The Bar Towel

Don't worry dutch, I was drinking Southern Tier IPA long before the Ministry of Plenty decided to price gouge the honest beer drinker under the guise of safety strips.

The only place those strips belong is on a toilet in a hotel.

Now go scew the TBS and return those empties!

DragonOfBlood wrote:Don't worry dutch, I was drinking Southern Tier IPA long before the Ministry of Plenty decided to price gouge the honest beer drinker under the guise of safety strips.

The only place those strips belong is on a toilet in a hotel.

I just got back from vacation to find that all the safety strips on my last 2 ST IPA had rolled up and were no longer covering the cap. So much for safety.

mboadway wrote:

DragonOfBlood wrote:Don't worry dutch, I was drinking Southern Tier IPA long before the Ministry of Plenty decided to price gouge the honest beer drinker under the guise of safety strips.

The only place those strips belong is on a toilet in a hotel.

I just got back from vacation to find that all the safety strips on my last 2 ST IPA had rolled up and were no longer covering the cap. So much for safety.

Maybe somebody tampered with your beer while you were away?

Seriously: The safety strips are meant to ensure that the product isn't tampered with in-store. It doesn't matter if they keep sticking after you've bought the beer. (Although if the glue failed, I'd start to worry that you're probably keeping the beer in too hot/damp a location.)

-Josh

mboadway wrote:

DragonOfBlood wrote:Don't worry dutch, I was drinking Southern Tier IPA long before the Ministry of Plenty decided to price gouge the honest beer drinker under the guise of safety strips.

The only place those strips belong is on a toilet in a hotel.

I just got back from vacation to find that all the safety strips on my last 2 ST IPA had rolled up and were no longer covering the cap. So much for safety.

!!!!

Don't drink them good sir, they might be contaminated.

Instead send them to me and I will dispose of them properly.

Even if they peel up you cannot remove the cap & screw it back on - not without damaging the label.

Still, it's silly that for 30¢ a sticker, they appear to be too inept to apply them properly half the time, LOL!

dutchcanuck wrote: So yeah, goodbye LCBO...hello free market beer economy.

HAH! Good got you & point well-made.

It's hilarious that the LC mark up the ST IPA THAT much, and then refuse to absorb any of the expense of the 'safety strips.' If we are already paying all these high taxes and mark-ups on liquor so the Government can look out ofr us, why are they double-dipping our pockets by charging us 100% of the stickering cost on TOP of the fully-taxed, fully marked-up product?

Doesn't make sense. Oh yeas it does... if in doubt, absorb more public revenue...

R & R I still love you guys & will continue buying this beer for your efforts. And Espirt... this is more the point I was making (dutchcanuck's post.)

Belgian wrote: It's hilarious that the LC mark up the ST IPA THAT much, and then refuse to absorb any of the expense of the 'safety strips.' If we are already paying all these high taxes and mark-ups on liquor so the Government can look out ofr us, why are they double-dipping our pockets by charging us 100% of the stickering cost on TOP of the fully-taxed, fully marked-up product?

Hasn't it been pointed out many times that the final decision on pricing belongs to the producer, or am I mistaken? I criticize LCs as much as anybody, but if that's the case, it's not the LC marking up THAT MUCH that is making the price higher than people here want it. Taxes, yes, that's the fault of the government. But you can't entirely blame the LC for mark up.

Pricing lies in the lap of the producer and agent...they can price the beer anyway they want as long as it's above the "floor price". Why are we still going on and on about ST IPA and the stickers? R & R and ST knew the regulations (or should have)...they didn't comply...they wouldn't absorb the charges to correct the case labelling and twist-off cap problems...it's their fault, not the LCBO's. I've been doing this for 20 years and I've seen every penalty imagineable charged against my products and I've learned by going through the process. Fact is, the LCBO charges for corrective work are nothing short of extortion. In Alberta, with a private warehousing system, it costs a fraction of what the LCBO charges to apply labels and strips...etc...but then again, Alberta isn't using brain surgeons and nuclear phycisists to do the work as we do in Ontario. To add insult to injury, the LCBO tops their charges off with a 15% Administrative Fee as though administration varies by the size and value of the order...this is outright theft. Someone has to write a memo or e-mail but appparently that memo or e-mail cost varies based upon the price and quantity of the product involved...someone should go to jail for this!

