mulligan's grocery - boycott - a new hope (for returns)

So, I did contact the LCBO and Beer Store about our bottle drive being refused to cash in its returns.

It turns out, that even though I am an ass, I was right.

This is the email I sent to the Beer Store and LCBO (the LCBO email is slightly different, in that I reversed the Beer Store and LCBO in all text):

Hello:

I have a complaint, as a private citizen, about one of your Retail Partners, Mulligan's Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333.

I do not have their Retail Partner Number as I was unable to find it published on your website or on the internet in general.

A community group brought in returns from a bottle drive on Saturday 15 April 2017 to Mulligan's Grocery and when the store employee came out of the store's "returns door" she was immediately negative and aggressive to the group. She refused to accept their returns and a heated discussion ensued which resulted with the group leaving without being able to cash in their returns.

I do believe it is customary to call ahead to make arrangements for community bottle drives. However, I cannot find anything on your or the LBCO's website that states this is mandatory.

The store was not busy at the time. The returns were sorted properly and the group was tallying them to facilitate a quick and easy return and they offered to help bring them into the storage area. The employee still refused to accept the bottle drive returns.

This was not a very big return either. Less than $150. I have returned more on my own after a very busy summer entertaining without difficulty.

When one person of the group suggested if it was possible to come back alone and independent of the group, the employee said they would still refuse to accept the returns.

From documentation I found online (see attached), they are required to accept returns from the community. This link also states the policy about accepting returns from the community.

These empty beer, wine, and spirit containers were collected from the community that this store services.

If this Retail Partner is allowed to refuse accepting returns from community bottle drives it should be clearly posted in their facility, especially in the area where they display beer, wines, and spirits for sale, at their cash-out area, and in their returns area so that the community is aware of their desire to not support community fundraising.

If any Beer Store, Beer Store Retail Partner, or LCBO Agency Store is allowed to refuse community bottle drive fundraising efforts, they should have that information clearly posted within their facility, especially in the area where they display beer, wines, and spirits for sale, at their cash-out area, and in their returns area so that the community is aware of their desire to not support community fundraising.

If they are required to accept returns, as I understand they are, they should be made aware of that. If they continue to violate their contractual obligations with the Beer Store and LCBO, then their contracts to do so should be reviewed and perhaps the Beer Store and/or LCBO should consider terminating those contracts and opening a facility in North Gower. There is an excellent location in North Gower, with adequate parking, that could facilitate a Beer Store and/or LCBO boutique store run directly by one or both of your fine enterprises. It is a strip mall located at 2333 Church Street, North Gower and currently has a vacancy.

I await your response to this matter.

Please note, I have sent a very similar email to the LCBO Agency Store Program as well.

(These are the documents I attached: here and here.)

See? I am an ass.

Here is the response from the LCBO:

Thank you for your email. Firstly, on behalf of the LCBO I would like to apologize for your experience at Mulligan’s Grocery.

In response to your question about the bottle return program you are correct, the Agency Store has an obligation with the LCBO under their Authorization to accept and redeem empty beer containers in accordance with the Ontario Deposit Return Program established by the Government of Ontario as per their contract with The Beer Store. The Beer Store is the government body responsible for administering the Ontario Deposit Program on behalf of the Ontario government. Therefore, we have reached out to the Beer Store who will be investigating the matter and will provide a response to you accordingly.

In response to your proposal about the strip mall location in North Gower, we currently do not have plans to discontinue agency store service at this time in favor of a corporate LCBO store. In order to open a corporate LCBO store in a specific market area, a review of the market would be undertaken and a positive business case would be necessary to support that decision. The LCBO uses a competitive process to award agency store authorizations. Agency Store authorizations are awarded for a 5 year term. Therefore, when the current authorization expires; and should the LCBO decide to continue with the services of an agency store in the community, the LCBO will initiate the competitive process to ensure all retail businesses in the area have an equal opportunity to host the agency store.

Again, thank you for you for bringing this matter to the LCBO and Beer Store’s attention. Should you have any further questions in this regard, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Pretty clear to me. They also did not need to apologise, the LCBO did nothing wrong. Only one party did not act accordingly during the events of the attempted bottle return. I leave it to you to determine who that was.

Here is the response from the Beer Store:

Thank you for contacting the Beer Store’s Customer Service Department. Retail Partners are obliged to accept empty returns as part of their contract with the Beer Store, with no exceptions. We’ve made the folks at our Corporate Office aware of your concern and they will follow up directly. We appreciate you taking the time to make us aware of this issue and if there’s anything we can help with in the meantime please don’t hesitate to follow up.

Again, pretty clear to me that the return of the empties should not have been refused under any circumstances. You know, "no exceptions".

One thing I do know, if I want to cash in bottles from a fundraising bottle drive, I know where I want to return them. I will also have a sheaf of papers explaining why the returns cannot be refused. So, you know, if you are having some trouble with bottle drive returns, you may want to contact the LCBO and/or Beer Store.

I am sure there will be more about this matter yet. There is a scathing email that has been released in to the public domain about my "exhibition". I wonder where it will turn up next? (l'o'l)