Can ordering quantity and info

[PerraHermosa]

Studying the feasibility of canning for our 5BBl fermenters here in Costa Rica. Solicited a quote from Ball and received the following information:

The minimum production run is 25 pallets (8,169 cans per pallet or 204,225 cans for all 25 pallets).
They can do smaller runs, but there is an upcharge as follows:
· 16 to 24 pallets: $1,000 upcharge for the order
· 12 to 15 pallets: $1,500 upcharge for the order

They will not manufacture orders of less than 12 pallets. I was also informed Ball used to sell blank cans in the past but stopped for food safety reasons.

I'm awaiting a response from Crown but am wondering how a smaller brewery can afford to order and store so much inventory. Are there other resources out there for ordering blank cans in a smaller run? If this is a repeat post my apologies.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Crown used to have 8 pallets minimum but changed it to 12.

[PerraHermosa]

Are there no other can producers?

[SMiller]

Talk to Rexam as well. They do blanks.

[AnthonyB]

Crown isn't accepting new customers until Q4-2015 at the earliest.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Crown isn't accepting new customers until Q4-2015 at the earliest.

Wow. You could buy direct from Ball as long as you do not use Cask equipment.

[PerraHermosa]

Yes, Crown told me the same thing. I can't get anyone from Rexam to give me a quote. Feel like I'm taking crazy-pills. Just trying to give them money for their product...

[uptown brothers]

They can do smaller runs, but there is an upcharge as follows:
· 16 to 24 pallets: $1,000 upcharge for the order
· 12 to 15 pallets: $1,500 upcharge for the order

They will not manufacture orders of less than 12 pallets.

so it's around a penny and a half per can, at 12 pallets? $1500 extra for ~100,000 cans.

this frankly doesn't seem that bad. It's like $5 per/bbl ($4.97) over the regular full truckload price. Now I guess you DO have to have room for, and pay rent on the space to store, 12 pallets...

[PerraHermosa]

so it's around a penny and a half per can, at 12 pallets? $1500 extra for ~100,000 cans.

this frankly doesn't seem that bad. It's like $5 per/bbl ($4.97) over the regular full truckload price. Now I guess you DO have to have room for, and pay rent on the space to store, 12 pallets...

The pricing is around 10 cents/can - not including our international shipping. I referenced the up-charge ($1,500) for a smaller order - that wasn't the actual price on the cans - just the penalty for a smaller order. Sorry if that wasn't clear. But, yes, we have to have to pay for their storage with our small footprint. Buying a container for storage is an option as well, just another expense.

I'm really after something that I'm learning perhaps doesn't exist: a can company willing to sell by the individual pallet both blank and printed cans. I wonder how many breweries out there are purchasing blank cans and affixing their labels in-house.

PM me if that's you and you're interested in discussing the possibility of piggybacking your order for blank cans (and tops). I'd love to learn more and maybe we can help each other out.

[uptown brothers]

The pricing is around 10 cents/can - not including our international shipping. I referenced the up-charge ($1,500) for a smaller order - that wasn't the actual price on the cans - just the penalty for a smaller order. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

No, I understood perfectly. My point was, a penny and a half extra per can is not so bad-- I understand it's ~ 15%-- of a premium to pay for the convenience of being able to purchase basically a half order while still getting the more aesthetically pleasing non- shrink wrapped, non-labelled can. Others may have a different opinion as to value, that's mine.

[beermkr]

We bought blank cans from Rexam at a 4 pallet level. We hand labeled 25000 cans with an easylabler.com machine. It was labor intensive but it did give us a lot of flexibility to make sure that the brand we went to market with was the right one. It basically doubled our package costs but we were able to absorb that.

We bought 12 pallets of painted cans from Rexam and the turn arounds were very good after our proofing was done. Be aware that Rexam stacks their cans very high so if you go with a container make sure it is tall enough.

[Matt@Bauhaus]

Be aware that Rexam stacks their cans very high so if you go with a container make sure it is tall enough.

+1 We looked into buying a container in which to store our Rexam pallets. Even with a hi-cube shipping container (the tallest one we could find), there still wasn't enough clearance.

[PerraHermosa]

No, I understood perfectly. My point was, a penny and a half extra per can is not so bad-- I understand it's ~ 15%-- of a premium to pay for the convenience of being able to purchase basically a half order while still getting the more aesthetically pleasing non- shrink wrapped, non-labelled can. Others may have a different opinion as to value, that's mine.

Ah, I see what you're saying. After learning more about this I agree, it's not necessarily an unfair increase/value for the flexibility of carrying less stock (and shelling out a smaller lump sum)