Before 1920 it was common for saloons to be "tied," that is, they only served one brewery's products. Setting up a saloon could be expensive, depending on location and how nice, or "respectable" the place was to look. A basement dive in an urban slum might only require some barrels, boards to set across the barrels to make a makeshift table, and old cups or tins to serve the product. In contrast, an upscale establishment in a wealthy business part of town would need expensive furniture, mirrors, lights, paintings, etc.

Breweries would give loans to new saloon owners to set them up in business. These loans could range from underwriting the entire business, to providing some furnishings and decorations. In exchange, the saloon would only sell that brewery's brands while paying off the loan. In these cases a brewery tray might be included a part of the advertising and decorations.

In non-tied saloons, which were usually freer to chose which products to sell, advertising was even more important because the customer might be able to chose a rival's product over yours. In these cases breweries would often give away things such as trays, signs, etc. Giving a saloon some trays and a sign or two cost the brewery a few dollars, but it was considered an acceptable adverting cost. better to give away $10.00 worth of material than to have potential customers see your rivals' name in the bar instead of yours.

After Prohibition ended in 1933 "tied" bars were usually illegal and so POS advertising became even more important. However, different states had different laws regarding advertising which meant breweries needed to have different types of advertising available. For example, in 1953 North Carolina outlawed most types of Point of Sale ads, including trays. Brewers had to find other ways to get their names before the public.