If somebody gave you a monopoly almost 90 years ago and they decide to take it back and give the long-suffering consumer some choice, what are your rights? What is this franchise worth? This question comes up because Ontario’s beer monopoly is starting to fight back. And why not? We are talking about a multi-billion dollar business, owned by foreign-owned beer companies. They think they have the right to sue the Ontario government over their rights to the monopoly.
You can check all the records and, assuming there is nothing mouldy that has been forgotten over the years in the Ontario Archives, it seems there was never payment made officially for the rights to the monopoly. Sure there have been many millions handed over to political parties over those many years but never anything that we have seen that might be considered payment for the sole rights to distribute and sell beer in the Ontario market.
And it is not as though the arrangement has not been subject to change over the years. Most Ontario citizens are not aware that while the government does not put a top price on beer, it does establish a floor price. This has its roots in the paternalistic purposes of the Beer Store arrangement that attempt to keep alcoholic beverages out of the hands of the poor and less fortunate in our society.
The biggest change for the Beer Store management over the years was the relatively recent decision by the government to have the Beer Store responsible for the recycling of packaging of all alcoholic beverage containers.
And that was the straw that broke that camel’s back. Instead of the recycling system being just an inconvenience, it became the defining nature of the retail operations. In the older outlets, the floors became awash with the mixed residue of millions of bottles. Long line-ups of people returning containers became the norm. Street people in larger centres became regulars with found money from what others discarded.
There is a particular smell that dominates Beer Stores today and it is not the smell one would normally associate with beer. It is strongest around the returns rollers. Part of it is the drippings on the floor that sticks to your shoes.
But even if you survive the returns experience, your next adventure is in bad merchandising. Beer is sold in two-fours, 30s, 18s, 15s, 12s, 6s and singles, there are cans and bottles of many sizes and there are kegs that are an entirely different experience. There are the big brewery brands and the craft brewery brands and finding your brand, size and package preference means you better know what you want or hopefully can find an employee who might know where to find it. And if you are an impulse shopper in some of the newer self-serve stores, you better be dressed for that cold-room experience.
So what is the value of a badly merchandised, smelly, poorly served and inconvenient Beer Store monopoly? The very least we should do for the beast is to put it out of its misery.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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