2011’s holiday rush propels LCBO to a record year (no thanks to its purchasing policy)

It turns out all that spiked eggnog and mulled wine really adds up—during the holiday rush, Ontarians dropped $51 million at LCBO stores, helping the provincial liquor monopoly finish the year with a record $4.6 billion in net sales, according to a seething column by the Toronto Star’s Martin Regg Cohn. That boils down to $1.56 billion for provincial coffers, which sounds just peachy. Well, until you remember that the province could have netted a whole lot more were it not for the LCBO’s insane idiosyncratic purchasing policy, whereby it actually asks some suppliers to raise their wholesale prices to match the desired retail price. We humbly submit a New Year’s resolution for the LCBO: work on the bargain hunting. Read the entire story [Toronto Star] »