there was a sign on the door informing the FOLKS about the change but there was a security guard standing there so I didn’t take a photo
What is the point of this? How does this benefit anyone? How does this even benefit the government?
Obligatory @#$% Doug Ford. There’s not too much to this, imo. Back when it was just the LCBO and Beer Store selling alcohol - a special product if you will - the price on the sales tag included HST and bottle deposit, which is unlike most products, like a bag of chips (price on sales tag doesn’t include HST). I think this price labeling thing is just a bit of house-keeping after Ford changed the alcohol sales framework in Ontario (which will definitely reduce provincial revenue and good jobs and probably contribute to a significant uptick in drunk driving–that’s the real story). If alcohol is now sold in convenience stores alongside chips, why should its price be advertised differently (eg, include HST). So, this is probably to make alcohol more consistent with other products (e.g., there’s a fee added to battery sales that aren’t on price tags) in terms of product price labelling.
More important to me is how long the bottle deposit remains and how long the Beer Store continues to accept bottle and can returns now that they’re essentially another convenience or grocery store
Interest-free loans for them
You paid this before however, it was baked into the sticker price