General LCBO Debate & Discussion Thread

[PeenSteen]

I hope Peen wasn't trying to blame me for Immortal eventually never returning. I won't lose sleep over it either way.

Not at all, I didn't meant to come off that way and sorry if I did

[PeenSteen]

Also to clarify....I'm just saying buying a single US craft bottle under a "domestic single bottle" code hurts.....waiting until it has a designated single bottle price for the product counts as paying for/supporting the actual product it is. Also in the case of Elysian its probably worth waiting for the proper single bottle code since the beer on shelves now is around 4 months old anyway.

[toweringpine]

I bought the last pack of Founders at Crossroads last week. There were only five bottles in the pack. The cashier rang it in as five bottles at $2.25 each ( I forget the exact amount ) and the total came to what the six pack was worth less one bottle. It is a new product but it didn't seem to phase the guy one bit. He did it by scanning the six pack not a bottle. Not sure how the cash register knew what to do but it worked out properly and without a moment's delay

[rejtable]

I hope Peen wasn't trying to blame me for Immortal eventually never returning. I won't lose sleep over it either way.

Not at all, I didn't meant to come off that way and sorry if I did

All good for me.
I appreciate your contributions to this site. I'm sure it must be frustrating working there and seeing the negative comments so often. My wife is a former Bell employee, so I get it.

And while we are clarifying to avoid offense, I didn't mean I'd not lose sleep
If you blamed me for killing Immortal (haha, see what I did there?!?). I meant I wouldn't lose sleep if the beer didn't come back.

[dale cannon]

Dale... im not sure I'd understand the point of getting an answer to your question then. What is clear is that beer exactly like that on the shelves can and is sold individually all over the place.

Why do you care if you can buy pencils or razor blades individually? How does it apply to this discussion?

Oh, because when Belgian said..

Either 'seal' those open six-packs, or charge us for the single bottles in a standard policy of pricing singles like any retail store would (and does.)

..I didn't think he was implying that the LCBO (and in fact it would be the brewer/importer who would do so within the LCBO pricing rules, not the LCBO) ought to establish a set price for buying either a single bottle OR the entire open six-pack. I think he was implying that the LCBO ought to establish a standard pricing policy for handling a scenario in which a customer would like to buy a single bottle from a six-pack that is priced and intended to be sold as a six-pack.

And I couldn't think of any examples of retail stores that had such a standard policy. Hence my curiosity.

(Applicability to the general discussion is irrelevant.)

Make sense now?

[PeenSteen]

I hope Peen wasn't trying to blame me for Immortal eventually never returning. I won't lose sleep over it either way.

Not at all, I didn't meant to come off that way and sorry if I did

All good for me.
I appreciate your contributions to this site. I'm sure it must be frustrating working there and seeing the negative comments so often. My wife is a former Bell employee, so I get it.

Believe me I understand and contribute to the negative comments the LCBO deserves, no frustration here when it comes to hearing about it

[rejtable]

Make sense now?

Not really, but no matter from my perspective. All good.

[Belgian]

Hilarious. Anyway, hope the Eslie can come to terms with either A) selling single beers from open packs (and even charge a 'singles' markup as retailers often do eg. in Buffalo) - or - B) find a way to 'seal' the open packs to prevent total chaos. Obviously by blaming us they haven't solved their own problem. I was suggesting they might easily do so.

[midlife crisis]

I agree with Belgian's original comments which started this discussion today. If an individual bottle has a bar code on its label, it completely escapes me as to how it is difficult for the LCBO to assign a price to said bottle. Just take the six-pack price and divide by six. Add a 20% premium for the inconvenience factor, I don't care. But the explanation that this takes three months to accomplish (and not meaning to shoot the messenger here) is just bizarre, and illustrative of the LCBO's stagnant bureaucracy. Now, if there is no bar code on the individual bottle's label, then I could see how this might create logistical difficulties.

[Grey]

Also to clarify....I'm just saying buying a single US craft bottle under a "domestic single bottle" code hurts.....waiting until it has a designated single bottle price for the product counts as paying for/supporting the actual product it is. Also in the case of Elysian its probably worth waiting for the proper single bottle code since the beer on shelves now is around 4 months old anyway.

