LCBO / The Beer Store

[evandyk]

The article really doesn't explain the issue very well. They hint at it with the quote from the booze companies:

“The disputed provision would inflate retail liquor prices across Canada to an unreasonable extent, by requiring suppliers to raise prices they charge in other jurisdictions,” the booze companies argue in an application to toss out the clause.

But they don't explain that the reason the companies have lower prices in other provinces is because the LCBO itself won't allow them to have a lower price in Ontario.

Josh Rubin knows this stuff. I wonder if he didn't have enough time to write it down, or some editor cut it out?

 

[lenaitch]

How long should the LCBO supply chain take to catch up, ie restoking the grocery and agency stores? Will it take a week, two weeks or more?
To me this shows that no matter how much you open up the retail side, having the LCBO as a monopolistic wholesaler is what needs to be rethought. What is so wrong with Sobeys/Metro/Lablaws from dealing directly with Molson/Coors or InBev? Why couldn't an individual Ma and Pop store make a deal with the local Winery or Craft Brewer?

It would probably work better if it were a corporation-to-corporation arrangement, but I don't see a small craft producer having much bargaining power with a multinational. Would the producer deal with each store or corporate? Would corporate 'big grocery' even allow stores to do this? How does a ma-and-pa corner store deal with off-shore producers such as Scotch Whisky, rum, etc. I'm near North Bay and can buy craft beer and cider produced several hours away. Would small producers need a fleet of travelling salespersons wandering the countryside? As is often the case, large markets and population density sometimes make things more feasible.

 

[afransen]

The government of Ontario should streamline alcohol pricing. Rather than setting minimum prices, they should collect excise tax per unit of ethanol. Let producers, distributors and retailers take it from there.

 

[Northern Light]

The government of Ontario should streamline alcohol pricing. Rather than setting minimum prices, they should collect excise tax per unit of ethanol. Let producers, distributors and retailers take it from there.

Ontario already has alcohol excise tax, and a very high one at that by global standards.

The problem here, is that on top of that, and a fixed, very high LCBO mark-up, is that the LCBO also does backwards pricing............setting not simply a floor price for which it will sell but a floor price it will pay.

That's insane...........and not the way any system should operate, but in our case, that's the way it does operate.

 

[afransen]

Ontario already has alcohol excise tax, and a very high one at that by global standards.

The problem here, is that on top of that, and a fixed, very high LCBO mark-up, is that the LCBO also does backwards pricing............setting not simply a floor price for which it will sell but a floor price it will pay.

That's insane...........and not the way any system should operate, but in our case, that's the way it does operate.

It seems a bit random. I was in Alberta a couple of months ago and stopped in a large wine/liquor chain there. Some items were much cheaper than LCBO, some slightly cheaper, some more expensive.