”Wasted and wounded, it ain’t what the moon did.
I’ve got what I paid for now…”
– Tom Waits
Hey Free Rangers,
With so many angles on so many topics that could be addressed here in our safe space, we genuinely try not to fixate, but bush league billionaires, Southern Glazer’s, have doubled down on their awfulness, so let’s talk more about them. Not only have they not bothered to respond to our plea through the proper channels in any respect, but in response to one of their more important suppliers pushing back from the other side, they replied that in three weeks nobody is going to remember any of this anyway. Hardly. Neither people nor businesses forget being disrespected and robbed. Just to re-cap, these absolute cretins- who already charge highest in the industry fees- are reducing delivery service by 80% with no reduction in said fees. But with no real enforcement of anti-trust laws in this country, Southern Glazer’s business paradigm is the typical corporate minimal expenditure for maximum profit at the zero sum cost of customers and suppliers alike. As a side note, RNDC, who we recently wished would dissolve was just sold yet again, after massive layoffs. We’d celebrate this more if not for it being impossible to acquire a couple our long time staple products for weeks now, and that my personal favorite local distillers recently signed a brutal contract with those idiots and now are in the hands of some random new outfit. Best of luck, fine Breuckelen folks, we wish there was something we could do to help. And as an added kick in the teeth, Uncle Robert tells me that Southern Glazer’s CFO is my cousin. I replied that he’s not the first thief to whom we’ve been blood related. Robert didn’t think that was as funny as I do, but great minds don’t always think exactly alike all the time, and familial ties do not negate unsavory business practices. And Uncle Robert remains one of my very favorite humans that has ever lived. Dinner soon? Also, sincere apologies to those of you Free Range loyalists who are already missing Southern distributed bottles that we haven’t re-ordered as they run out. It’s the only recourse that we have, out here in the desert of the real. We won’t simply do away with everything out of raw spite, but it’s a buyer’s market these days, and all but the most unique of products has an equivalent from a less loathsome distributor. More entertaining stories shall return to this space directly, and eternal thanks to those who have expressed interest and concern on this particular topic.
*** As I was finishing the above paragraph, I finally received a return call from the powers that be, asking what they could do for us- as if I hadn’t laid it all out in a detailed e-mail early last week. It was only after two follow ups including details of our public shaming of them that they responded to our concerns at all. And once again, as we had in print, we stated our central request that we receive 2 delivery days per week (as opposed to our former 5 available, and currently only 1). We were accused of spreading misinformation and told in no uncertain terms that our reaction to their changes in service have been unfair to them, and that we didn’t give anybody a chance to make anything better. It’s a lot like a cop violating your 1st and 4th amendment rights, and then arresting you for using some four letter words in your protest (#FreedomOfSpeech). So, in deference to this multi-billion dollar corporation who charges the highest fees in our industry (by far), I need to amend one line from the previous e-mail: when they screw up delivery, they will make it right the same week and not charge further bill & hold fees. We’re told that the possibility of allowing us two delivery days per week is now being looked into. And as a show of good faith, we’ve just ordered a few of those products recently removed from circulation for delivery tomorrow. Trying to muster cautious optimism here, but it’s hard to believe that they won’t use similar gaslighting logic to continue doing whatever they want. To a corporation of its size, our total budget is barely a rounding error. But any reprieve here would be a small victory, and one does have to take those where they can these days. Good luck to us all.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled program already in progress. It’s an all Brooklyn tasting and sale kinda week, here on The Range, and we hope that excites you as much as it does us. Thanks to everybody who came out to taste with the fine Brooklyn Kura folks, and took advantage of our tasting day discounts! For anybody who wants another shot at that, or wasn’t able to make it in to taste, but would still like to get in on the sale pricing, Derek just posted an ONLINE ONLY sale page for all of those lovely Brooklyn Kura Sake(s) and Shochu at 10% off the regular shelf price(s), or 20% off 6+ bottles (mix & match).
(!) Click here for Brooklyn Kura sale page (!)
And, this week’s FREE in-store tasting welcomes back to the shop Brooklyn’s own Kings County Distillery. Our friend, Rose, will be here to pour and tell you about the core line: Kings Co Blended Bourbon, Kings Co Straight Bourbon, and Kings Co Peated Bourbon (for a New York nod toward Scotch). As an added bonus, we’ve just ordered some Kings Co Barrel Strength Rye, which will also be open for tasting. So, please join us this Thursday, February 19th (5-7pm), for FREE tastes of all of the above, and enjoy the in-store tasting day discount of 10% off!
Cheers,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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