 |
|
|
|||||
The 2023 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley Vineyards has notes of candied cherries, cinnamon, and sweet tobacco. But its defining feature may be its container: a glass bottle designed specifically for reuse. Made by 3-year-old Oregon startup Revinothe first company to launch a reusable glass wine bottle in the U.S.the Pinot Noirs green Burgundy-style bottle is sturdy enough that it can be used, sanitized, and refilled up to 50 times. Willamette Valley Vineyards, which operates 13 vineyards across Oregon, began selling 1,452 cases (or 17,424 bottles) of its 2023 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir in Revinos containers last year. The winery plans to put another 1,452 casesof its 2024 Whole Cluster Pinotin Revino bottles again this year. Seven of its nine tasting rooms now double as collection points for Revino bottles. We will take any Revino bottle back, says Jim Bernau, Willamette Valley Vineyards founder and CEO. That means customers can drop off bottles from Willamettes vintages as well as any other more than 70 Oregon wineries that Revino works with, including Bethel Heights, Cameron, Et Fille, and Remy Wines. More than 40 of these wineries already have wine in Revinos signature bottles. (The remaining wineries are still aging their wine and will bottle in Revino containers in the coming years.) When it comes to beverages, glass is often thought of as the “greenest” packaging type. Not only is it infinitely recyclable, but unlike bauxite (used for tin cans), it doesn’t require cutting down large swaths of rainforest to mine it. But as a circular material, glass is only as good as the recycling efforts that surround it. And in the U.S., those are few and far between. Adam Rack, Callie Edwards, and Keenan O’Hern [Photo: Molly Bailey/Revino] Revino founders, Keenan OHern and Adam Rack were critics of single-use packaging when they met in early 2022 through an MBA student who was doing a project on refillable beer bottles. On trips to the Netherlands, OHern, whose mom is Dutch, had observed residents habitually returning their beer bottles to shops. Its just a way of life over there, he says. You return a beer bottle, bring it back to the shop, and they wash it and reuse it, he says. Rack, who worked at Portlands Coopers Hall winery for nearly a decade, was an early adopter of refillable beer bottles, which Coopers Hall began using in 2018. (Racks email signature is a quote from Dr. Seusss The Lorax: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.) Together, they saw an opportunity to create an ecosystem for reusable wine bottles, starting in their home state of Oregon. Revino, which launched in 2023, makes money selling extra-durable U.S.-made bottles to wineries. Retrieving and washing the bottles is included in the cost of the bottleseven if that means Revino drivers have to drive 258 miles to Quady North in Southern Oregons Applegate Valley. The company offers wineries a 10 cent credit on future glass purchases for each bottle returned, and an additional discount to wineries that collect and neatly stack them in a pallet. Customers, meanwhile, can return Revino bottles from one winery to bottles at any return site (not just Willamette Valley Vineyards). In Portland, that includes Vino wine shop, Statera Cellars, Johns Marketplace, and others. Revino is on track to sell nearly half a million bottles this year, and aims to make $35,000 in monthly recurring revenue by early 2026. In addition to Oregon wineries, Revino has onboarded a handful in Napa (Frogs Leap, Silver Oak) and Washington state, as OHern and Rack work to expand their model to other parts of the country. Thus far, Revino has secured more than $440,000 from investors, including a prize from the Strategic Economic Development Corporations Pitch Willamette. [Photo: Revino] CRACKING THE GLASS RECYCLING PROBLEM Only 31.3% of glass is recycled in the U.S. according to the EPA. Many states don’t have curbside pick up of glass; and only 10 states have bottle bills, which require beverage makers or distributors to add a deposit on all glass bottles that consumers can recoup if they return the containers. States like Oregon and Maine that have bottle bills have fairly high recycling rates. But elsewhere in the country, many people just resort to throwing glass in the trash. Though its highly recyclable, glass is an energy-intensive material. To recycle it, glass cullet (crushed glass thats ready to be remelted), limestone, sand, and soda ash are heated to between 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit, a process that can emit toxic air contaminants when pollution controls arent properly installed. Glass is also heavy, which means its both expensive and carbon-intensive to transport. A 2014 study commissioned by the Wine Institute in California found that the making and transporting of glass bottles account for 29% of wines carbon footprint. Revino aims to solve these issues by making it easy for winemakers to reuse bottles. Before launching, OHern and Rack held meetings with dozens of Oregon winemakers to collaboratively design the companys first reusable wine bottlethe green Burgundy one. Made by glass manufacturer O-I Glass in its Kalam, Washington, and Tracy, California plants, the bottles are produced with 50% to 70% recycled material. Even though Revinos bottles are durable enough to withstand roughly 50 washings, they weigh just 495 grams, which is less than some winerys regular bottles. Winemakers concerned about their carbon footprint appreciate this since the lighter the bottle, the less fuel is used to transport bottles to club members on the East Coast. Revinos first Flint bottleclear glass, for rosé, pinot gris, and other whiteswill be produced by the end of this year, and ready for purchase by January 1. Because the new bottles are all made in the U.S., there wont be any price fluctuations due to Trumps tariffs. OHern and Rack