Question to my Canadian Florists?

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As far as I know we cannot buy the wine. The customer has brought wine in for me to utilize in the arrangement or the basket. My usual request is for two bottles... one for the basket and one for me. :) It worked once or twice.

V
 
We've been putting wine in our baskets for years and I don't even know if it's legal, never gave it much thought to tell you the truth.
A customer once brought in some home made wine, we refused to send that one (thought maybe he'd want to poison his ex) But besides that, we send them out in our "wine and cheese baskets". If anyone knows if im breakin the law, please let me know...
 
Liquor laws in Ontario are insanely complex!

I'm no expert on this stuff but I was once told that Ontario law specifies that when you buy alcohol it is only for your consumption and that you are expected to take it straight home and consume it there. Any variation - including giving it to a friend as a gift, taking it to a dinner party, etc. - is illegal under a strict interpretation of the law.

The person who told me that knew a lot about this stuff (20+ years in sales for one of the breweries and another 10 in the hospitality business) but he could still be wrong and/or the law could have changed.

I do know that there are licensed liquor (and tobacco product) delivery services in Ontario. They have special authority to buy alcohol (and cigarettes) for other people and deliver it for them. The fact that they are licensed suggests that you're not supposed to deliver alcohol unless you do have such a license! I know of some florists in Ontario that partner with these services if and when they need to delivery wine or other alcohol as part of a basket.

To find one of these services go to http://www.yellowpages.ca and enter "liquour delivery" and your city.

It's hard to imagine you could get in trouble for something as harmless as putting a bottle of wine in a gift basket, but the penalty for breaking the rules on an ongoing basis could be severe!

Good luck!
 
Gigi said:
We've been putting wine in our baskets for years and I don't even know if it's legal, never gave it much thought to tell you the truth.
A customer once brought in some home made wine, we refused to send that one (thought maybe he'd want to poison his ex) But besides that, we send them out in our "wine and cheese baskets". If anyone knows if im breakin the law, please let me know...
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Ah, but Quebec laws are waaaay different than Ontario. We still walk among the dark ages here.

V
 
THe only time I send a bottle of wine is for the customer to bring it to me.
Here are my reason:
Liabilities: What if the recepient is under age or a under age personintercept the basket.
What if the recepient decided to drink all the wine and get behind the wheel of a car and gets into an accident?
Why would you loose 23% and your time to get it.
With all of those reason, I have decided not to go and purchase wine.
Luc
 
Luc said:
With all of those reason, I have decided not to go and purchase wine.
Luc
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Luc, the best reason of all... it's illegal, even in Elliot Lake. ;)

V
 
We do a ton of fruit baskets so I have had some experience with this. The customer must supply the wine. If you buy the wine and resell it to the customer in your basket it makes you the seller, that is illegal. Sucks, but it is true!
 
someone once told me you could buy the wine, but you could not charge the customer any more for it than you paid for it. That is, you cannot make any profit on the bottle of wine you bought to send with the flowers. Geez, I wish the gov't would stop trying to run every aspect of our lives. Our local Ottawa gov't wants to have a new bylaw that would prohibit drivers from letting their cars idle for more than 3 minutes. Our delivery service is going to love that one!
 
Once you put.....

ANY KIND of liquor products in your packaging, YOU become libel, as part of the supply "stream" regardless of it's "source"
 
Greg said:
someone once told me you could buy the wine, but you could not charge the customer any more for it than you paid for it. That is, you cannot make any profit on the bottle of wine you bought to send with the flowers. Geez, I wish the gov't would stop trying to run every aspect of our lives. Our local Ottawa gov't wants to have a new bylaw that would prohibit drivers from letting their cars idle for more than 3 minutes. Our delivery service is going to love that one!
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Greg... someone gave you the wrong information.

As for letting the cars idle... I'm with the gov't on this one.

V
 
joanne said:
We received a order to go out for delivery on Tuesday . It calls for a bottle of wiine . I thought that we weren't allowed to purchase and send wine along with flowers etc. Can anyone clarify this for me please Thanks Joanne:hammer:
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You can get licensed to include liquor in your baskets and deliver them in Ontario.....but you have jump through all kinds of hoops to get one including being bonded and your drivers must be legal age and there licences must be submitted for approval, as well when you apply you have to state how much you will add to the cost of the liquor for this service, you also have to get signatures from recipients on a special form and they also have to be of legal age.......Cost of this license was $150.00 per year (10 or so years ago). It was originally a one time!!!!! license fee of $100.00 and we did get one........that lasted about 2 years and the government decided it had to be renewed yearly....cash grab as usual so we did not renew it.
 
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