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LCBO / The Beer Store

Should the LCBO be deregulated?

  • Total voters
    169
  • Poll closed .
afransen said:
Having a deposit/return system for containers that are recycled seems very inefficient/wasteful.
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I would rather see a deposit/return system on all cans and plastic bottles sold in stores. It may cut down on all the litter. As long as it's like a 25 cent deposit or more. People will think twice about chucking cans/bottles out the car window or tossing Monster Energy cans into my peony bushes at the bus stop.

My cousin in NY state, keeps all bottles and cans in the garage. They take the bags to the grocery store for store credit. Cuts down on the grocery bill. The kids had their own bags. When they got full they would take it to the store an put the money towards toys or candy or whatever kids buy.
 
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gabe said:
I would rather see a deposit/return system on all cans and plastic bottles sold in stores. It may cut down on all the litter. As long as it's like a 25 cent deposit or more. People will think twice about chucking cans/bottles out the car window or tossing Monster Energy cans into my peony bushes at the bus stop.

My cousin in NY state, keeps all bottles and cans in the garage. They take the bags to the grocery store for store credit. Cuts down on the grocery bill. The kids had their own bags. When they got full they would take it to the store an put the money towards toys or candy or whatever kids buy.
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If you want to cut down on litter, ban non-reusable containers and implement a deposit/return/reuse scheme. Having a deposit return scheme where the returns are immediately waste is non-sensical. And let's not kid ourselves, most plastic is just garbage.

It doesn't cut down on the grocery bill. Inherent in deposit/return is the cost of the deposit. Add in the cost of administering the system and all the added touches/infrastructure to deliver those items to the waste stream and we are just lighting money on fire, not to mention increasing GHG emissions and pollution.
 
gabe said:
Works fine in Quebec and BC. And better for our environment. Keep garbage off our streets. Everyday i see metal cans and plastic bottles. Especially on trails. People will pick it up and get money for it.





https://twitter.com/x/status/1800541547022446941
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Most of the litter I see is fast food cups, food wrappers, etc. I rarely see plastic bottles and cans. Perhaps on trails lacking in waste receptacles lazy people are more likely to litter. You could employ people to collect litter (or place garbage/recycling receptacles and empty them) and skip the infrastructure to collect waste, issue refunds, "recycle" it and put it in a landfill (possibly a river or burn pile on the other side of the planet).

ETA: I would favour a tax on single use beverage containers, scaled to how readily recyclable the container is. Mixed plastic bottles: 10 or 20 cents per bottle to start. We need to focus on reduce, before reuse, before recycle.
 
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Per The Star, it's happening

LCBO contract talks break off, workers set for midnight strike: ‘Tonight, Ford’s dry summer begins’ ​

‘We can weather a strike as long as necessary,” said OPSEU president J.P. Hornick. The LCBO has said that, in the event of a strike, 30 stores would reopen July 19 for limited shopping every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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Jonny5 said:
Per The Star, it's happening
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Seems like a too-late to work strategy to me.........

Marketshare for the LCBO is about to be eroded...., there will be closures and layoffs within the year.........going out now costs the government some money........ but aside from transferable business to the Wine Rack/ Wine Shoppe, supermarkets of the world, and the Beer Store.........nothing prevents Ford from opening those same retailers to the hard stuff...........potenially as soon as next month........

He could also accelerate existing timelines and essentially kill the retail end of the LCBO entirely..........

I'm not suggesting he should..........but I just don't see the leverage for the Union here...
 
Northern Light said:
Seems like a too-late to work strategy to me.........

Marketshare for the LCBO is about to be eroded...., there will be closures and layoffs within the year.........going out now costs the government some money........ but aside from transferable business to the Wine Rack/ Wine Shoppe, supermarkets of the world, and the Beer Store.........nothing prevents Ford from opening those same retailers to the hard stuff...........potenially as soon as next month........

He could also accelerate existing timelines and essentially kill the retail end of the LCBO entirely..........

I'm not suggesting he should..........but I just don't see the leverage for the Union here...
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It wouldn't be the first time a union shot itself in the foot. The only main union demand I can see having traction is a reduction in part-time positions. Knowing that their main competitor is going to be independent retail, as far as I can tell, they are already at parity with grocery store employees. Job protection is going to be a hard sell and they probably know that if they go to an arbitrator/conciliator they're not going to get it.

I'm torn. I actually like to LCBO concept. I drink only craft beer (ok, the odd Corona) and, from what I've seen, independent retail, and even the Beer Store, only stock the stuff that moves well which in most cases is the corporate brands. I'm not much of a hard liquor drinker anymore but my preferred brands of Whisky are hard enough to get at the LCBO - I can't imagine retail expending much shelf space on the amount of variety even the average LCBO has.
 
lenaitch said:
It wouldn't be the first time a union shot itself in the foot. The only main union demand I can see having traction is a reduction in part-time positions. Knowing that their main competitor is going to be independent retail, as far as I can tell, they are already at parity with grocery store employees. Job protection is going to be a hard sell and they probably know that if they go to an arbitrator/conciliator they're not going to get it.
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I haven't looked too closely at it, but to my recollection, most LCBOs are down to 1 full-time, non-management staffer.

