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The Beer Store: Political Reasons to Keep/Kill It

They will still be getting a lot of business from bars, restaraunts, cafe's, clubs, hotels, etc. And if we boycott them both where is anyone realisticly getting booze? Only so many people are close to Wine Racks or indie brewers... I bet (in the Western World anyways) that there has never been a single month where "The People" decided to cut themselves off of booze. Thats just unrealistic.
 
ryguy7787 said:
They will still be getting a lot of business from bars, restaraunts, cafe's, clubs, hotels, etc. And if we boycott them both where is anyone realisticly getting booze? Only so many people are close to Wine Racks or indie brewers... I bet (in the Western World anyways) that there has never been a single month where "The People" decided to cut themselves off of booze. Thats just unrealistic.
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Guess it would test the "peoples' " commitment to changing things.
 
TOareaFan said:
Perhaps a province wide boycott of the Beer Store and LCBO until material changes are made would bring about change?
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My strategy is to boycott the beer BRANDS marketed by the Big 3 foreign owners of the MONOPOLY The Beer Store #TheBS @mybeerstore

Foreign owned CARTEL - 440 stores in Ontario
> 48.5% ABInbev (Labatt) - Belgium,
> 48.5% Molson/Coors - USA, Molson Coors Brewing Co., incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Colorado
> 3% Sapporo (Sleeman) – Japan

@NickS888
 
SweetWater said:
My strategy is to boycott the beer BRANDS marketed by the Big 3 foreign owners of the MONOPOLY The Beer Store #TheBS @mybeerstore

Foreign owned CARTEL - 440 stores in Ontario
> 48.5% ABInbev (Labatt) - Belgium,
> 48.5% Molson/Coors - USA, Molson Coors Brewing Co., incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Colorado
> 3% Sapporo (Sleeman) – Japan
Click to expand...
I've been boycotting the big 2 for about 25 years already. Nothing to do with the beer store, simply in revenge of some of the offensive tasting beers (Blue, Canadaian) they burdened us with - particularly before the advent of the smaller breweries in recent years. Hasn't had any effect so far ... though as a bonus, I've been drinking better quality beer.
 
SweetWater said:
My strategy is to boycott the beer BRANDS marketed by the Big 3 foreign owners of the MONOPOLY The Beer Store #TheBS @mybeerstore

Foreign owned CARTEL - 440 stores in Ontario
> 48.5% ABInbev (Labatt) - Belgium,
> 48.5% Molson/Coors - USA, Molson Coors Brewing Co., incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Colorado
> 3% Sapporo (Sleeman) – Japan

@NickS888
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but you will continue to let them make the easy money through their retail mark up (whatever that is) on the beers you will buy? Seems a strange approach......if your anger is that they have control over beer retailing/distribution you would think you would want to boycott their beer retailing/distribution activities rather than their beer production activities.

I think if you want to get a message through to these guys....having them paying a bunch of people province wide to man and operate stores that no one comes into would be effective.....as I said, the second largest beer retailer is the LCBO and they are the ones with the "secret deal" the Star wrote about (although I wonder how secret the deal was as most already seemed aware of the agreement between the LCBO and Beer Store before the Star article) so they should probably be part of any effective boycott if it is attacking the current arrangements with regards to beer retailing/distribution in the province.

Where would that leave us? Well people would be expressing their disgust (which there seems to be plenty of) by only buying beer from the 3rd pillar of the current beer distribution system and that would be directly from the people who brew the beer. That would send a message for sure.....not only would the sales at smaller brewers go way up...they would go up in a very modern "buy local" and even "green" fashion.
 
TOareaFan said:
Where would that leave us? Well people would be expressing their disgust (which there seems to be plenty of) by only buying beer from the 3rd pillar of the current beer distribution system and that would be directly from the people who brew the beer. That would send a message for sure.....not only would the sales at smaller brewers go way up...they would go up in a very modern "buy local" and even "green" fashion.
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I love the idea. Most communities have a craft brewer or are reasonably close to one (make it a fun weekend excursion if you have to). Why not give them your money and help support your local economy, all the while sending a message to the LCBO and Brewer's Retail. While at it why not hit the wineries in Niagara region or Prince Edward County and stock up there too. A small dent in LCBO/Brewer's Retail business translates to big lost dollars and would bring enormous pressure for change.
 
I do my best to boycott #TheBS and LCBO when I buy beer & wine.
By making the little bit extra effort to support my local craft brewery and winery I avoid the CARTEL and the Gov't store. But this is unrealistic for most people until the distribution of these products are improved in Ontario. Ontario needs to de-regulate the distribution of BEER and wine.

What is realistic is to boycott the beer brands marketed by the Big 3 foreign owners of the MONOPOLY The Beer Store #TheBS @mybeerstore.

If you are buying a lager, choose one not marketed by the CARTEL. There a lots of better choices.
It would be rare to find someone who can differentiate two lager beers - especially after one or two. Same goes if your favourite brew is another type of beer style.

