Alcohol Delivery Compliance: Preventing Sales to Minors
Before the pandemic, ordering a to-go cocktail from a local restaurant was an unfamiliar concept. Today, in many states, it’s a common occurrence for customers who want to enjoy intoxicating beverages from the comfort of their homes.
Between 2020 and 2022, the food and beverage industry experienced major changes in the alcohol delivery space. Many states introduced new laws that allowed restaurants to offer cocktails to-go and deliver alcohol directly to consumers.
These new laws clarified what was permitted for business owners and what requirements had to be followed in order to maintain alcohol licenses. While these policies helped reduce alcohol compliance violations, the risk of alcohol being delivered to minors still remains a concern.
Keeping communities safe and preventing minors from being harmed by alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis use is the responsibility of both retailers and third-party delivery services involved in these transactions.
Reducing compliance risks requires strong policies, modern technology solutions, and proper compliance training for delivery drivers handling age-restricted products.
Alcohol Delivery Policies: Pre-Pandemic vs. Today
The world of alcohol delivery changed dramatically in 2020.
Before the pandemic, customers could order alcohol deliveries from liquor stores, wineries, distilleries, and breweries. However, restaurants rarely delivered alcohol directly to customers.
When COVID-19 forced many people to stay home, restaurants quickly adapted by offering to-go cocktails and alcohol deliveries as a way to stay afloat financially while serving their communities.
Around the same time, many states began creating official policies allowing restaurants to deliver alcoholic beverages through third-party delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats.
As a result, restaurants across the country rapidly adopted alcohol delivery services.
According to policy researchers, the shift from almost no regulation to widespread statewide policies was one of the most dramatic alcohol policy transformations in modern American history.
Today, most states have clearly defined laws governing the delivery of alcoholic beverages.
In the states where Stinger Compliance operates—Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama—laws outline specific rules that businesses must follow when delivering alcohol directly to consumers or using third-party delivery services.
For example, Georgia requires delivery drivers to complete mandatory training before delivering alcohol to customers.
The Role of Technology in Preventing Alcohol Delivery to Minors
Technology has played a major role in reducing compliance violations related to alcohol delivery.
In 2022, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control reported that approximately 14 percent of alcohol deliveries resulted in violations involving minors. Earlier in the pandemic, the violation rate had been estimated at nearly 80 percent.
This dramatic improvement occurred largely because third-party delivery companies implemented stronger identity verification systems.
Companies such as DoorDash, Instacart, and Uber Eats introduced features such as:
- Scanning customer identification upon delivery
- Restricting alcohol deliveries to certain locations
- Enhanced driver training and verification procedures
These technological safeguards help ensure alcohol is not delivered to minors.
However, businesses that rely on their own delivery drivers may not always have access to these tools.
Large retailers such as Total Wine address this challenge by training delivery drivers to verify identification during delivery and conducting internal compliance checks to ensure policies are followed.
Similar issues exist in the cannabis industry. Some states allow marijuana dispensaries to deliver products directly to customers, but a lack of proper identity verification technology can increase the risk of illegal sales to minors.
Without proper safeguards, minors may gain access to age-restricted products and expose themselves to significant health risks.
The Risks of Delivering Age-Restricted Products
Compliance violations in alcohol delivery can have serious consequences for businesses.
For example, delivery startup GoPuff previously lost its alcohol delivery license after being caught delivering alcohol to minors and failing to verify customer identification.
Investigations revealed that alcohol and tobacco products were delivered to freshman dormitories at a local college.
In contrast, companies such as DoorDash have implemented stronger compliance rules. These include:
- Restricting alcohol deliveries to college campuses or high-risk locations
- Requiring physical scanning of customer identification at delivery
If delivery drivers fail to verify identification or knowingly deliver alcohol or tobacco products to minors, they may face legal consequences including fines or even jail time.
Retailers who employ their own drivers are also responsible for ensuring those employees are properly trained in compliance laws.
Ultimately, delivery drivers are responsible for verifying customer identity and refusing service to minors or intoxicated individuals.
Enforcing Delivery Compliance with Stinger Compliance
Laws created by state legislatures and internal policies adopted by retailers and delivery services are important foundations for protecting communities.
However, enforcing those policies ultimately falls on delivery drivers and their employers.
This raises an important question for business owners:
How can you ensure your delivery drivers are actually following the rules?
For businesses that conduct a high volume of deliveries, monitoring compliance can be difficult.
Stinger Compliance helps solve this problem by providing secret shopping and anonymous compliance checks for businesses selling alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis products.
Using trained individuals over the age of 21, Stinger Compliance performs compliance checks by ordering age-restricted products through delivery services.
These compliance checks evaluate whether employees:
- Request and verify valid identification
- Follow local and state laws
- Adhere to internal company policies
After the compliance check, business owners receive detailed reports outlining the results and identifying any areas where additional training may be needed.
Through partnerships with compliance services like Stinger Compliance, business owners can better protect their licenses, their livelihoods, and the health of their communities.
Ready to Get Started?
If you are a business owner looking to strengthen compliance and protect your operations, consider scheduling your first Sting with Stinger Compliance.
Learn more about our services or book your first compliance check today.