Well here's another one for you. I went to drop off some ST and Rogue empties at my local BS and got a big hassle about there being no deposit on them. Trying to convince them that they came from the LCBO went nowhere. I finally got a "you're guilty but we will take them this time" response from the manager.

Then as I'm walking out the door, I see another poor sod coming in with some ST bottles, so I stick around to watch the circus. This leads to us being accused of being in cahoots to rip the beer barons off!

What a bunch of jackasses. They clearly hiree and run the place at the kinds of high standards that the Ontario government can relate to. I guess that's why they have their monopoly.

Tapsucker wrote:Well here's another one for you. I went to drop off some ST and Rogue empties at my local BS and got a big hassle about there being no deposit on them. Trying to convince them that they came from the LCBO went nowhere. I finally got a "you're guilty but we will take them this time" response from the manager.

Then as I'm walking out the door, I see another poor sod coming in with some ST bottles, so I stick around to watch the circus. This leads to us being accused of being in cahoots to rip the beer barons off!

What a bunch of jackasses. They clearly hiree and run the place at the kinds of high standards that the Ontario government can relate to. I guess that's why they have their monopoly.

What a joke. I was in cottage country last weekend bringing back some Sam Adams Summer Ale bottles and the guy at TBS took them aside saying "these are American, so they'll be recycled" in a tone like I was trying to pull a fast one on him and he caught me. It just wasn't worth the fight, so I let it go. I hate going to TBS and avoid it at all costs.

Tapsucker wrote:I went to drop off some ST and Rogue empties at my local BS and got a big hassle about there being no deposit on them. Trying to convince them that they came from the LCBO went nowhere. I finally got a "you're guilty but we will take them this time" response from the manager.

I had the same issue with the ST. Next time I will show them the bilingual "Strong Beer" sticker on them (which I didn't think of at the time). Hard to argue with that.

And yes I avoid TBS except for Trois Pistoles.

Cass wrote: What a joke. I was in cottage country last weekend bringing back some Sam Adams Summer Ale bottles and the guy at TBS took them aside saying "these are American, so they'll be recycled" in a tone like I was trying to pull a fast one on him and he caught me. It just wasn't worth the fight, so I let it go. I hate going to TBS and avoid it at all costs.

All non-Ontario bottles are recycled, LOL!

I would simply make good-natured jokes every time they look at bottles in a clueless, uninformed manner - "Yeah all these crazy LCBO seaonals must really be a lot of fun for you guys!!"

A little sympathy gets a lot of cooperation, and when you've made a 'friend' someplace at a store they never question you again. Even for those weird tequila bottles with all the stickers in Spanish...

esprit wrote:Why are we still going on and on about ST IPA and the stickers? R & R and ST knew the regulations (or should have)...they didn't comply...they wouldn't absorb the charges to correct the case labelling and twist-off cap problems...it's their fault, not the LCBO's. I've been doing this for 20 years and I've seen every penalty imagineable charged against my products and I've learned by going through the process.!

So you are telling us the reason we are "still" complaining is because if Esprit had imported this really good American IPA we would not be complaining?

Good answer.

Still, the way we have it we win both ways - we can go on and on about the silliness of the situation, AND we can drink lots of ST which I enjoy doing even more (anybody have more IPA requests for Peter to import?)

Belgian wrote: So you are telling us the reason we are "still" complaining is because if Esprit had imported this really good American IPA we would not be complaining?

Good answer.

Still, the way we have it we win both ways - we can go on and on about the silliness of the situation, AND we can drink lots of ST which I enjoy doing even more (anybody have more IPA requests for Peter to import?)

Don't be an ass, he said nothing of the sort. Let's not knock the people trying to bring us good beer.