put off the customers.
::(b) Drunks [could] and [would] put off the customers.
::(c) Drunks could [put off] and [drive away] the customers.
::(d) Drunks could put off the [customers] and [neighbors].

The square brackets mark the conjuncts of the coordinate structures. Based on these data, one might assume that drunks, could, put off, and customers are constituents in the test sentence because these strings can be coordinated with bums, would, drive away, and neighbors, respectively. Coordination also