are closing on a wash facility in the Portland metro area and have purchased a high-end German Seitz bottle washer. Until that facility comes online, wineries like Willamette Valley are storing the empty bottles, which will eventually be cleaned by Revino, and then sold back to wineries at a discounted price. Willamette Valley pays $12 a case of 12 bottles for its Revino bottles, which is more than the $9.20 that Bernau says he pays for a case of bottles from Saxco bottles, made in Kalama, Washington. That said, with the 10 cent discount that partner wineries receive on future glass purchases for each bottle returned, Bernau will get a discount of $1.20 per case on his next purchase of bottles. An additional two-cent credit per bottle is added if the winery is willing to collect and neatly stack a full pallet of returned bottles for Revino to pick up. This brings the cost per case to $10.56still $1.36 more than the Saxco case. Bernau isnt concerned about the price difference because he knows hes doing the right thing by keeping glass out of landfills. In the end, if Revino can stick with this, there will be cost equivalency, he says. With glass bottle prices continuing to rise, Revino may pencil out sooner rather than later. If you think about it, the glass wine bottle has value already, Rack says. Pint glasses at a restaurant or wine glasses are used hundreds of times. These bottles dont break when you throw them in the trash because theyre so heavy and thickbut [people still] throw them away. And theyre gone. Theres value there! [Photo: Jeff Johnson/Bethel Heights Vineyard] MORE WINE VARIETALS, MORE BOTTLE STYLES There have been previous attempts to create a rewash system in the Willamette Valley, but the scale has always been too small and the task of collecting bottles too daunting. Also, some winemakers have been reluctant to part with their various bottle styles, according to Pat Dudley, a founder of Bethel Heights winery. But Dudley says winemakers attitudes are starting to shift as they see their customers demanding more sustainable forms of packaging. I think there has been enough push in that direction that winemakers are starting to feel obliged to give up that silliness about the bottle weight and the bottle shape, she says. Let your label be your brand! Revinos clear Burgundy-shaped bottle for rosé is on track to debut later this year and the company has plans for other styles in the future. Rack and OHern are active members of the PR3 alliance, which is developing the only global standard for reuse. Members include environmental nonprofits like the Clean Water Fund and Surfrider as well as government entities like Seattle Public Utilities and the San Francisco Environment Department. (Companies like Clorox and Target are also members.) Rack is part of the washing standards work group. Revino also has ambitious expansion plans, but Rack says they want to develop their infrastructure on the West Coast before expanding further east. Some of the wineries in Napa have been looking at reuse for almost a decade, wanting to figure it out but they didnt know how to do it on their own, Rack says. Revino is also launching some pilots with a few Napa wineries to back-wash their existing bottle line, which will both create another income stream for the company and allow the wineries to see how high their return rates are. This will also help us present ourselves to policy experts down there and investors, OHern says. Eventually theyd love to open a California wash facility to cater to that market. Thats the whole goal, he says. We dont want to have this hub and spoke facility. We want these to be localized to the regions that were collecting and washing in. [Photo: Molly Bailey/Revino] MARKETING THE REUSABLE BOTTLE Willamette Valleys Bernau says the decision to work with Revino was a no-brainer. From the beginning, weve been focused on environmental stewardship, he says. Founded in 1983, Willamette Valley Vineyards is certified through the Low Input Viticulture and Enology (LIVE) program and its Bernau Estate Vineyard is certified biodynamic. In 1990, Bernau became the first Oregon winemaker to add a 10-cent bottle credit to all his labels. The winerys estate tasting room in the Salem Hills has been a collection point for wine bottle returns ever since. Since the 1989 vintage, our first vintage, weve been teaching our customers to bring the bottles back, Bernau says. Revino uses design to help this effort. The first iteration of its bottles had the word Refillable embossed along the heel and an embossed impression of the state of Oregon on the punt (the dimple at the bottom of a bottle). The second version says Reusable. And because Revino is already expanding into neighboring states, the Oregon shape will be replaced with a tracing circle, a symbol for reuse. Revino is also getting participating wineries to change their labels to inlude language that says Reusable Bottle with a QR code that leads consumers to Revinos returns page. Bernau says that customers have been enthusiastic about the winerys refillable bottles. The Revino marketing materials, which are on all Willamette Valleys tasting room bars, have become a talking point and even sway some customers to order the Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, according to the winerys estate general manager Spence Fogarty. They feel theyre a conscious consumer, he says. And then they are shown the bottlewhich has a unique shape and the [imprint of the] state of Oregon on the bottom. They feel that theyre doing their part. The tasting rooms offer another incentive: If you bring six empty Revino bottles in, you get a free flight. Bernau says since the whole cluster was released in August, hes already received 12% of the bottles back. Thats nearly double what OHern and Rack had forecasted for the first year. Looking at those early indicators, its really quite exciting seeing the amount of participation, Rack says.
