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A generic beer that was too cheap for Saskatchewan
- jrace 8y agoThe state of liquor/beer sales in Canada is sad indeed. In BC I can drive 5 hrs to the US and buy beer that is made 5 minutes from my house for less than half the cost. That same brewery gives every employee free beer every week because that is cheaper than giving employee discounts. And now legal cannabis pricing is even worse.
- StudentStuff 8y agoI had never heard of keeping your receipt with your beer until visiting a liquor store in Alberta. Apparently its common to confiscate beer lacking a receipt, as its assumed to be from another province? Seems very silly, but my perspective is skewed as a Seattleite ($25 fine for drinking in public that is rarely enforced).
- Permit 8y agoI am from Alberta and have never heard of this. Did this happen to you?
- StudentStuff 8y agoWhen we got pulled over, yes, we were checked for it. 15km/hr too fast was a sub-$40 USD ticket for the driver after conversion rate, pretty low compared to the $120 for 8mph over tickets I've seen in Seattle.
- noarchy 8y agoSo they didn't end up stealing your beer, because you were able to show a receipt? I wonder what becomes of the beer of those less fortunate.
- StudentStuff 8y agoPresumably they go into the Officer Memorial Slush fund?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- slavik81 8y agoWhen was that? Fifteen years ago, I got a photo radar ticket of $130 for 13km over the limit in Alberta.
- NovaS1X 8y agoI've never heard of this happening. My parents live in BC near the AB border and buy liquor from AB weekly.
- ticmasta 8y agoliquor in AB is no longer significantly cheaper than BC, with the exception of maybe some hard alcohol. Beer and Wine are pretty much a wash...
- richjdsmith 8y agoIn fact, last time I was living in Alberta but regularly driving to BC a couple years ago, it was cheaper to buy most beers/wines in BC, and nearly the same on hard alcohol (mostly because of Costco liquor stores being available in AB but not BC).
- NovaS1X 8y agoYes and No. They buy at Costco, which is cheaper than the liquor stores in their town. In BC only liquor stores can sell, whereas in AB grocery stores can as well. This can lead to grocery stores being cheaper than liquor stores.
- tonyarkles 8y agoI have never heard of this either, but yeah... through a quirk in Canadian law, only the crown is allowed to transport liquor between provinces, modulo some exceptions for small quantities: https://constitutional.findlaw.ca/article/how-much-alcohol-can-i-bring-from-another-province/ https://constitutional.findlaw.ca/article/how-much-alcohol-c... I can't legally very much beer or wine back to Saskatchewan when I make a trip to Alberta, even though it's significantly cheaper there. Edit: I knew about the "no transport between provinces" thing, but I didn't know about the receipt thing. I suspect that if you're in Alberta, with Alberta plates, you're not going to have your beer confiscated. If you're in Saskatchewan with Alberta plates, and have a trunk full of beer... they're probably going to suspect you bought it all cheap at home and are bringing it to friends.
- ridgewell 8y ago>only the crown is allowed to transport liquor between provinces Coincidentally, that restriction was just removed! The Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs announced it today. [1] However, provinces and territories can still legislate their own barriers. But federally, the law no longer stands. [1] https://www.canada.ca/en/intergovernmental-affairs/news/2019/04/canada-acts-to-eliminate-barriers-to-interprovincial-trade-in-alcohol.html https://www.canada.ca/en/intergovernmental-affairs/news/2019...
- tonyarkles 8y agoHoly crap! I bet that’s why this article got dredged up. That’s really great. Thanks for the heads up!
- noarchy 8y ago>And now legal cannabis pricing is even worse. And we knew it would be. The heavy-handed regulations here have often met responses like, "well it will take time to sort this out, give it a few years." Unfortunately, the example of alcohol regulations suggests it will take decades - and still not get figured out.
- siruncledrew 8y agoI don't understand.. how is it so much cheaper to buy beer in the US with customs/transportation/USD<->CAD/etc. taken into account? How much does beer cost in Canada?
- dgzl 8y agoI'm going to take a wild guess and say... Taxes.
- 33degrees 8y agoExactly; alcohol is heavily taxed in Canada, as is tobacco. It’s designed to discourage abuse
- jrace 8y agoin BC A six pack will be between $9-$15, A 26oz bottle of Vodka will be between $18 - $80
- mrguyorama 8y agoNeither of those are dissimilar to what I pay here in the states. Although I guess I can find horrible vodka in plastic 500ml containers for about $8
- endorphone 8y agoMost provinces have a minimum price threshold (e.g. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/100116/v2 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/100116/v2), and then the tax is a major component of that retail price -- something like 47% for beer, as a so-called sin tax. As an occasional consumer, Ontarian and Canadian, I don't mind. Alcohol has a lot of societal costs.
- quinndupont 8y agoAgreed. While I find minimum price thresholds and sin taxes personally annoying, there's lots of good research associating ease of access and low prices with alcoholism, which has high costs in terms of healthcare and individual suffering.
- pmalynin 8y agoI hate it. It just more of Canadian government paternalism, taking away people’s agency: “you cannot be trusted to make the right decision, so we’ll make the wrong decision more expensive to do.” The worst thing isn’t even the paternalism, it’s the hypocrisy. “This tax is to protect you and everyone around you” but in reality “oh yeah please don’t stop drinking because it’s bringing in so much tax revenue.”
- csours 8y agoYou can be trusted, but I can't. I'm an asshole.
- noarchy 8y agoWe're saddled with these vestiges of the early 20th century because of Prohibition. But that period has long since passed. The new reason for keeping them is the revenue stream. This is often justified by the "societal cost" of alcohol because it is more fashionable to use that as the excuse, rather than money.
- daniel-cussen 8y agoWhat about drunk driving? That qualifies as endangering those around you.
- overkill28 8y agoHow much did it cost??
- MegaDeKay 8y agoThis largely came about because of the "no name" craze started by Loblaws that was going on during this time [0]. Plain yellow packaged products with generic naming and no pictures, priced low, and of reasonable quality. Because when all you wanted was "Raisin Bran", why pay more? (Yeah, well, to get more raisins, but that's beside the point). I had a lot of yellow groceries in my apartment back in my starving student days. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Name_(brand) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Name_(brand)