General LCBO Debate & Discussion Thread

[iguenard]

Scott Gavura ‏@PharmacistScott 4h
Emailed @LCBO to ask for more local/craft beer at store. Was copied on their internal emails. Apparently I have "too much time on my hands".

Wow!

Please do us all a favour and send that email in to corporate. If youre not willing, send it to me and I'll make a great article on our website on this sort of thing.

while i am a pharmacist and a beer geek, that guy is not me.
you're welcome to contact him on your own via twitter.

Ah ok, read that wrong.

[S. St. Jeb]

With one exception that I can think of, I have generally had good service at LCBO stores when I've required assistance.

But yesterday was more than good. I was in Etobicoke and stopped in the store near Eglinton and Kipling to get some Hogtown Ale which I have not tried yet. Couldn't see it on the top shelf . Asked an employee, and he was over the top friendly and helpful. I thought it was just him. But when I checked out, the cashier was equal to it.

Coincidence? Or is the manager of this store doing something right?

[nickelass]

Management usually sets the tone for the store. If that's the type of service you got, he should probably be promoted to customer experience manager for the whole brand.

[Belgian]

Any of you guys see this on Wikipedia:

May 2011, a study was conducted by Statopex Field Marketing on behalf of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association and found that the LCBO fared poorly when checking for age of minors. Minors between the age of 15 and 18 were used to determine how often LCBO store staff would check for ID before selling alcohol. Minors in the test were accompanied by an adult at a distance to verify any sales that occurred. The test determined that 1 in 4 minors were able to purchase beer at the LCBO without ID. This was poorer than the results shown for The Beer Store, where 1 in 5 minors could purchase beer, or chain convenience stores in Ontario where as few as 1 in 8 could purchase tobacco. The LCBO countered by stating its "retail staff challenged 3.6 million people who appeared underage or intoxicated in 2010 and refused to serve more than 190,000 customers."

That last counter-claim is so meaningless - all it says is 'we the LCBO have all the sales in Ontario so we can show you really big numbers.' Big overall numbers just for them means a higher number of sales to minors, and in their case also proportionally much higher than private store sales in Quebec.

And of course the LC with their 'social' agenda contrarily profit from selling to twice as many youngsters here as do the corner stores in Quebec. Just try and sweep that whole big elephant under the rug...

[Belgian]

** - update LCBO returns policy - ** (as of about two months ago - may affect how you commit to purchases.)

Comrades take note: we can no longer request a non-receipt merchandise return credited to a handy 'gift' card that may be used like cash at LCs anywhere.

Everything you return to a store later than 30 days, or that has no receipt, can now only be exchanged for other product in that one store.

This means you have to strategically decide in advance where to bring your unwanted products - it must be a pre-confirmed store that has something you want, and there's no point doing so beforehand. You must also spend equal to or over the original purchase amount to get your credit back. They will not refund dick.

Some thoughts. I would have much preferred to keep returning 'not needed' products as soon & fresh as possible for store credit, and then go shop at convenient locations whenever it suits me. I also think this new policy can be a hassle with more expensive items you don't want to trade value all at once. Color me grumpy. I used to really enjoy the open-ended return policy a few years back, and even the recent card thing wasn't so bad, so I'm sorry to deliver the bad news.

- PS: If it's any consolation, you can still open and try any product, then tell them you hate it and get all your money refunded. I'm guessing that inanely easy-to-exploit loophole still exists as of this posting, if you were so inclined. Cheers!

[PeenSteen]

** - update LCBO returns policy - ** (as of about two months ago - may affect how you commit to purchases.)

Comrades take note: we can no longer request a non-receipt merchandise return credited to a handy 'gift' card that may be used like cash at LCs anywhere.

Everything you return to a store later than 30 days, or that has no receipt, can now only be exchanged for other product in that one store.

A gift card is a product.....nothing has changed in that regard regarding returns. You can still return any product without a receipt for a gift card.

[Belgian]

Wow. Thanks for the clarification peen, I will quote your exact words!

My bad - I actually believed this checkout lady who was at at the 200 Danforth (Broadview) location. She effing lied, the nursing female dog...

[spinrsx]

I remember that we lost DFH 60min at the lcbo because the brewer couldn't meet product demands.. what was the reason we lost victory prima pils? Same thing? Wish we had both of these beers back again. Also, whatever happened to the Saranac Pale Ale.

[spinrsx]

anyone else notice that the lcbo online inventory is very unreliable lately? For example, my local lcbo has had St Bernardus 12, St Ambroise RIS, and Nogne Sunturn in stock all week, but none of them are listed as 'in stock' according to the website

[saints_gambit]

It's amazing to note, but sometimes the ghost inventory that shows up on the LCBO site actually exists. I found a case of Nogne Porter for someone who really likes that beer. It was out in Scarborough.

I guess sometimes you just can't move the stock in a certain store. Weird.

[GregClow]

It's amazing to note, but sometimes the ghost inventory that shows up on the LCBO site actually exists. I found a case of Nogne Porter for someone who really likes that beer. It was out in Scarborough.

I guess sometimes you just can't move the stock in a certain store. Weird.

Yeah, the same thing happened with Renaissance Great Punkin from the Halloween release. It came and want so quickly from most stores that I was sure the dozen or so bottles listed as being in stock at the Front & Bay location were ghost stock - but I was down near there last week and popped in to check and found that there were indeed a bunch of bottles on the shelf. Still 6 left according to the current online count.

[Belgian]

^ What Jordan said. Today I got some very nice 2009 Michelas Saint Joseph from Danforth/Vic Park. It's only there because it's just beyond the Toronto-Scarborough border, where some LCBO hunters don't look.

Ghost inventory is still a drag though - recently at Queen Coxwell they wasted nearly half an hour looking for a case of something they couldn't find. Sometimes things are set aside which is frustrating too. It wastes everyone's time.

[atomeyes]

An interesting Vice on how the LCBO's monopoly was already proven to be illegal, but no one's doing anything about it.

http://m.vice.com/en_ca/read/the-lcbo-s ... ly-illegal

[esprit]

We were the agents for both DFH and VICTORY and were of course saddened by their decision to withdraw from the Ontario market. Domestic demand and too many hassles dealing with Ontario (spraying each layer on a pallet with non-skid adhesive as shrink wrap was not good enough to prevent movement, penalties were imposed). Some good news on this same front, after an absence of some 11 years, SMUTTYNOSE of New Hampshire is coming back. Their ROBUST PORTER will be part of the AUTUMN release this year. We're going to piggyback orders for some of their other beers with this order which will ship in July/August. Anyone interested can visit their website (www.smuttynose.com) and let us know what might interest them.

Peter
espritagencies@sympatico.ca

[midlife crisis]

An interesting Vice on how the LCBO's monopoly was already proven to be illegal, but no one's doing anything about it.

http://m.vice.com/en_ca/read/the-lcbo-s ... ly-illegal

That is a very interesting piece, thanks. It is just one lawyer's opinion about a pretty esoteric area of law, when it comes down to it, but on the other hand he may very well be right. Main problem, going forward, would be the expense of a court challenge, which the provincial government would probably vigorously oppose, as he points out.