balance sheet. But I remain impressed this tradition continues; I, like other beer commentators, had wagered this practice would be a part of the cost cutting measures that Brito pledged.
MillerCoors gives their employees 3 cases a month…sweet perk.
I’d take 2 cases of what A-B has to offer over 3 cases of what MillerCoors has to offer any day of the week and twice on Sunday. A-B’s brand portfolio’s 2nd to none!
What free beer? Part of Teamsters hourly wage pays for two cases a month.
One reason to dump free beer is liability. I someone gets drunk from the free beer, drives, and kills someone, A-B could get sued. Fair? No, but a distinct possibility this will happen.
hey burrito stop the madness, just because you levereged every burrito you have doesn’t mean innocent people have to suffer, you are not and will never be one of us!! so go back to south america with your little fire ants you got running around spying and selling everything that isn’t bolted down!! auggie would kick your little greasy ass if he was still here right after he got done with his dumbass son and grandson that is!! sorry auggie!!rest in peace