I was at King & Spadina last week asking about more Founders Centennial (there's an empty shelf space for it) and was told there are three stray bottles in the back but they couldn't be sold to me because there was no way to scan them as single bottles... and then was told that eventually they will be destroyed if they can't be sold as singles.

Maybe the single bottle code didn't yet exist (thanks PeenSteen, I saw your post with all the singles codes). But seriously, does this seemingly mythical land of LCBO beer destruction actually exist then? I mean in the context of just not knowing how to sell single bottles.

If an individual bottle has a bar code on its label, it completely escapes me as to how it is difficult for the LCBO to assign a price to said bottle. Just take the six-pack price and divide by six. Add a 20% premium for the inconvenience factor, I don't care. But the explanation that this takes three months to accomplish (and not meaning to shoot the messenger here) is just bizarre, and illustrative of the LCBO's stagnant bureaucracy.

Well said and I agree.

Also I can add that I was in Texas and the large grocery store chain HEB had a nice little craft beer singles shelf/display... I believe all of the bottles had bar codes and as you'd expect there was a small markup.

One thing I didn't give much thought to (but I'll pay more attention next time) is that maybe all of the six (or four for the DFH 90) packs were indeed open style (for the beers available as singles).

[Lukie]

I bought the last pack of Founders at Crossroads last week. There were only five bottles in the pack. The cashier rang it in as five bottles at $2.25 each ( I forget the exact amount ) and the total came to what the six pack was worth less one bottle. It is a new product but it didn't seem to phase the guy one bit. He did it by scanning the six pack not a bottle. Not sure how the cash register knew what to do but it worked out properly and without a moment's delay

Wish I had that guy at the Promenade BO this afternoon. Wanted to get a single Founders, but he tells me they have been instructed not to sell singles from packs at all. I tell him its an open top pack and that I've purchased this way many times before. He gets the pack brought to him and tells me that he thought by open pack, I meant that it was a closed box but that it was ripped apart by someone. By some twisted feat of logic, the fact that its an actual open pack makes it even worse and he tells me that now they were given strict instructions by HQ not to sell singles from packs ever. WTF. Wanted to speak to the mng but lo and behold the chap is on his break and his royal highness can't be disrupted. I wish there was some consistency across the KGBO locations and a standardized training that covered the basics.

[spinrsx]

interesting subtractions from the lcbo

BLACK OAK NUT BROWN
Canada | Black Oak Brewing Company Ltd
LCBO 547422 | 6x341 mL | $ 12.95 | PRODUCT DISCONTINUED

BLACK OAK PALE ALE
Canada | Black Oak Brewing Company Ltd
LCBO 547430 | 6x341 mL | $ 12.95 | PRODUCT DISCONTINUED

[Kel Varnsen]

interesting subtractions from the lcbo

BLACK OAK NUT BROWN
Canada | Black Oak Brewing Company Ltd
LCBO 547422 | 6x341 mL | $ 12.95 | PRODUCT DISCONTINUED

BLACK OAK PALE ALE
Canada | Black Oak Brewing Company Ltd
LCBO 547430 | 6x341 mL | $ 12.95 | PRODUCT DISCONTINUED

Are they switching to cans maybe?

[phirleh]

interesting subtractions from the lcbo

BLACK OAK NUT BROWN
Canada | Black Oak Brewing Company Ltd
LCBO 547422 | 6x341 mL | $ 12.95 | PRODUCT DISCONTINUED

BLACK OAK PALE ALE
Canada | Black Oak Brewing Company Ltd
LCBO 547430 | 6x341 mL | $ 12.95 | PRODUCT DISCONTINUED

Are they switching to cans maybe?

Maybe larger format, I think the Summer Saison has new packaging (650ml) out of the brewery.

[TheSevenDuffs]

Maybe larger format, I think the Summer Saison has new packaging (650ml) out of the brewery.

I hope not. I don't like the fact that everythign seems to be moving to bombers.