The LCBO will emerge from the cocoon of government ownership and start an online store beginning as early as this summer, a notation in the provincial budget has revealed. The details are sketchy but it appears the liquor store will offer a wide a variety of spirits and wine to be delivered to the home by some form of safe transportation. The government monopoly says it expects to take at least 40,000 orders at the online store in a year of the launch.
A DECADE LATE
This development comes perhaps a decade onto the era of serious online shopping in private industry. A remaining element as yet unembraced by government is the self-serve machine, an important factor in democratizing wine and liquor sales in most parts of the world including the U.S. The government has long studiously avoided even mentioning the self-serve machine possibly because it is heavily opposed by OPSEU, the Ontario Public Employees Union. CBC
