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Seems like Our Glorious Leader needs more $. Given the latest MaRS fiasco, this is no surprise. To find that $, let's have a fight between the private-monopoly and the government monopoly.
OGL may propose to sell 12-packs of the macros' beer in the government-monopoly store, as well as looking to get a bigger slice of the private-monopoly gross revenues derived in their stores.
How whacko is this? Will it ever end? The "sell-in-convenience-stores" battle just went into hibernation. Now it's a non-starter
I heard about this and it got me wondering. How much of a squeeze would the government have to put on the beer store, before the beer store owners said screw it and started pushing for beer sales in grocery stores. I mean sure the beer store helps Labatt and Molson make a ton of money, but at the same time all those stores, trucks and employees mean there is a ton of overhead. If the province started asking for a bigger share of the profits in exchange for them, there would have to be a point where it would no longer be worth it.
Kel Varnsen wrote:I mean sure the beer store helps Labatt and Molson make a ton of money, but at the same time all those stores, trucks and employees mean there is a ton of overhead.
We need a Beer Store like we need a Toothpaste Store.
It's a freaky little world in there when you return beer bottles. I sense they'll fight for their labour union jobs.
atomeyes wrote:my favourite comment was "the Beer Store should be taken over and put under the government umbrella."
Man, I made that argument six months ago. At least we'd get the revenue instead of the money helping Molson and Labatt's distribution/overseas subsidiaries.
1. I am generally a free market guy, but I agree with Jordan (and, I'm hoping, Premier Wynne) on this one. A monopoly that at least puts profits in our collective pockets is way better than a monopoly whose profits go to three off-shore multinationals. It makes no sense at all as currently structured.
2. Re Belgian's post above, need to differentiate between the owners of TBS and the employees of TBS. Sure, the employees will fight tooth and nail for those cushy union jobs. But I agree with OP that at a certain point if sufficiently squeezed, the owners might say "to hell with it, we can reduce overhead and make more money by delivering mass quantities to Costco, Walmart and Loblaws."
midlife crisis wrote:
2. Re Belgian's post above, need to differentiate between the owners of TBS and the employees of TBS. Sure, the employees will fight tooth and nail for those cushy union jobs. But I agree with OP that at a certain point if sufficiently squeezed, the owners might say "to hell with it, we can reduce overhead and make more money by delivering mass quantities to Costco, Walmart and Loblaws."
Exactly. Either way they will still sell a shit tonne of beer. So at some point if the current system is no longer profitable they might just decide to join the push to let that beer be sold at Loblaws. And at that point it would get interesting, since what would happen if Molson and Labatt said they no longer wanted to own the beer store?
Kel Varnsen wrote:And at that point it would get interesting, since what would happen if Molson and Labatt said they no longer wanted to own the beer store?
The stores will either become banks or shawarma joints.
" “End the monopoly” has somehow morphed into “milk it.”
We thought free market competition and consumer choice were the way to go. But maybe we’ve got it all wrong. And if so, why stop at The Beer Store? Why not offer the same deal to other companies that wouldn’t mind cornering their markets? How much would you pay for a monopoly in your line of business? Think of the opportunities."
The Toronto Star article made me think that perhaps the government isn't saying what they really want. Perhaps they are letting this news out in hopes that the beer store will cause enough ruckus that they have a good excuse to remove their exclusive rights.
"What happens if The Beer Store escalates the public fight (as it considered doing last week), threatening store closings and layoffs of unionized workers? At that point, the government could deploy its nuclear option, blowing up the outdated “Framework Agreement” so that other private retailers could compete on beer sales."
