Life Lessons learned at TBS

[Ukie]

Never return empties to a BS out of the socio-economic area in which the LCBO resides in which you bought them.

Did not like my Southern Tier IPA bottles at all.

[inertiaboy]

Never return empties to a BS out of the socio-economic area in which the LCBO resides in which you bought them.

Did not like my Southern Tier IPA bottles at all.

I'd love to see the numbers for how much deposit is collected and how much is paid out. I'm guessing there is a sufficient surplus to cover any 'questionable' returns so why bother even questioning?

I took back 4 years of assorted bottles over Christmas in two batches - no questions asked the first day and a grudging "I'll have to trust you" on the second day. Funny thing is, I saw a bottle of Life Brand Orange Soda in one person's returns and they didn't even ask about it

[SteelbackGuy]

Never return empties to a BS out of the socio-economic area in which the LCBO resides in which you bought them.

Did not like my Southern Tier IPA bottles at all.

They don't have a choice, and they don't have to like them. They take them back. Call their info line if the employees give you a hard time.

[Belgian]

These pinheads routinely under-count bottles, perhaps pocketing the difference, but I have to admire the hawk-eyed precision with which they spot & pick out O'Doul's empties.

Face it. These bottle-return people are maggots on the excrement of our zealously-guarded liquor institutions. Pity them.

[SteelbackGuy]

Face it. These bottle-return people are maggots on the excrement of our zealously-guarded liquor institutions. Pity them.

While I certainly don't agree with what these TBS employees are doing, we have to keep in mind that they ARE told to keep an eye out for phonies, and that is their mandate.

Ohhh, and the whole "maggots on the excrement " thing is very easy to say, but imagine yourself as a TBS employee. Some alcoholic bum with nasty ass odour comes in with a buggy full of Max Ice 40's, Garbage bags of crushed cans, that are leaking mystery juice, and boxes of random bottles. Add to this (and I've seen this by the way, and it happens quite often), in the bags of crushed cans, as a special bonus, used needles and condoms amongst other things like dead rats and mice.

Yep, those TBS employees........the proverbial "maggots on the excrement " . Now how do you think they feel about some of their customers? Exposing them to disease, harm, verbal abuse perhaps, if they miss a .10 cent bottle???
I can tell you that I feel the exact same way sometimes and I don't have to deal with the empties. So leave the selfish "the customer is always right" attitude at the door, because I can tell you that more often than not, the customer is most certainly not always right.

[Belgian]

Beer Stores should clean those bins at least once a year, now that we know what's plastered all over them. These stores smell like a dumpster, how can they stand it? It can't be pretty to work there, and of course they didn't have to deal with any of this a few years ago before the program. The rattling noise, the rubbies, the mess, the bottle counting... before all that came along, all they had to do was sell beer to people who came there to do nothing else but buy Bud or 50 (not to take away from the salesmanship involved.)

Be great if LCBO stores had automated container return machines outside that printed out a credit slip you could redeem inside. Even a low-rent grocery store in Hamburg, Germany has those machines. The machine could sterilize everything put into it for safe handling. And then you're already at a store that sells beer you would drink.

[Kel Varnsen]

Never return empties to a BS out of the socio-economic area in which the LCBO resides in which you bought them.

Did not like my Southern Tier IPA bottles at all.

I am curious why they would even care. I mean even if you bought it in the US and only paid a 5 cent deposit on it, Southern Tier IPA is an industry standard bottle, isn't it. Which means it can be used for Molson Canadian just as easy as it can for Southern Tier.

And maybe I just don't know how the whole bottle return system works, but I always figured that buying the bottles back, even if the customer didn't pay a deposit on them, was a money maker for the Beer Store. I mean in BC there are businesses set up just to take bottle returns (which I assume they sell back to breweries or whoever). I mean paying 10 cents for a used bottle (when probably 99 percent of the time that money is just repaying a deposit) seems like it would be way cheaper than making a new bottle.

[JerCraigs]

Southern Tier IPA is an industry standard bottle, isn't it. Which means it can be used for Molson Canadian just as easy as it can for Southern Tier.

