Important Service Update: Resumption of LDB Wholesale Distribution

Dear ABLE BC Members and Industry Colleagues,

We are delighted to share some good news today! The BC General Employees' Union (BCGEU) has reached a tentative agreement with BC's Public Service Agency. 

We are grateful to both government and the BCGEU for reaching this agreement and for having stopped strike action while negotiating.

Click here to see a media release from the BCGEU. 

Click here to see a media release from government. 

Click here to see highlights of the tentative agreement. 

While the strike is over and the Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) has resumed operations, it will still take several weeks to restock industry and get back to regular service levels and delivery times. Your patience, flexibility, and understanding is greatly appreciated.

We meet with LDB several times a week and can confirm that the warehouses are working hard to get orders out fairly and as quickly as possible. 

Warehouses are shipping the oldest orders first and are still working on orders placed before web store was shut down on August 17, 2022. There is a significant backlog of orders that will take several weeks to catch up on. Once older orders have been shipped, the focus will shift to new order and ABLE BC expects it will take several more weeks to fully catch up once new orders begin to ship. 

Click here to read a memo from LDB.

We have heard several rumours that BC Liquor Stores are receiving preferential deliveries. We can confirm that these rumours are completely unfounded and there has been no preferential treatment given to BC Liquor Stores.

We have seen empty BC Liquor Stores shelves as frequently as private store shelves. While it may seem that some BC Liquor Stores are receiving larger deliveries than private stores, this is only due to larger orders being placed to account for hospitality customer orders. 

Orders are being shipped chronologically and consolidated with newer orders when possible to increase efficiency. 

We will offer further updates as soon as they are available.