Another sad win for faceless corporations.
This should be looked into further. Cutting pensions and health benefits and providing free beer in retirement instead. I’d porbably sign up to that.
What gets me is that retail is about $9 for a 12 pack and cost to produce is around $5. So assuming someone can actually retire from their factory at 65 (doubtful) and that they use their full allotment of one per week until death at 85 (also unlikely) then the maximum cost per person is approximately $5,200 per long term employee. Most won’t A) max out their allotment B) live to 85 or C) retire at 65. To me, that’s just some nickel and dime bull crap.
“Costs are like fingernails; you have to cut them constantly” - Carlos Alberto Sicupira
I’ve grown up in and around mid-sized family businesses my entire life. Aggressive cost cutting is just gutting the firm’s potential when it’s not done intelligently. Investors rarely understand this because most are only around for a few quarters at least or a few years at most.
Interesting that the benefit can be passed on to spouses after death.
This does seem short sighted. Don’t they realize that inebriated retirees are less likely to find ways to plot the firm’s demise.
And the title is somewhat misleading: “Labatt Forced to Stop Giving Retired Workers Free Beer for Life.” It sounds like this was some government mandate. The title should be “Labatt Chooses to Stop Giving Retired Workers Free Beer for Life.”
They’re also more likely to die, reducing pension payments.
But why is there free beer for life in the first place? If you work for Bonobos, they don’t give you free pants for life. It just seems like another way for the company to take on an unnecessary fixed liability funded by uncertain revenue streams. Just because something is there doesn’t mean it should have been there.
It’s less than $5k paid gradually after retirement, and the firm creates a family feel and identity while fostering some level of employee loyalty through differentiation. Many studies have shown simple tangible acts like this can foster more goodwill than the NPV attached to a pay check. Why do tech startups spend millions of dollars on odd campus perks like arcade games and bean bag chairs that nobody uses because they’re all too busy doing their actual job? Same reason.
3G capital dont play around
Proof that you can’t trust Belgians.
Sure, there is some goodwill, but can you prove that it is worth more than the beer? The company does not seem to think so. Unless you have a beer specific study at a similar company, the argument is just anecdotal.
TLDR: Just another unprovoked and random BS freakout.
Yeah, I was really freaking out up there. 
The company that doesn’t think so is a 14 year old investment firm that focuses on short term value. The company that thought so (old Labatt) is a 169 year old brewery that build a national brand. If you have a beer specific study from a similar company, I’ll accept your argument as non-anecdotal. Otherwise I’m going to fall back on my own experience in mid-sized manufacturing firms.
TL;DR: Yawn.
is labatt really canadian for beer?