Why does the lcbo exist

New customers could not simply approach them, though: first, they had to be vetted by an LCBO employee whose job it was to determine whether they were moral enough to deserve an annual purchasing permit. If the customer passed muster, they would be given a passport-sized permit book. To make a purchase, they filled out an order form and took it to a clerk, who reviewed their buying history. If the clerk felt the customer was purchasing too much, he made a note in the permit book, and the order was partially or fully refused.

If some or all of the purchase was approved, a detailed record of the sale would be written in the permit book. The order would then be brought out from the stockroom in a brown paper bag. Store staff were buried in memos ordering them to follow highly detailed procedures and reporting requirements, which could be stressful to carry out when it came to handling the orders of friends and neighbours.

Such paternalistic attitudes took decades to ease up. Permit books were scrapped in , replaced by wallet cards, which remained in effect for four more years. Eventually, liquor was allowed to be displayed on the sales floor: small wine displays appeared in , followed by catalogues in LCBO officials sensed that Ontarians were tired of being made to feel ashamed when buying alcohol, but the agency still feared the influence of temperance activists, who complained that government money should be spent on education or health care, rather than better liquor stores.

A radical reinvention of customer service debuted in Weston in February A separate room, panelled and ornamented with wine barrels, contains a wide range of wines. Although the LCBO announced in that all stores would convert to self-service, it would take another 20 years for the last counter-service locations to be phased out.

Not all employees immediately embraced the move toward helpful customer service. They have never heard of vintages. It is a ridiculous system , ok so far, but when they want to door delivery by their own partners, not acceptable. Here is the time to trash LCBO. Just bring to the Booz to corner shops and boost the local business! While I support wholesale pricing for licensed establishments, the information concerning pricing to licensed establishments in this article is incorrect.

Licensed establishments do purchase alcohol at a lower price than consumers. Licensed establishments should get the same pricing as grocery and agency stores that have a license to sell wine, beer and cider. Hi Anne. All employees who serve alcohol at a restaurant in Ontario are required by law to have Smart Serve training and certification.

Smart Serve training enables employees to know when to check IDs and how to serve alcohol responsibly in order to avoid intoxication. Frequently, servers and bartenders incur the anger of guests by cutting guests off who have become intoxicated and sometimes this directly effects their income.

It is not a perfect system and there are loopholes. There is an added responsibility that restaurant employees must bear that I believe is unique to them.

If a guest is intoxicated and hurts themselves or others the last restaurant they were at and the employee they interacted with are directly liable. They abide by government regulations concerning food safety and safety concerning the service of alcohol.

Again, they are required to by law which is overseen by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The LCBO has contractual obligations to provide its workers with sick leave, parental leave, paid vacation, drug plan, dental plan, overtime pay, etc.

All while paying employees significantly more than both the lowest paid and average bartender in Ontario. If these businesses want a cut to how much they pay for liquor, they should at least guarantee these provisions for their employees. The price of alcohol Canadians are gouged into paying here at home is disgraceful. All actual Canadian Club, same bottles etc as here, tax included. Check the high prices at LCBO. How is this justified? These businesses have been their biggest buyers for decades.

Help them out during these tough times. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. As Ontario bars push for lower liquor prices, an LCBO debate is reignited Bars want to buy alcohol at wholesale prices to boost profits, but some worry the mom-and-pop struggle is a back door into privatization By Richard Trapunski Dec 30, View this post on Instagram.

Toronto restaurants that opened and closed this week: November Primrose Bagel heads to Little Portugal, robo-cafes multiply and Uncle Tetsu's mall takeover continues. Curiously, comparing the work conditions of the LCBO and typical bars is not mentioned.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Review: tick, tick… BOOM! It decides on the retail price it wants to charge for a product, and then asks suppliers to raise or lower their wholesale costs accordingly. And yet, as McCarter reported, alcohol sales have gone up 67 per cent in the last decade. It rolls off the tongue like an unoaked chardonnay, lulling us into overlooking what the initials actually stand for: Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

But not too much! To understand its conflicted ethos, you have to go back to , the year Ontario emerged from Prohibition. Today, the LCBO downplays the control aspect while struggling to satisfy its dual mandate of turning a profit without turning people into drunkards.

The hypocrisy is astounding. What other retailer has dreamed up styles of gift bags, boxes and bottle-friendly containers in the past five years? Truth be told, Torontonians would buy alcohol without any encouragement from fancy stores or glossy magazines. To get an idea of how monolithic the LCBO is, I checked out another monolithic retailer, but one that offers the warehouse shopping experience: Costco.

Then note that while Costco is one of the biggest wine retailers in the U. Despite its much smaller territory and consumer base, the LCBO actually eclipses that other monolith to the south, Costco. When I asked for pricing examples for table wine, some markups were per cent. And these wholesale prices may be inflated. But we can look to Alberta, which dismantled its provincial monopoly 19 years ago. Pillaging and mayhem did not ensue. Instead, privatization led to greater consumer choice—eight times the number of products and double the number of retailers.

