tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post2279059515702948168..comments2024-03-28T06:20:10.699-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Barclay Perkins XLK material costs in WW IIRon Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-23359852657278795202021-03-08T05:55:09.513-08:002021-03-08T05:55:09.513-08:00qq,
all the references I've seen to malting s...qq,<br /><br />all the references I've seen to malting specifically say that shortage of labour was the problem. No mention of any bomb damage.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-35319023785122714752021-03-07T15:10:29.553-08:002021-03-07T15:10:29.553-08:00Wasn't that partly down to maltings getting bo...Wasn't that partly down to maltings getting bombed? Which was a particular problem because they were big prominent buildings on the East Anglian landscape, with good rail etc access which meant they often had bits requisitioned for war work so were legitimate targets.qqnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-1291568702861477192021-03-07T03:07:59.030-08:002021-03-07T03:07:59.030-08:00Clark,
yews brewers lost a lot of men to the serv...Clark,<br /><br />yews brewers lost a lot of men to the services and more women were employed. Only in certain jobs, though. I can remember hearing of any women becoming brewers.<br /><br />The area where they seem to have had real labour problems was malting. The extensive use of flaked barley in the later war years was because of this. There was plenty of barley, just noy the manpower to malt it.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-86309294006355841802021-03-06T18:45:20.314-08:002021-03-06T18:45:20.314-08:00kThanks for the detail. I guess another thing that...kThanks for the detail. I guess another thing that comes to mind is whether theyhad a lot of workers join the services -- I don't know how many young men they employed. If so, what effect that might have on production, and what they might do to compensate, such as even hire women.Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-39563533184967731672021-03-06T04:56:49.241-08:002021-03-06T04:56:49.241-08:00Clark,
brewers brewed the amount they were allowe...Clark,<br /><br />brewers brewed the amount they were allowed to. They would have brewed more, had they been able to get the ingredients.<br /><br />And workers weren't necessarily free to change jobs when they wanted. There were all sorts of restrictions.<br /><br />Yes, fuel was short and expensive. Bur "beer zoning" - distant tied houses being supplied by another, closer brewery - was introduced to reduce the amount of transport needed to deliver beer.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-45762141213224543122021-03-06T04:53:09.764-08:002021-03-06T04:53:09.764-08:00Anonymous,
beer zoning didn't really affect l...Anonymous,<br /><br />beer zoning didn't really affect local competition as it only involved a few scattered pubs far from the brewery which owned them. Also beer prices were pretty standard across the country.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-46018620100722652092021-03-05T14:40:06.721-08:002021-03-05T14:40:06.721-08:00It probably doesn't show in the logs, but I...It probably doesn't show in the logs, but I'd be curious whether brewers had to pay more for labor to keep workers from chasing high wages in the war manufacturing businesses. I'd also wonder whether high fuel prices or fuel rationing kept them from brewing as much as they might have. Or for that matter if there were any other bottlenecks in production, such as transportation restrictions.Clarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-54724918118817530172021-03-05T07:00:38.044-08:002021-03-05T07:00:38.044-08:00Maybe this is stating the obvious, but you've ...Maybe this is stating the obvious, but you've previously written about the government-mandated rationalization of beer distribution (for instance, your previous post discusses "beer zoning"). To the extent this limited competition by preventing entry into a region from an outside brewer, it might have given brewers more pricing power, which in turn would allow them to raise prices. It would basically give them little regional mini-monopolies (or duopolies or whatever). So reduced competition would be one possible explanation for price increases. This might also help explain your previous observation that breweries actually prospered during WWI relative to the pre-war situation.<br /><br />It's interesting to consider whether this occurred to the government planners and, if so, whether they thought of it as an upside or a downside of the policy (an upside, perhaps, because higher prices would discourage drinking, but a downside because other things equal you would rather just tax the beer to accomplish the same end).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com