The good news is many states have quickly reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns by changing the local laws to allow curbside pickup and delivery for bottles spirits and cocktails. The bad news is the rules are changing so fast that it’s hard to keep up with them all and follow safe best practices.
“Relaxed restrictions have permitted restaurants to deliver alcohol in many jurisdictions,” said Health Communications President & CEO Adam Chafetz. “The vast majority of them want to make sure that alcohol doesn’t fall into the hands of a minor. The problem is they don’t always know how to ensure a legal sale, especially when they are using third-party services to deliver. Both the licensee and delivery personnel need to follow specific guidelines before the delivery and at the delivery site. This is why it is important to provide training.”
CA ABC Reports Delivery Services Routinely Deliver to Minors 25% to 80% of the Time
An April investigation by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) discovered that “third-party delivery services are routinely delivering alcoholic beverages to minors,” according to an advisory they posted last week. According to a recent article in the The Washington Post, Jacob Appelsmith, California’s ABC director, said in an interview that the department ordered approximately 200 alcoholic beverages over the span of several weekends and had them delivered to individuals including decoys under 21 years old. While bars and restaurants logged a 25 percent failure rate, meaning they had sold to a minor a quarter of the time during the tests, delivery apps logged a “much worse” 80 percent failure rate, he said. In 4 out of 5 instances, that meant, a minor could successfully order an alcoholic drink on a delivery app.
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The eTIPS Off Premise and Delivery certification course trains employees and delivery personnel on how to recognize when a guest is intoxicated or underage. The course includes strategies on selling and delivering alcohol legally, delivery and curbside pick-up policies, handling a refusal situation, and ID checking.
eTIPS training offers a self-paced approach to alcohol seller and delivery training. It allows participants to obtain practical and valuable training from their desktop or mobile device.
TIPS is a skills-based training program designed to prevent intoxication, underage drinking, and drunk driving. TIPS offers seven programs that address the unique environments where alcohol is served, sold, and consumed, including On Premise, Off Premise, Concessions, Gaming, University, Seniors, and Workplace.
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