{"id":104102,"date":"2017-07-18T10:00:55","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T14:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/?p=104102\/"},"modified":"2017-07-18T14:04:54","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T18:04:54","slug":"low-prices-of-beer-in-quebec-are-hurting-small-depanneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/low-prices-of-beer-in-quebec-are-hurting-small-depanneurs\/","title":{"rendered":"Low Prices Of Beer In Quebec Are Hurting Small Depanneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How is it that in Ontario, a neighboring province of Quebec, beer is much more expensive &#8230; but not just by a little: <strong>we mean much much more expensive!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A few examples.<\/p>\n<p>A case of 12 X 355 ml cans of Bud Light will be 36% cheaper if you buy it east than west of the Outaouais River.<\/p>\n<p>In any branch of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebeerstore.ca\/\">The Beer Store<\/a>, which enjoys a monopoly on the sale of beer in Ontario, you will find this product at a flat price of $ 26.55.<\/p>\n<p>In Quebec, the same product stands at $ 16.99 at IGA, Metro or Ultramar&#8217;s D\u00e9panneur du Coin (Corner Store).<\/p>\n<p><strong>It&#8217;s a difference of $ 9.56 for a totally identical product.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This product is therefore 36% cheaper to buy in Quebec or, conversely, 56% more expensive to buy in Ontario!<\/p>\n<p>When discounted, you may even find this product at $ 15.99, $ 14.99 or much less around here.<\/p>\n<p>The pricing comparison becomes frankly troublesome when Quebec retailers are the least aggressive:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A case of 24 bottles of 341 ml of Budweiser: $ 36.95 in Ontario against $ 30.99 in Quebec at IGA <strong>(20% more expensive in Ontario);<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A case of 12 bottles of 341 ml of Michelob Ultra: $ 23.50 in Ontario vs. $ 17.99 in Quebec at Ultramar&#8217;s D\u00e9panneur du Coin\u00a0<strong>(31% more expensive in Ontario);<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A case of 24 bottles of 330 ml of Heineken: $ 49.95 in Ontario against $ 29.99 in Quebec at Costco <strong>(66% MORE EXPENSIVE IN ONTARIO)!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are astronomical price differences for identical products sold in neighboring provinces!<\/p>\n<p>But is it Ontario that is selling too high or Quebec that is selling too low, somehow forced to crush its prices? A bit of both, no doubt.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_104099\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104099\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-104099\" src=\"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/heinekencostco.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"445\" srcset=\"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/heinekencostco.jpg 800w, https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/heinekencostco-600x334.jpg 600w, https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/heinekencostco-400x223.jpg 400w, https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/heinekencostco-768x427.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-104099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo taken in a Montreal Costco this week &#8230; Better hide this to Ontarians at the risk of provoking a mass rebellion.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Two completely different regulatory systems<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We will revisit this topic regularly but for now, let us just highlight some aspects of the Quebec and Ontario regulations.<\/p>\n<p>First in Ontario, beer is sold exclusively through\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thebeerstore.ca\/\">The Beer Store,<\/a>\u00a0a network of 438 stores owned and operated by major brewers.<\/p>\n<p>The beer industry in Ontario enjoys an ideal regulation to maximize their profits:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They have only 440 distribution points to cover, which limits their transportation costs (compared to Quebec with 8,000 grocery stores and convenience stores to cover);<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The minimum price is significantly higher than in Quebec;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Beer taxes are generally lower in Ontario than in Quebec, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ontariobeerfacts.ca\/files\/studies\/20140820_C2482_PDF_EN_4963.pdf\">according to a study endorsed by the Ontario Convenience Store Association (OCSA).<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So aside from a higher minimum price, it costs less to distribute beer in Ontario and there are fewer taxes. But what really lacks over there is competition between retailers.<\/p>\n<p>And in the meantime, the brewing industry lobby continues <a href=\"http:\/\/www.newswire.ca\/news-releases\/report-prices-at-the-beer-store-lower-than-in-quebec-despite-higher-taxes-515330171.html\">to praise the Ontario system for consumers!<\/a> We are trying hard not to laugh.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prices too low in Quebec?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We are lucky in Quebec in part because the convenience stores here have at least the right to sell beer and wine. But at what price?<\/p>\n<p>The current prices are too low: they hurt small depanneurs that can barely make a cent of profit on the beer sale.<\/p>\n<p>The minimum price in Quebec is well below the market price and since the consumer does not want to pay more than this minimum price, retailers are stuck with it.<\/p>\n<p>They will do everything to confuse the consumer price benchmarks with various bizarre formats of 15, 18, 20, 28 containers as well as &#8216;king cans&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>But the solution, the real one, would be to raise the Quebec minimum price of beer more rapidly to help small convenience stores.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, here is a spectacular video of the beer section at Costco in Gatineau &#8230; where thousands of Ontarians shop weekly to bypass the excessive prices in Ontario.<\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rbiVhjRDWHg?ecver=1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How is it that in Ontario, a neighboring province of Quebec, beer is much more expensive &#8230; but not just<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":104103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1738,223],"tags":[799,946,770,242,877,1394,1423,875],"class_list":["post-104102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer-wine-alcohol","category-newsdep","tag-costco","tag-depanneur-du-coin-en","tag-depanneur-du-coin","tag-iga-en","tag-minimum-price-of-beer","tag-minimum-price-of-beer-en","tag-the-beer-store-en","tag-the-beer-store"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/biere-quebec-opt.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depquebec.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}