Category:
E-Commerce
If youve ever experienced incommensurate rage from slow or oblivious walkers, this TikTok series is for you. Matt Bass has always been a walker, often logging 10 miles per day on weekends. Recently, hes taken to the streets of New York City, phone in hand, documenting what he calls bad walkers. I decided to start a TikTok to capture some of the moments you have to see to believe, Bass tells Fast Company over email. @mvttbvss Who else gasped or had a visceral reaction when this one started? I consider this horror genre of walking because its that scary. Really forcing the rest of society to bend to your whim when you have a formation this wide. 0/10 score #nyc #newyork #newyorkcity #fyp #nyclife original sound – Matt Bass Armed with just an iPhone and a pair of Apple wired earbuds as a makeshift mic, he films incognito behind sunglasses, rating aloud the walking etiquette of those who cross his path. Bass briefly experimented with Ray-Ban Meta glasses for hands-free, clandestine filming, but he found the audio quality lacking and returned to his tried-and-true setup. So, what actually constitutes a bad walker in Basss book? Typically, a formation that is 4 wide, all side by side, will be deemed bad walking etiquette, he says. I think anyone swinging umbrellas or shopping bags is also an example of a bad walker. He adds: The worst walkers are typically taking up the full width of the sidewalk, buried in their phones, not paying attention. Other documented offenses include what he terms drifterspedestrians who unconsciously veer across the path, blocking the entire width. Then theres the chain link fence violationpeople who link arms or hold hands three or more across, obstructing both incoming and outgoing foot traffic. @mvttbvss This one felt nostalgic, like the first episode I ever did. Too slow, too wide, swinging & drifting – checks a lot of boxes. Hope you enjoyed, and I said excuse me for the people that always ask me to #fyp #fyp #foryoupage #foryourpage #nyc #newyorkcity #nyclife #soho #targetaudience original sound – Matt Bass Hes also identified seasonal offenders, like shadow clingersthose who cling to the shade of a building, ignoring standard sidewalk etiquette of staying on the right side in favor of avoiding the sun. Theres even an edition devoted to umbrella etiquette. @mvttbvss Tag a shadow clinger in the comments. I think this is the epitome of inconsiderate walking. Dont force someone else to walk on the wrong side of the path in the heat , you are the obstruction , like a car driving on the wrong side of the road – unjustifiable behavior #fyp #fyp #foryoupage #foryourpage #foryou #newyorkcity #nyc #newyork #nyclife #targetaudience original sound – Matt Bass Its a grievance many can relate to. I’ve found my people. I hate hate hate bad walkers, one commenter posted. Another wrote: The amount of unholy rage that I feel being stuck behind people with no self-awareness is unhealthy! (Bass responded to that latter commenter: Dont worry. Were solving this global crisis, one video at a time.) While Bass takes care not to expose identities or engage confrontatioally, some viewers have criticized his approach. They can go at their own pace. They arent on your time. Go around, one commenter argued. To which Bass replied: People who say ‘just go around’ definitely haven’t walked the streets of New York themselves. Easier said than done in most cases. Bass is clear that good walking etiquette isnt about speed. Not everyone has to be fast, he says. But everyone should be aware of their surroundings and considerate of others. Hes also spotlighted examples of stellar walkers, just so people know what to strive for.
