Drinking to the Futures

Here's another one for the "I wish I had thought of that" file...

I read today about a new bar in Melbourne that works just like a stock exchange; the drink prices fluctuate with demand.  Yep, really!  The prices of popular beers, wines and spirits are inflated, and those of less popular drinks (which means XXXX) drop.

They have a computer system that tracks drink sales and updates the "market" prices every ten minutes, with monitors around the bar keeping the patrons up to date with current prices and trends.  So astute and savvy market players can pick up fancy imported brews, trendy cocktails or their favorite wine nice and cheap, but at peak times they might have to fork out twice as much for the same pleasure (or drink a XXXX, which would always be cheap).

The place is apparently a hit, with patrons trying to outsmart the market, and holding out on thier shout until a market crash.  The key to playing the market is to keep changing drinks, work your way through the bar, 'cause if everyone is drinking the same imported beer, the price remains high.

They even allow "insider trading" for their regulars; the staff will tell them to hold off if the price is going to go down.  Now that's what I call a loyalty program!

Plans are afoot to introduce a "futures" system, whereby market players can buy up big when the price is low, and exercise their option later, even if the price sky rockets.

Cool idea, huh!