This strategy still ends up giving money to the CARTEL by minimizes it.

Hopefully the Liberals and @Kathleen_Wynne , kwynne.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org will soon fix this problem.
 
SweetWater said:
My strategy is to boycott the beer BRANDS marketed by the Big 3 foreign owners of the MONOPOLY The Beer Store #TheBS @mybeerstore

Foreign owned CARTEL - 440 stores in Ontario
> 48.5% ABInbev (Labatt) - Belgium,
> 48.5% Molson/Coors - USA, Molson Coors Brewing Co., incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Colorado
> 3% Sapporo (Sleeman) – Japan

@NickS888
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There's a lot of people who do not realize that many premium brands are owned by the Big 3:

Unibroue (brands include Blanche de Chambly, Fin du Monde) was bought by Sleeman in 2004, which was bought by Sapporo in 2006.

ABInBev (Labatt's Canada) not only owns the Labatt's brands, as well as Budweiser and popular imports Stella Artois, Corona, Beck's, Hoegaarden, Leffe, etc., but it owns the Keith's brand (which if you think that's an IPA, well, you're sadly mistaken), as well as Rolling Rock, Shock Top, Kokanee; it recently bought Chicago-based craft brewer Goose Island.

Even before being linked with SABMiller after the MolsonCoors "merger" Molson was buying up some of the earliest craft brewers; Creemore Springs and Granville Island are properties of MolsonCoors. Keystone, Blue Moon, Rickard's, Carling are all brands owned by that company.
 
Beer Store argues that it is "not-for-profit"

Finance Minister Charles Sousa says he’s not buying the foreign-owned Beer Store’s argument that it’s a not-for-profit operation.
“They will argue that they are a not-for-profit organization and we argue that there is some profit in there so we want to make sure that’s distributed accordingly,” he told reporters Friday in Toronto where he launched his pre-budget consultations Friday.
Beer Store spokesperson Jeff Newton insists it operates on a break-even basis and that the premier’s special council on government assets has confirmed this.
“The government continues to recognize that the Beer Store is a highly efficient system that has benefits for consumers. And the premier’s council on government assets has confirmed the Beer Store operates on a ‘break-even basis.’ We look forward to more discussions that will help retain those elements of the current system,” Newton said in an email statement.
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Yes, they are charitably providing us all beer out of the goodness of their hearts! Hilarious argument.

The Beer Store might operate on a break-even basis, but that's because it's existence allows the brewers to make profits. Financial sleight-of-hand.
 
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The Beer Store might operate on a break-even basis, but that's because it's existence allows the brewers to make profits. Financial sleight-of-hand.
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If the BS doesn't mark up a sixpack to make a profit and the same sixpack sells at the same price at the LCBO does that mean that the LCBO doesn't mark it up either? I don't think so.
 
spider said:
If the BS doesn't mark up a sixpack to make a profit and the same sixpack sells at the same price at the LCBO does that mean that the LCBO doesn't mark it up either? I don't think so.
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It's hilarious. Sure, "The Beer Store" doesn't make any profit, but that is because it exists solely to enable AB InBev, Molson Coors, and Sapporo to make profit.

They are trying to portray themselves as running The Beer Store out of the kindness of their hearts. Practically calling themselves a charity that provides beer. I sort of admire their balls.
 
wopchop said:
It's hilarious. Sure, "The Beer Store" doesn't make any profit, but that is because it exists solely to enable AB InBev, Molson Coors, and Sapporo to make profit.

They are trying to portray themselves as running The Beer Store out of the kindness of their hearts. Practically calling themselves a charity that provides beer. I sort of admire their balls.
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I think that's it exactly. If it's actually not-for-profit, why would they possibly be eager to hold on to it? Why would 3 massive, private conglomerates FIGHT to maintain something that does no better than break-even? Out of the goodness of their hearts?

Clearly they move things around in the ledger so the stores themselves operate at break-in even BUT while facilitating massive sales of their brands, from which the obvious profits come. The best analogy I can think of is how Keurig or razor blade companies sell the machines at a loss but make huge profits on the sales of the actual k-cups/blades. It would obviously be disingenuous for Gillette to say they're somehow giving away Fusion, as if it was some act of charity, when that strategy allows them to make money hand over fist on the back end. And yet, that's what TBS has managed. The good news is that things really seem to be coming to a head. I don't know if they'll end up paying "Franchise fees" or actually get taken apart but it seems pretty clear the situation will be very different in a year or two.
 
nfitz said:
I've been boycotting the big 2 for about 25 years already. Nothing to do with the beer store, simply in revenge of some of the offensive tasting beers (Blue, Canadaian) they burdened us with - particularly before the advent of the smaller breweries in recent years. Hasn't had any effect so far ... though as a bonus, I've been drinking better quality beer.
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Likewise. I didn't need a hatred of this particular cartel's retail operations in Ontario to inform my decisions not to drink the shite they pass off as beer to the Tim Horton's crowd. (No, really, I was born in Canada!)
 
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