mulligan's grocery - boycott

I am personally boycotting Mulligan's Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333. They will no longer receive my patronage.

Why?

Because of their rudeness to our Scout Group. And I suspect, to other but not all, local community groups.

How so?

Glad you asked.

Our Troop did a bottle drive today. It was not a great return as many other groups, that I did not know existed and not sure they actually do, have been hitting the neighbourhoods in recent weeks. We hit three subdivisions and my street as well. Our take, about $150. Not much for about five hours work and about an extra hour for me and the boy picking up a trailer from Denis and bringing it back.

We called the Beer Store in the town over as we do not have a full Beer Store in this community. They said because of the long weekend they would like us to book a time on another day to return the empties as they were currently very busy due to the long weekend and would be until closing. Fair enough.

The Beer Store in Ontario takes all the returns of spirit, wine, and beer purchased in Ontario that require a deposit, regardless of the vendor: LCBO, grocery stores, independent retailers, LCBO Agency Stores, and Beer Store Retail Partners. Of which Mulligan's is part of the latter two. These Agency Partners/Retail Partners also take empties like the Beer Store.

So, one of the Scouters suggested taking them to Mulligan's as it was not a big load. Okay let us try. It was not busy at all. We started unloading and tallying everything. We had already done all the sorting as the Beer Store requests be done.

It was going to be easy-peasy. Just unload and help put it in their storage and give them the count. Maybe 10-15 minutes tops.

One of the employees came out the "returns door". She has been there for as long as I can remember and is usually pretty good to deal with.

Not today.

"This is from a bottle drive." (Not a question.) "We don't do bottle drives."

"It's not a big load, we've sorted it and we'll tally it."

"Nope. We don't do bottle drives."

"Why not?"

Some nonsensical answer.

Me: "You know, it's not very community minded to refuse this. It's not a lot and it's sorted and we'll tally it."

"This has nothing to do with the community. We don't do bottle drives. I didn't get a call from you. You should have called first. I would have told you we don't do bottle drives." (I think the needle on the record got stuck at this point.)

"Of course it has everything to do with the community. We are a local community group trying to raise money so we can run events."

"My boss told me not to take bottle drives."

"It is very rude that you are not supporting community organisations. What's to stop me from going home and changing in to my street clothes and coming back?" (I was in my Scouter uniform at the time.)

"Nope. We wouldn't take them. This has nothing to do with the community. My boss...." BLAH! BLAH!! BLAH!!!

We went on for a few more minutes. More back and forth about supporting the community and she went on about how they let us stand out front and sell our stuff. Yeah, okay. We do Apple Day once a year. We stand out front on a Friday night and a Saturday morning offering apples to the public for free while soliciting donations to support our group. It is actually a lot of work for our Scout Group, but not for them. And every time we ask to do this, their reaction seems like we are hooking electrodes from a car battery to their temples.

 If she had just let us make our returns, we would have been done by then.

We left and unloaded them in one of the Scouter's garage. So, now we have to organise the trailer again and go to the next town another day to do this and take up more time, at least a couple of hours.

A few things here. 

Just because were in uniform did not mean it was bottle drive. We could have just finished an event and we were helping one of the Scouters empty his garage. It was a bottle drive, but it is still not the point. They are supposed to take empties. It is part of the job. Spirit, wine, and beer sales are very lucrative, especially for a rural store like this. Maybe be more accommodating.

It has everything to do with the community. We are a local community group, that happened to do a bottle drive in the community. To raise money for this local community group to run events. Most of the the empties were probably from purchases made at that store. In. This. Community.

The Agency Store Program - General Information document which is on the LCBO's website clearly states several interesting tidbits.


Under Primary Objectives - Customer Service, it states:


Providing customer service and convenience to a community in a cost efficient and socially
responsible manner, is the primary objective of the Program. The LCBO is committed to providing improved levels of service and convenience to rural communities by partnering with existing businesses that can provide optimum hours of service, product selection and knowledgeable customer assistance. 


A total failure there.


Under Economic Benefits:


The Program delivers economic benefits to host communities by stimulating local retail traffic and revenue, increasing employment for local residents, and broadening the community's business base. It is important that an Agency Store operator understands the local community and its particular needs, so preference is given to applicants whose manager lives in the community. (My bold.)


The first part about making money, that they fulfil. However, they obviously do not understand the local community and its particular needs. Also, pretty sure the owners do NOT live in the community. I have never seen them anywhere outside the store.


Under Operation of Agency Store, section 8.:


The Operator must offer customers a representative selection of spirits, wine and imported
and domestic beer products, building on a core listing of brands. The Operator must
maintain a reasonable inventory of core brands at all times. The Operator is required to
collect and redeem returnable containers within the community. (My bold.)


A complete and utter failure of collecting and redeeming returnable containers within the community.


I also told her that I would tell everyone about their lack of community mindedness. She laughed at me. For those of you who have not figured it out yet, I am an ass. I will tell everyone about this experience, this treatment. The rudeness. The disdain. The arrogant, demeaning attitude. Not just on this blog, but by word of mouth and any other venue I can find.

I will be contacting the LCBO and the Beer Store about this experience. I want written clarification from both of them. If they are truly allowed to refuse bottle drives, this store needs to put up signage explaining that to the community. That way, the community can decide if they want to support a business that does not support the community. If they are allowed to do bottle drives under restrictions to the community, then again, they need signage explaining the parameters of bottle drive bottle returns. That way, the community can decide if they want to support a business that supports the community reluctantly and against its will.

So, other than spreading the word about Mulligan's Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333, not willing to support the community they do business in, I will no longer give custom to them.

The only exception would be if they are required to follow through on their contractual obligations as a LCBO Agency Partner and  Beer Store Retail Partner and collect and redeem returnable containers within the community, which to me includes bottle drives run in the community.

I suggest everyone think about their local businesses and whether they readily support their community. If not feel free to contact them and ask them why. At least if they are willing to have a conversation about it, unlike Mulligan's.

Oh yeah, feel free to contact Mulligan's  Grocery located at 2321 Andrew Street (P.O. Box 533), North Gower, Ontario, K0A 2T0, 613-489-3333, and ask them why they do not support their community, especially as what we were denied was, and is, part of their regular, contractual, operations.

the house of rudeness, aka "mulligans"

as can clearly be seen, they are a partner of the beer store and lcbo

hence, they are required to take empties