Category:
E-Commerce
Recently, Delta Air Lines announced it would expand its use of artificial intelligence to provide individualized prices to customers. This move sparked concern among flyers and politicians. But Delta isnt the only business interested in using AI this way. Personalized pricing has already spread across a range of industries, from finance to online gaming. Customized pricingwhere each customer receives a different price for the same productis a holy grail for businesses because it boosts profits. With customized pricing, free-spending people pay more while the price-sensitive pay less. Just as clothes can be tailored to each person, custom pricing fits each persons ability and desire to pay. I am a professor who teaches business school students how to set prices. My latest book, The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money is Good for You and Society, highlights problems with custom pricing. Specifically, Im worried that AI pricing models lack transparency and could unfairly take advantage of financially unsophisticated people. The history of custom pricing For much of history, customized pricing was the normal way things happened. In the past, business owners sized up each customer and then bargained face-to-face. The price paid depended on the buyers and sellers bargaining skillsand desperation. An old joke illustrates this process. Once, a very rich man was riding in his carriage at breakfast time. Hungry, he told his driver to stop at the next restaurant. He went inside, ordered some eggs, and asked for the bill. When the owner handed him the check, the rich man was shocked at the price. Are eggs rare in this neighborhood? he asked. No, the owner said. Eggs are plentiful, but very rich men are quite rare. Custom pricing through bargaining still exists in some industries. For example, car dealerships often negotiate a different price for each vehicle they sell. Economists refer to this as first-degree or perfect price discrimination, which is perfect from the sellers perspective because it allows them to charge each customer the maximum amount theyre willing to pay. Currently, most American shoppers dont bargain but instead see set prices. Many scholars trace the rise of set prices to John Wanamakers Philadelphia department store, which opened in 1876. In his store, each item had a nonnegotiable price tag. These set prices made it simpler for customers to shop and became very popular. Why uniform pricing caught on Set prices have several advantages for businesses. For one thing, they allow stores to hire low-paid retail workers instead of employees who are experts in negotiation. Historically, they also made it easier for stores to decide how much to charge. Before the advent of AI pricing, many companies determined prices using a cost-plus rule. Cost-plus means a business adds a fixed percentage or markup to an items cost. The markup is the percentage added to a products cost that covers a companys profits and overhead. The big-box retailer Costco still uses this rule. It determines prices by adding a roughly 15% maximum markup to each item on the warehouse floor. If something costs Costco $100, they sell it for about $115. The problem with cost-plus is that it treats all items the same. For example, Costco sells wine in many stores. People buying expensive Champagne typically are willing to pay a much higher markup than customers purchasing inexpensive boxed wine. Using AI gets around this problem by letting a computer determine the optimal markup item by item. What personalized pricing means for shoppers AI needs a lot of data to operate effectively. The shift from cash to electronic payments has enabled businesses to collect whats been called a gold mine of information. For example, Mastercard says its data lets companies determine optimal pricing strategies. So much information is collected when you pay electronically that in 2024 the Federal Trade Commission issued civil subpoenas to Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, and other financial companies demanding to know how artificial intelligence and other technological tools may allow companies to vary prices using data they collect about individual consumers finances and shopping habits. Experiments at the FTC show that AI programs can even collude among themselves to raise prices without human intervention. To prevent customized pricing, some states have laws requiring retailers to display a single price for each product for sale. Even with these laws, its simple to do custom pricing by using targeted digital coupons, which vary each shoppers discount. How you can outsmart AI pricing There are ways to get around customized pricing All depend on denying AI programs data on past purchases and knowledge of who you are. First, when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, use paper money. Yes, good old-fashioned cash is private and leaves no data trail that follows you online. Second, once online, clear your cache. Your search history and cookies provide algorithms with extensive amounts of information. Many articles say the protective power of clearing your cache is an urban myth. However, this information was based on how airlines used to price tickets. Recent analysis by the FTC shows the newest AI algorithms are changing prices based on this cached information. Third, many computer pricing algorithms look at your location, since location is a good proxy for income. I was once in Botswana and needed to buy a plane ticket. The price on my computer was about $200. Unfortunately, before booking I was called away to dinner. After dinner my computer showed the cost was $1,000five times higher. It turned out after dinner I used my universitys VPN, which told the airline I was located in a rich American neighborhood. Before dinner I was located in a poor African town. Shutting off the VPN reduced the price. Last, often to get a better price in face-to-face negotiations, you need to walk away. To do this online, put something in your basket and then wait before hitting purchase. I recently bought eyeglasses online. As a cash payer, I didnt have my credit card handy. It took five minutes to find it, and the delay caused the site to offer a large discount to complete the purchase. The computer revolution has created the ability to create custom products cheaply. The cashless society combined with AI is setting us up for customized prices. In a custom-pricing situation, seeing a high price doesnt mean something is higher quality. Instead, a high price simply means a business views the customer as willing to part with more money. Using cash more often can help defeat custom pricing. In my view, however, rapid advances in AI mean we need to start talking now about how prices are determined, before customized pricing takes over completely. Jay L. Zagorsky is an associate professor at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||