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LCBO / The Beer Store

Should the LCBO be deregulated?

  • Total voters
    169
  • Poll closed .
Getting rid of the Beer store is, in relative terms, the easiest 'big' promise made by the PCs.

There are few defenders on the left or the right.

The only real question on beer would be what 'permit' requirements might be imposed on sellers and whether hours of sale would be restricted at all.

***

I think terminating the retail end of the LCBO on the other hand would be shortsighted. Its really not a badly run retailer.

I think they should finish the Wynne liberalization of wine sales, go a bit further, removing the minimum price of $10.95 on wine sold in supermarkets; and add Sunday evening hours at the LCBO where demand warrants.

That would fulfill most poeple's needs.

I expect a few LCBOs would close due to some marginal sales loss, but in a growing province, not all that many.

Let the LCBO focus on wine, vintages, VQA, and the hard stuff.

Allow the wider distribution of Beer, Cider, anything with ABV at or under 7% and some loosening of wine and I think you strike a balance that will please most people, minimize any big fight w/the LCBO union etc.

There are 2 other changes I'd like to see, one would be add a wholesale market for restaurants (currently they pay retail) and likewise allow bulk discounts for customers. Those two moves will erode profit a bit, but not that much as they lead to more $ per transaction allowing higher productivity.

If I buy a case of wine I want 25% off the price of a bottle. Seems fair to me.
 
W. K. Lis said:
I'll would love to get my beer at Costco or my corner variety store.

B0gTcyMCQAEw1eV.jpg:large

From link.
Click to expand...

Weird. There isn't any actual beer in this photo. :p
 
It would be nice to get beer at Costco. I actually don't mind the Kirkland beer, although we won't get to enjoy the cheap prices like you see in the states. I've gotten a 24 of Guinness at Coscto in the states for $28, The Beer Store here charges $70! for the same darn case of beer.
 
gabe said:
It would be nice to get beer at Costco. I actually don't mind the Kirkland beer, although we won't get to enjoy the cheap prices like you see in the states. I've gotten a 24 of Guinness at Coscto in the states for $28, The Beer Store here charges $70! for the same darn case of beer.
Click to expand...

With Doug Ford's promise of a ‘Buck-a-Beer’, is that in U.S. or Canadian bucks? See link. Is that with or without tariffs added on?
 
gabe said:
It would be nice to get beer at Costco. I actually don't mind the Kirkland beer, although we won't get to enjoy the cheap prices like you see in the states. I've gotten a 24 of Guinness at Coscto in the states for $28, The Beer Store here charges $70! for the same darn case of beer.
Click to expand...
Whenever I'm in South Carolina I always go to Target and Walmart for wine and beer. Target especially has a great selection of regional southern USA beers. Several of the below I've seen on the shelves.

SC-Brewery-Map-e1428074567526.jpg
 
W. K. Lis said:
With Doug Ford's promise of a ‘Buck-a-Beer’, is that in U.S. or Canadian bucks? See link. Is that with or without tariffs added on?
Click to expand...

I can't see "buck a beer" coming back. It was eliminated not due to taxes (which are high on alcohol), but due to a regulated minimum price that was increased under pressure by the big breweries. They wanted to crush the cheap beers coming from breweries like Brick (Laker) and Lakeport. Labatt bought Lakeport and shut the brewery down (the building now houses Collective Arts) and wanted to push their big brands, like Budweiser, Coors, and Canadian.

Costs of production haven't come down, and the big breweries aren't interested in selling the cheap stuff. The only way to make it work is to decrease provincial taxes on beer and alcohol, and those cuts probably won't make it to retail beer sales, which have taxes included anyway.

And never underestimate how effective the big brewers are at lobbying. That's why the Beer Store is still a thing and why they're the only ones to take empties, even from the LCBO.

It was a cheap, easy promise to get voters' attention but won't be delivered.
 
This is one election promise that will, happily, not effect me one bit. Other than the odd Creemore (owned by Molson Coors but left largely untainted) and the odd beer in a chain eatery than is contracted to a large supplier, I have only partaken of craft or UK/Irish breweries; you know, the ones that actually taste like beer. For the amount that I consume, I happily pay whatever extra price to get a better product.
 
ShonTron said:
I can't see "buck a beer" coming back. It was eliminated not due to taxes (which are high on alcohol), but due to a regulated minimum price that was increased under pressure by the big breweries. They wanted to crush the cheap beers coming from breweries like Brick (Laker) and Lakeport. Labatt bought Lakeport and shut the brewery down (the building now houses Collective Arts) and wanted to push their big brands, like Budweiser, Coors, and Canadian.

Costs of production haven't come down, and the big breweries aren't interested in selling the cheap stuff. The only way to make it work is to decrease provincial taxes on beer and alcohol, and those cuts probably won't make it to retail beer sales, which have taxes included anyway.

And never underestimate how effective the big brewers are at lobbying. That's why the Beer Store is still a thing and why they're the only ones to take empties, even from the LCBO.

It was a cheap, easy promise to get voters' attention but won't be delivered.
Click to expand...

Removing or lowering the minimum price would allow someone like Costco to bring their house brand in and start a price war, assuming they were allowed to be sellers.

So there is some wiggle room.

A 'cute' move to create the illusion of a lower price would be to pull HST out of the price on the shelf and charge it at the cash register.

On a $40 two-four, HST is $5.22; so extract that you lowered the price to $34.78.
 
lenaitch said:
This is one election promise that will, happily, not effect me one bit. Other than the odd Creemore (owned by Molson Coors but left largely untainted) and the odd beer in a chain eatery than is contracted to a large supplier, I have only partaken of craft or UK/Irish breweries; you know, the ones that actually taste like beer. For the amount that I consume, I happily pay whatever extra price to get a better product.
Click to expand...

For real. I pay about 65$ or whatever it is (I don't ask, I just pay) for a case of Pilsner Urquell 500mL. The chance of that becoming anywhere near a buck a beer is zero point zero.
 
How should the LCBO deal with these robberies?

https://www.thestar.com/news/insigh...watch-theyre-literally-just-walking-away.html

Seems an easy fix would be a security guard in every store, and high resolution imaging of everyone. And how about police response?

“But LCBO theft stings especially deep in Toronto, where some suggest overlapping policies — the LCBO’s “hands-off” instruction to staff never to intervene with thieves while they are in the building, coupled with the Toronto Police Service’s policy to rarely, if ever, dispatch officers to a low-priority theft scene after the thieves have left — has opened a pathway to friction-free larceny.”
 
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