Over the past two weeks, we’ve heard from members about increased issues with the LDB, including: short shipments, severe delivery delays, and some LRSs not receiving invoices with their orders. Industry associations has been speaking with the LDB on a regular basis, and these issues have all been raised with the LDB Wholesale Operations Executive Director Todd Cooper.
As a step to improve customer service, ABLE BC has asked the LDB to extend their hours of service at the Wholesale Customer Centre for the holiday season, so you have someone to speak with past 4:00 pm. The BC Craft Brewers Guild fully supports this ask and we will report back on this in the days ahead. In addition to staffing up for the holidays, the LDB has hired external temporary staff to fulfill orders at both of its distribution centres.
The LDB also shared they’ll be pausing their transition to the Delta Distribution Centre until after the holidays. That means both distribution centres will remain in operation throughout our busiest season. Given the challenges they’ve already experienced, we agree the delay is necessary.
Please keep us informed of the challenges and if they are staying the same , improving or getting worse as we move into the busy holiday season. We will continue to work with LDB wholesale to forward your concerns but as you can see they are trying hard to sort out their issues currently.