Price increase for rental inventory: Gurnitz fire department plans crisis meeting!

Price increase for rental inventory: Gurnitz fire department plans crisis meeting!

A crisis meeting is currently taking place at the Gurnitz Volunteer Fire Department, which was triggered by massive price increases for the Brauunion's rental inventory. A tent festival is planned for July, for which the fire department wants to rent urgently needed equipment. But instead of the usual 300 euros for 80 beer table sets, ten refrigerators and nine taps, the Brauunion suddenly charges 4,000 euros. Gerhard Puff, who is responsible for organizing the festival, is horrified: "We have been presented with a fait accompli. There is nothing left to negotiate, that is it and it will remain that way."

It is noted that even a more moderate price increase to 1,000 euros would have been acceptable for the same equipment, which would represent a price for fire departments at a Klagenfurt beverage wholesaler. To compensate for the even higher costs, Commander Robert Knapp plans to raise the beer prices for the festival, although he is reluctant to do so. “We don't want to and don't want to charge six euros for an open beer,” he explains, because we live together with the population and see it as a social mandate to keep prices moderate. Another point that Puff makes is that Brauunion, as part of the Heineken Group, has recorded double-digit million profits. This raises questions about the fairness of their pricing policy.

Reactions and renewed challenges

The Brauunion itself commented on this in response to a request from ORF and emphasized that all rental inventory was made available “purely to cover costs”. However, the increased personnel costs as well as high transport and maintenance costs could no longer be absorbed exclusively internally. This situation makes it even more challenging for fire departments to organize their festivities, especially since rental inventory can become scarce even during peak times. In addition, many fire departments often have to finance their own equipment in order to supplement their coffers from the festivals.

The developments clearly show the difficulties that the volunteer fire departments are faced with in view of the Brauunion's new pricing structures. The desired cooperation between the breweries and the clubs could suffer significantly due to these economic barriers, while the plans for the tent festival require further clarification in order to successfully implement the event.

As ORF Carinthia reported, the Brauunion has increased prices exorbitantly, while Brauunion Austria refers to the cost pressure in the industry.