Unless they have changed it, I don't think there are any US brewers using the Canadian ISB. Most use lighter thinner "one way" glass. Anyone else know different?

[kwjd]

Southern Tier IPA is an industry standard bottle, isn't it. Which means it can be used for Molson Canadian just as easy as it can for Southern Tier.

Unless they have changed it, I don't think there are any US brewers using the Canadian ISB. Most use lighter thinner "one way" glass. Anyone else know different?

I'm not sure about the glass, but US bottles are a little bit bigger as they are 12 US ounces instead of 12 imperial ounces.

[matt7215]

Southern Tier IPA is an industry standard bottle, isn't it. Which means it can be used for Molson Canadian just as easy as it can for Southern Tier.

Unless they have changed it, I don't think there are any US brewers using the Canadian ISB. Most use lighter thinner "one way" glass. Anyone else know different?

they are pry off not twist off

[inertiaboy]

As for returning empties that were purchased out of province to the beer store, I have no qualms about doing so. Effectively, I am taxing the beer store / LCBO 10 cents for not carrying what I want, and thus transferring that money to the place who carries what I am looking for.

Small victories...

[Kel Varnsen]

As for returning empties that were purchased out of province to the beer store, I have no qualms about doing so. Effectively, I am taxing the beer store / LCBO 10 cents for not carrying what I want, and thus transferring that money to the place who carries what I am looking for.

Small victories...

I don't have a problem with it either, the way I see it it makes US beer purchases even cheaper since the deposit on beer bottles is only 5 cents in NY. So if I am able to get the the beer store to take them back it is an extra 30 cents off each six pack.

[Kel Varnsen]

Southern Tier IPA is an industry standard bottle, isn't it. Which means it can be used for Molson Canadian just as easy as it can for Southern Tier.

Unless they have changed it, I don't think there are any US brewers using the Canadian ISB. Most use lighter thinner "one way" glass. Anyone else know different?

they are pry off not twist off

My mistake then. Even so there has to be big money in accepting bottle returns, I mean it is not like the beer store or whoever have been doing it for all these years out of the goodness of their heart or because they are environmentally conscious. They do it because it is a money saver.

Which makes me wonder, why is the Beer Store the only place that takes back empties. Is this some sort of government regulation? I mean I know that the LCBO is not set up to handle empty returns, but why have no private business started up to take back bottles. I mean like I mentioned before in BC they have those types of businesses (although in BC there is also deposits on pop bottles and cans). In fact in BC those businesses are so common that it is apparently typical for the government run BCL stores to have a limit where they only take back a maximum of 24 bottles (since there are other alternatives where people can go, and to discourage people especially the homeless from coming into their nice stores with massive amounts of old, smelly cans and bottles).

[Belgian]

As for returning empties that were purchased out of province to the beer store, I have no qualms about doing so. Effectively, I am taxing the beer store / LCBO 10 cents for not carrying what I want, and thus transferring that money to the place who carries what I am looking for.

Small victories...

Too small though. Besides blowing lots of gasoline and time to get better selection stateside, if the Canadian border crossing charges you taxes on the way home, they are also not refunding your USA-paid taxes - so we are being double-taxed at the very least. Only Americans shopping here get a sales tax refund back from our govt, and not the other way around.

It's a Canadian thing.

I am curious why they would even care. (about whether the ST bottles were bought in Ontario or not)

TBS employees are just part of a big, uptight Mother-Hen system. They feel empowered to put up resistance, make up rules on the spot, and deny appropriate service rather than arm themself with basic information. All they'd have to do is check on lcbo.com to see whether the customer was returning eligible bottles, if that was really the point of the confrontation. Is it?

I don't know if they are just too stressed or fed up, or if they are on a power trip - whatever, I'm just a customer that was asked to return empties. I would suggest people tuck the lcbo store receipts into the six-packs of empties for when they return them to help the TBS employees. Or go to a better TBS!

[inertiaboy]

Besides blowing lots of gasoline and time to get better selection stateside...

Ontario has more borders than just the US - I get most of my stuff across the river in Quebec.

Point taken though.