What's the deal with buying single cans out of a multipack at a bottle shop? (Australia)
As per title. I very, very rarely drink, and I generally just want to buy a single of something for a rare treat, however most beers/ciders/etc are sold in multipacks.
The pricing on the shelf is usually per-pack only, yet sometimes I see random products with single cans/bottles missing, and sometimes random products will have a little section of unpackaged singles, despite not having a separate price showing.
Is it generally OK to split an unopened 4- or 6-pack, or is that as weird and inappropriate as doing the equivalent in a supermarket? What even are the rules around this?
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Dude. This is 2023. I'm sure they've already got a translator app that flips the words for them.
Well OP posted it so I could understand, I thought it was only fair that I put in the same effort so they could understand.
Ha, I have rotation lock on so Mlem doesn’t accidentally refresh. I just flipped my phone upside down!
Thanks for the answer!
Is there a reason why you ask this here and not just ask the staff at the shop?
Stuff like that can differ from shop to shop. So better ask the person who knows the answer.
While you are correct, I can relate to OP. Social anxiety is a bitch.
I used to work at Dan Murphy's and you can definitely just buy one can or bottle, and they won't mind you breaking up the pack. Smaller bottle-o's may prefer you didn't though, so I would ask before breaking apart a pack.
In Germany this is common as well at the grocery store. However I did this in France once at a Lidl, and they couldn't scan the individual bottles, so in the EU it may vary country to country
I once tried to do this in some country on vacation and was told that's not how it works. I'm german. It definitely works like this here. You just rip out one bottle or can and put it in your shopping cart. It will say so very clearly on the packaging if you're not allowed to do it. But it's not like this in every country. Maybe just ask staff.
It's often like this in Canada but not always. Usually depends on if the individual cans or bottles have barcodes and are labelled for individual sale.
I've never had a cashier get mad for attempting to buy an invididual can/bottle not marked properly though
That would be rad if it was like that here. I've been kinda craving one of those canned margaritas recently, but I don't really drink and they only sell those in packs of 6 or more. I just want 1.
These items are usually marked “not for individual sale“. I’m pretty sure what you are witnessing is people just stealing things. (At least some of the time, But smaller stores do break those “not for individual sell” rules too).
If you’re not sure, just asking an employee.
I've never seen "Not for individual sale" on alcohol.
Fair enough.
You just haven't looked hard enough.
If it is in a closed packb and no price is listed individually, then it is likely not for sale individually. You certainly should not be opening something to take one out.
That notice is not a legal restriction, nor a rule to stop stores from breaking up multi-packs. What it's there for is to alert buyers and cashiers that the barcode printed on each unit contains the product code for the multi-pack. If stores want to sell individual units, they just have to re-label them, or at least not scan the barcode.
The store in which I used to work sells individual bottles of beer, or build-your-own 6-packs. The liquor department manager just puts a slash through the barcodes with a black marker, so they won't scan on the registers.
In the US, it’s usually clear which you can split if you’re at a beer distributor. There’s usually a 6-pack price and a per bottle price (sometimes you do have to look around for the tags).
Many grocery stores have a section specifically for singles, often with a “make your own 6 pack” that is cheaper than 6 singles.
Often you can get larger cans (24ish oz) that are explicitly sold as singles (pounders, tall boys, lots of slang for these). These are typically the cheap stuff like Bud light or Foster’s
The loose cans they sell come from the pre packed boxes anyway, I've had them tell me to grab one out of the box when I've been short one for a 6 pack, usually they take the box off so either a customer has grabbed one to buy or someone's stolen one or both.
That's going to vary by jurisdiction.
Where I am, retail can only sell in the package sizes provided from manufacturer due to various labeling (and other) regulations.
The cans in a 6 pack are labelled differently from the ones intended to be sold as singles.
Where I live, they will often have a label on the pack that says whether it can be "divided" or not. I agree though that it's a grey area until you see packs that have already been opened. For example, I wouldn't take just one yoghurt, and I would never open up a pack that had glass bottles, so it seems unique to plastic and cans.
An employee probably dropped or otherwise damaged one or more from a multi-pack. Rather than mark off a whole six pack, they'll write off just the damaged ones and sell the rest individually. This is also why there's no label on the shelf.
Source: used to work in a liquor store.
I learned this when I was buying beer, walked into a free-standing display, and somehow exploded one of the cans I was carrying. The cashier put the remaining three in a box to clean up and sell later.
I've had mixed luck buying from split packs, admittedly not of alcohol but yes of mixers or long life milk. Sometimes they pass at the checkout without issues, sometimes it bounces which means you need to leave it or buy the full pack. I'm talking about Sydney btw
Just go for it. If you're not allowed, they'll tell you and you can select something else.
I was quite impressed recently when I was in a vintage cellars (coles owned) and they had a sustainable 4 or 6 pack multi option. Basically, a way to hold them all together and allow pik n mix, but not plastic.
Dan Murphy's have also had cardboard 6 packs available for a long time, to let you do the same. One of my favourite things is to browse the craft beers and pick half a dozen I haven't tried before.