eating deposit to keep keg??

[Grannyknot]

no, I just happen to disagree with you.

 

[JonM]

yeah, thats the debate. It isn't illegal.

Hold the phone. It absolutely IS illegal in every state of the union. You are intentionally depriving the owner of its property. There are plenty of threads here where people have had the cops come to their house over this. There are plenty of threads where distributors have called the cops on people who didn't return kegs. There are plenty of stories about cops arresting scrapyard operators for "finding" kegs. It is illegal.

 

[LandoLincoln]

yeah, thats the debate. It isn't illegal. Is it morally wrong?
I figure that charge you the deposit in the amount equal to the amount it would cost them to get a new one? They don't do it at a loss - they reserve the amount to make them whole if you don't bring it back.
You aren't stealing it - you are giving them the amount of collateral they requested.
Lets change it a bit - lets say you weren't using it at home, rather you just lost it. Or got lazy and decided not to return it. Or dropped it and broke it. In those cases, they take your deposit, they are made whole, no question on it. Is this different?

Yes, it's morally wrong to make an agreement that you're going to return something and then not return it.

No, you are stealing it. You made an agreement to return it but you are reneging on that agreement and you're keeping it.

They charge $30 because nearly all beer drinkers have no need of an empty keg and the $30 is sufficient incentive to return the keg. $30 is not the actual value of the keg.

You're a thief if you keep it, so just come to terms with that fact. Don't try to weasel out of it.

 

[JonM]

The $30 deposit is also what the market will bear.

"One keg, please."
"That'll require a $150 deposit."
"Get @^*#ed! I'm buying cans!"

 

[brew_ny]

You're a thief if you keep it, so just come to terms with that fact. Don't try to weasel out of it.

that is about it

 

[MaxStout]

It's been a long time since I've bought beer in a keg, but I'll be willing to bet that the customer signs a sales agreement with language that clearly states who owns that keg. Given that the ownership has never been waived or otherwise transferred (despite the deposit), if the customer fails to return the keg, that is theft.

The analogy posed earlier to deposits on bottles and cans fails for two reasons:
1. When you buy canned/bottled beverages you immediately take ownership of those containers. The bottler doesn't want them back, and the containers are not reusable in their existing form, unlike kegs.
2. The purpose of can/bottle deposits (by state statute) isn't to encourage return to the bottler (you own those containers, remember?). The deposit is intended as an incentive to recycle and to not litter.

 

[MaxStout]

Lets change it a bit - lets say you weren't using it at home, rather you just lost it. Or got lazy and decided not to return it. Or dropped it and broke it. In those cases, they take your deposit, they are made whole, no question on it. Is this different?

Yes it is. There is intent when you purposefully keep a keg. Intent is what makes it a crime. There is no intent if you lost it or accidentally broke it.

Seriously, you can't tell the difference?

 

[Homercidal]

I believe the state sets the deposit amount, which is supposed to be, according to them, a reasonable amount to encourage people to buy the beer AND return the keg.

The deposit on a soda bottle is NOT the same as the deposit on a Keg. A soda bottle is actually owned when you purchase the soda. The deposit is to encourage you to return it to keep the sides of the roads free from litter and to get people to return the bottle for recycling. It has nothing at all to do with the cost of replacement.

It doesn't take much Googling to read stories from breweries, or their keg suppliers to see how much of a hardship non-returned kegs has been for them financially.