Consumer Behavior: What Makes A Well Drink Expensive?

Well, rail, or call, since time immemorial college kids have been paying over the top prices on cheap liquor. To us thrifty types (who may or may not work in a bar) we realize that we could purchase a handle (1.75L) for the same price of two single drinks in the bar, and it will start to add up.

So what does this mean? Truth be told, it means a lot.

To them. (The bar.)

An article on Deadspin.com as well as Seriouseats.com confirm that bars mainly price drinks at a range of 15 to 25%. The price of ingredients compared to the price it is being sold for. It sounds confusing but consider it this way, a drink that costs $2.00 in ingredients to produce is sold for $10.00. The percent cost is 20%. It's feels backwards, but the run down is 20% of the drinks cost is to pay for the ingredients the drink is made of. It goes without saying the pricing structure for bars with an extensive cocktail list can be more complex than their regular food menu.

http://deadspin.com/why-the-hell-does-your-drink-cost-so-much-1454231900

To Us. (The consumer)

It can mean really anything.

Depending on the day, the bar, and the specials it can mean a lot, or almost nothing. Consider it this way, on a regular Monday at "Local College Bar" the cost of a double wells for $1.00. A dollar double well. Fast forward to Tuesday, that same double well is now $2.00, Wednesday and Thursday it drops down to $1.50.

But we get to Friday and Saturday. The days that people have off, the weekend. The price of a double well is now $5.00. Your cost has increased by 500%, and this gives us an odd amount of mathematical data (enough that we could make a reasonable guess) but without the actual price of the liquor the bar is paying, we are not able to properly price "Local College Bar." But it is just painfully obvious that they are making a lot more money from one day to another.

So why do we as consumers pay the extra money on Friday when we could spend a fraction on Monday? It comes down to the fact that most people have at least part of the weekend off of work, and so aren't responsible for all the things included with it. They can be up later, because they don't need to be up early. They don't have to worry about "X."

It's just much more convenient for them on Friday and Saturday, should they overindulge, to get over the accompanying hangover on a day they don't have work. That convenience is key, because if a greater amount of people started going out to Local College Bar on Mondays. How long would you expect them to keep the drink price so low?

The reason well drinks are so expensive per drink is that they are the sales leader, It's the cheapest they've got, you'll get more of it for less, but you'll be paying more for the cheap well drink than you would for an expensive cocktail. The price of a drink is much like the drink itself, a sum of all the parts it takes to make it.