LCBO Beer Carriers

aeroeng · Post by **aeroeng** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:32 pm

Lately been noticing a lack of the 8pk beer carriers at the LCBO. Talked to one of the Collingwood people and they said that they are being phased out. Something to do with cost and recycling

Guess i better start saving them.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:40 pm

I reuse the same ones over and over to make Beer Store returns faster, easier and generally more efficient. If that's not environmentally friendly, I don't know what is. I've noticed all they've done in my area is replace the carriers with stray cardboard boxes of a wide range of equally awkward and unsatisfactory sizes.

This move does not sit well with me at all.

kwjd · Post by **kwjd** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:42 pm

Yes, I've noticed this and it really sucks. The paper bags are basically useless to carry beer, and completely useless if it is raining at all.

El Pinguino · Post by **El Pinguino** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:23 pm

Ya, this is annoying. I'm sure I bought *more* beer in the past because I'd just grab one or two of these and fill 'em up. Then I return them to the Beer store or burn them camping...would have saved some if I knew they'd vanish

I bought 9 individual bottles the other day, and the guy tossed them all into one big brown bag, not even any of those special little green plastic wine seperator things either. I fully expected the bag to break...

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:44 pm

I don't know what is gong on here, but we can't get any either. But a very simple solution exists. Bring a reusable grocery bag, knapsack, or other method to carry out your purchase. Most places sell re-esable bags for .99 cents, and I assume most people have one or two floating around that they are able to use.

Belgian · Post by **Belgian** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:58 pm

I think it's because LCBO, once one of the most lavish wasters of POS packing materials, wants to suddenly appear environmentally aware and have done an about-face by eliminating all cardboard carriers.

They were OK... but honestly they did not fit smaller bottles that well, and with continued re-use the tabs tend to break down and not stay together securely.

I wish we had tough plastic carrying crates specifically for 341 ml bottles, and perhaps "wine-sized" crates for sizes 500ml to 750. I'd be happy to 'buy' a few on a $10.00 deposit basis. Those beer and water crates are all my family use overseas, and they really don't need a lot of single-use packages.

You think if the LCBO were so anal about non-standard bottle sizing they would have a standard plastic beer crate by now. It would be so easy to score LC environmental brownie points this way... maybe I'll look online for some.

For now, the separated cloth LCBO wine bags work pretty nicely for beer as well. Try getting some and experiment packing beer in them. The best thing is they pack flat when empty, and are a breeze to carry around.

tupalev · Post by **tupalev** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:48 pm

C'mon, if the LCBO is going to push for single serve 500ml packages for beer they should be giving us something to carry them in! Trying to stuff a bunch of beer in a paper bag or reusable shopping bag is stupid and actually discouraging for sales. I find it very awkward. There is a store in Waterloo here who refuses to carry 8 pack holders (they are not recyclable enough was the reason given - really, no one can make a simple cardboard holder out of 100% recyclable material???) - I avoid shopping there, or if I am there, I'll just grab something prepackaged, thus hurting the single serve sales.

I'm not asking for seal killing 6 pack plastic rings or earth destroying non biodegradable plastic bags either, simply a recyclable and maybe reusable holder for beer please.

Any American beer store I have been to simply leaves a bunch of the 4 and 6 pack holders the beer originally came in available for customers to use - it is not rocket science.

SteelbackGuy · Post by **SteelbackGuy** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 9:50 pm

Belgian wrote:I think it's because LCBO, once one of the most lavish wasters of POS packing materials, wants to suddenly appear environmentally aware and have done an about-face by eliminating all cardboard carriers.

They were OK... but honestly they did not fit smaller bottles that well, and with continued re-use the tabs tend to break down and not stay together securely.

I wish we had tough plastic carrying crates specifically for 341 ml bottles, and perhaps "wine-sized" crates for sizes 500ml to 750. I'd be happy to 'buy' a few on a $10.00 deposit basis. Those beer and water crates are all my family use overseas, and they really don't need a lot of single-use packages.

You think if the LCBO were so anal about non-standard bottle sizing they would have a standard plastic beer crate by now. It would be so easy to score LC environmental brownie points this way... maybe I'll look online for some.

For now, the separated cloth LCBO wine bags work pretty nicely for beer as well. Try getting some and experiment packing beer in them. The best thing is they pack flat when empty, and are a breeze to carry around.

I like your ideas Belgian!

This is what we need. Not wasteful 8 pack carriers that are sturdy, but don't get re used because the average consumer is ignorant and lazy.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:10 pm

tupalev wrote:C'mon, if the LCBO is going to push for single serve 500ml packages for beer they should be giving us something to carry them in!

This sums the whole issue up nicely for me. Just more contradictory business practices from a government run monopoly that just enjoys pretending to be a legitimate business. And that's not a shot at you Len (being our rep for the Lickbo), if anything it's just a shot at the higher up morons who don't deserve a quarter of the salaries they're making.

JesseM · Post by **JesseM** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:11 pm

I would like to add though that I use my back-pack as my bottle carrier (when leaving the store), or a canvas grocery bag. But the 8-pack carriers fit in my backpack and I resuse them many times when returning stuff to the BS like I already mentioned.

teichertbier · Post by **teichertbier** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 10:35 pm

i noticed the 8 packs missing yesterday... so i carried 8 bottles up to the front and they proceeded to use 5 bags (4 small into 1 larger one) to pack up my beers. is it that much cheaper to use the bags? i imagine its much more of a pain in the ass for the worker having to do this too.

lagerale · Post by **lagerale** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 9:54 am

herrorara wrote:i noticed the 8 packs missing yesterday... so i carried 8 bottles up to the front and they proceeded to use 5 bags (4 small into 1 larger one) to pack up my beers. is it that much cheaper to use the bags? i imagine its much more of a pain in the ass for the worker having to do this too.

I've had the same experience, though sometimes I use one of the wine boxes for the beer bottles!

In some US supermarkets, they have reusable bags, but made to carry 4 or 6 bottles....

Tapsucker · Post by **Tapsucker** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:44 pm

I suppose if you just sit down and drink them right in the store they won't get the message.

midlife crisis · Post by **midlife crisis** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:09 pm

It's funny, after having a similar most unsatisfactory experience today (bought a mixed 8 of Gouden Carolus, Peche Mortel and GL Pumpkin, which they tried to ridiculously pack in one paper bag) I was going to start a thread on this. The guy I asked about them more or less admitted the eight-packs are gone for good. Way to go LCBO. Come up with something that is actually consumer friendly, particularly to the beer segment, as well as being pretty good environmentally, and then needlessly discontinue it. I guess their enormous profit margin was under threat from unusually high cardboard beer carrier production.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:35 pm

It is really f'n annoying.

Their paper bags, or most people's reusable bags, are not appropriate for carrying multiple bottles. I've actually had one employee put each bottle in a separate bag... there may have been less clunking of glass, but it's still not very safe (or environmentally friendly).

I do have a nice reusable bag from Viti in Vancouver, it has nice fold out separators... perhaps they could sell something like this as a reusable alternative. They'd probably have good sales too... I never remember to take my bags!

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LCBO Beer Carriers

LCBO Beer Carriers

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