The LCBO is launching takeout for booze

If you hate waiting in line to buy alcohol, you're going to love the LCBO's new e-commerce expansion project.

As of Spring 2018, the retailer's new "click and collect" service will allow customers to place booze orders at home, and then pick up that booze, ready to go, at a nearby liquor store.

LCBO customers can currently order alcohol online through the agency's existing e-commerce platform, which launched in July of 2016.

That system, however, doesn't do same day deliveries. Customers order through a mobile app or desktop site to have beer, wine and spirits delivered via Canada Post for an extra $12, with a required minimum order of $50.

"The difference with click-and-collect is that you’ll be able to order and pick up in the store in a four- to five-hour time period, so if you’re having a party or something you can order and drop by the store to pick it up on your way home that day," LCBO chief customer officer Joyce Gray told the Star.

It may sound like ordering Thai food for pick-up, but the service is actually more in line with what big box retailers like Walmart and Loblaws have already started doing to retain customers online.

Click-and-collect is our future, folks. You pay, you pick up, you go on your merry way. Minimal human interaction required.