Trying To Lower Bottling Costs

[FatDragon]

If they're new bottles, a spritz of sanitizer before filling should be adequate. If the considerate people who return bottles give them a nice rinse or two after pouring, they should be clean enough to treat as new. If they return them dirty, recycle them - you've still got 6,999 more on the shelf.

But yeah, storage would be a pain in the extremities. If the guy won't sell you a single pallet, maybe see if your workplace has a storage unit you could use. Clearly your beer offers value to your workplace at your own personal cost, so it would only be reasonable for them to spot you a place to put the bottles. Then again, maybe you're the boss or self-employed and you already know there's nowhere to put them...

 

[mongoose33]

Lots of good points and ideas guys!

I can't even wrap my head around cleaning 7000 bottles, even over two years.
Factor your cleaning agents into the cost. And your time? Sheesh.

All marketing has costs, as well as client maintenance, and what the OP is doing with his bottles is exactly that.

But I agree...pretty daunting job. I clean my bottles in the dishwasher, so perhaps that'd be a way to speed things up. When I bottle, the clean bottles always get a couple squirts of sanitizer (using a vinator) which rinses away any sheeting agent from the dishwasher and sanitizes them.

I sure wouldn't want to clean 7000 bottles by hand...

 

[CodeSection]

Well, I contacted the seller of the 7,000 bottles. He said it was all or nothing and that a buyer already committed and was coming today. There is no way I can store that many bottles anyway.

If I buy a bulk pack of 2,200 bottles from the Cary Company (https://www.thecarycompany.com/12-oz-amber-long-neck-beer-bottle-pry-off-bulk), with shipping the per bottle cost would be $0.265. I just need to determine how and what kind of truck they use to deliver it. The bulk pack will not fit through any doors at work and depending upon the delivery truck used, the delivery truck may not be able to traverse my driveway to my garage that is on a steep slope. Last year I shipped a very heavy safe to another state and the shipper, Old Dominion Freight Line, could not back up the slope. I ended up moving the safe to a level spot on the driveway for them to pick up.

I guess I could order that bottles with cardboard 24 slot cases, but that would increase the per bottle cost to $.56 (includes shipping). At that price, I might as well negotiate a deal from my LHBS. When I checked into the cost of buying the cardboard cases myself, the cost was $9.20 per case. Definitely not worth going that route at that cost.