The larger, high-volume stores may have a handful.

lenaitch said:
I'm torn. I actually like to LCBO concept. I drink only craft beer (ok, the odd Corona) and, from what I've seen, independent retail, and even the Beer Store, only stock the stuff that moves well which in most cases is the corporate brands. I'm not much of a hard liquor drinker anymore but my preferred brands of Whisky are hard enough to get at the LCBO - I can't imagine retail expending much shelf space on the amount of variety even the average LCBO has.
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I like the LCBO at its best, for the selection, as you note, for knowledgeable staff (some of the product consultants) and the nicer stores also have a good ambiance about them.

That said, in much of the world, wine and beer especially are much more widely/conveniently available, and in many, but fewer cases, so is the hard stuff.

There is a certain convenience to the one-stop shop, particularly for those not owning cars, but even those of us who do. As I spend a fair bit of time in downtown TO, I often, also grocery shop there before heading home.

Its a convenience when I can grab the wine that goes w/dinner and stand in line only once, rather than have to schlep a couple of bags of grocery a few blocks away to the nearest LCBO outpost.

I think there's an argument for both concepts (wider distribution and stores that sell greater breadth of product and/or more dangerous product with greater care)

Elsewhere, my experience has been you rarely see stores w/the LCBO depth, though it does happen; but what you see more of is boutique offerings. So the selection is around, but not under one roof.
 
Northern Light said:
I like the LCBO at its best, for the selection, as you note, for knowledgeable staff (some of the product consultants) and the nicer stores also have a good ambiance about them.
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Also, there's the benefit of local economic development. LCBO showcases Ontario products, particularly wine, over other products, including giving Ontario wines prime shelf space.

Unfortunately, product consultants are becoming fewer and fewer. You've also seen an overall decrease in store upkeep. You could eat off the shelves of an LCBO location two decades ago. Now, you see a lot disorganized shelves and dust on bottles.
 
christiesplits said:
Also, there's the benefit of local economic development. LCBO showcases Ontario products, particularly wine, over other products, including giving Ontario wines prime shelf space.
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I do like that, but would add, I don't actually think they were very good at it......

We (the LCBO) bring in enormous amounts of plonk from Australia that they can't sell at home for 1/2 the price.......... we've diminished Ontario over the years some w/the 'blended section' of junk........ and the prices they've paid (or tried to pay) many domestic producers can only be described as insulting. One vintner who shall go unnamed was selling a really nice wine for $17 a number of years ago..........(on premise); an LCBO buyer decided he wanted to price it at $9 per bottle and offered the vintner less than $5 a bottle for the product.

We've also failed to have co-promotion deals with BC (Canada's other major wine region) with the LCBO stocking only a tiny fraction of BC's best product and, of course, in return, BC hasn't showcased Ontario as much as it might.

Sigh.
 
lenaitch said:
I'm torn. I actually like to LCBO concept. I drink only craft beer (ok, the odd Corona) and, from what I've seen, independent retail, and even the Beer Store, only stock the stuff that moves well which in most cases is the corporate brands. I'm not much of a hard liquor drinker anymore but my preferred brands of Whisky are hard enough to get at the LCBO - I can't imagine retail expending much shelf space on the amount of variety even the average LCBO has.
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I'd say my grocery store carries a similar range of craft beer as LCBO, perhaps more. Perhaps that will change now that they can sell 24s and need to allocate shelf space to same.
 
As of right now, the LCBO doesn't have a meaningful plan to serve it grocery partners. The last two weeks before the strike saw many zero outs on orders and they have been told that they must buy a whole pallet of one sku to get the product in.

Going on strike over coolers is a mistake on the union. It isn't going to change the plans to expand alcohol. It wasn't going to kill the LCBO retail side. The 10% discount will help as any grocery store selling right now is most likely losing money on it.
 
afransen said:
I'd say my grocery store carries a similar range of craft beer as LCBO, perhaps more. Perhaps that will change now that they can sell 24s and need to allocate shelf space to same.
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Perhaps in large urban stores. In the smaller market stores that I am familiar with, many had to struggle to find floor space. Maybe some of larger local brewers like Flying Monkeys or Muskoka, but I don't think I've ever seen any of the really small brewers in a grocery store. I'll have to pay more attention next time. We have a couple of local brewers up here and I would hope the local stores would support them but maybe corporate says otherwise.
 
Smoke2011 said:
As of right now, the LCBO doesn't have a meaningful plan to serve it grocery partners. The last two weeks before the strike saw many zero outs on orders and they have been told that they must buy a whole pallet of one sku to get the product in.

Going on strike over coolers is a mistake on the union. It isn't going to change the plans to expand alcohol. It wasn't going to kill the LCBO retail side. The 10% discount will help as any grocery store selling right now is most likely losing money on it.
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From what I heard - LCBO stores were stocking/starting to hoard product before the strike. I believe all orders became a disaster/delayed because of the rumoured strike/increase stock of product before the long weekend.
 
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