Revenue collected by the province includes a government markup, which varies depending on the product type and alcohol percentage. Monopolies are so last century. Only the OCBO can supply burgers because, you know, children might eat them.

Without competition, the price of a meal deal soon doubles, then triples. With these—forgive me—fat profit margins, the OCBO begins decorating its burger outlets with crystal chandeliers. It publishes a glossy fast-food magazine. And everyone lives happily ever after because the province is raking in millions of dollars in dividends. And this at a time when the Ontario government is desperately trying to find ways to save money. That would be but a drop in the wine bucket. In the coming fiscal year, the LCBO will open 37 new or relocated stores, bringing the total number of outlets to Its The lack of freedom of choice is astounding.

There is ZERO reason why the government should legally be allowed to control our choice of what we drink. What a farce. Then allow a few independent wine only stores open, go from there. You really think small shops will have the purchasing power as an LCBO? This is probably the one business the government is involved in and they are doing it right and the author wants to get rid of it.

The author fails to mention that Alberta has no tax…. Alberta booze prices are higher than Ontario, check the Web. Why just compare to Alberta. It should absolutely remain the way it is so that the government does not lose millions from its budget and then have to slash heathcare and other social services. Somehow we doubt that Jan drinks. The Summerhill store is a world class store.

The volume it sells pays for the frills. We have shopped around the world and rarely have experienced the variety of product at competitive prices presented by knowledgeable staff in an attractive setting. Jan claims otherwise. We have rarely found better prices in other jurisdictions.

We have never had the impression that the LCBO jacks the price to discourage drinking. It has added to the pleasure of living in downtown Toronto. I agree — Jan Wong is wrong on this. The LCBO works. Let the LCBO coexist with some modicum of competition: allow people to import wine and beer and alcohol…allow it to be sold in businesses outside of the LCBO. Bulk discount buying power? Not only is there a quality issue, but it penalizes smaller players, which in the production of wine, beer and alcohol, are a good number.

Maybe it works for manufactured widgets, and processed foodstuffs. What it seems like is that the AG is in favour of applying bully economics to wine, beer and spirits. Typical and an incredibly dumb, dumb, dumb suggestion. Auditors look at money and efficiencies, but look at the systems, network science of it, cause and effect, please and thank you.

Of all government agencies, LCBO is the only one to reinvent itself and to do it reasonably well. And the Summerhill store is a flagship store, an important part of the community, an architectural icon, and a great place to find all sorts of interesting wines and spirits. The staff are knowledgeable and friendly. The LCBO is a huge monopoly, supported by antiquated legislation. The government gets a good portion of the revenue from taxes — which makes product more expensive than it need be.

So change things up: change the legislation, and allow other distributers and sellers. I must disagree with author Wong. When I first moved to Massachusetts 25 years ago, I reveled for a while at four times the choices, before I realized that a good number of these were horrible choices.

I drank more bad wine in my first year in the US than in the fifteen previous in Ontario. Some claim that the LCBO works. I agree that it does ok for wine and liquor, though I must say where my parents live just outside New York City their local wine store is cheaper and has a better selection, and does a better job of bringing in interesting wines.

They tend to cater to the majority of consumers that love watery lager. They have many different lagers and pilsners from Europe, and many light beers from Canada and the US — essentially a wall of tasteless soda..

There is nowhere for a niche of quality, interesting and local beer to thrive in this duopoly system. Brilliant article and thank you for publishing! However, I try not to shop there anymore and instead find better buys south of the border that I can bring home. Better yet, try wine shopping on-line.

The government has no business selling its populace alcohol. History illustrates they are bad business managers and do not maximize returns for tax payers. In a private system the revenue generated from taxes would far outweigh the miniscule returns we currently see.

Do you see that as a good use of your tax dollars? Wish LCBO would relax its pricing policy when it comes to wineries. I still believe LCBO can still profit this way. Wish LCBO would increase its selection and variety of products. So then I have to go out of province to purchase them, or I have to purchase them in the US. Could it be run better?

Should it be abolished? I agree with other comments that the LCBO is well-run and provides a good range of products at reasonable prices. I was in New York City recently, and I was underwhelmed by the selection in its stores.

And other goods in the U. Plus the experience of shopping in those American stores is pretty grubby, in general, compared with shopping in an LCBO. It does its job well: it provides good service to customers and healthy dividends for the provincial budget year after year.

I fucking hate this province, and the arrogant, ignorant, people that run it….. Canadians are truly the most ignorant people on this planet. Colonial business model for colonial inhabitants. Take Loblaws for instance please! Readers, do yourselves a huge favour. Reading this excellent book will go a long way in understanding why Canada is such a retarded country. Wong is Wrong. It is sensible for the Government to gain revenues in this manner.

The price discrepancy or selection options are not that great. In fact, private sellers would have economic reasons to only stock big seller mainstream items whereas LCBO has great variety.