RSSStudy: Minors Buying Booze Online
By Ed Oswald | Published August 10, 2006, 3:32 PM
In an attempt to fight the loosening of liquor control laws regarding online sales in nearly two dozen states over the past year, a liquor resellers interest group released a study Thursday that says an alarming number of minors are purchasing alcohol online or know someone who has.
The study, sponsored by the Wine and Spirits Wholsalers of America, claims that two percent of teens aged 14-20 have purchased alcohol online, and 12 percent say they know of a friend who has. One in ten of them have visited a Web site that sells alcohol, and a third of those surveyed are open to the possibility of purchasing alcohol online before their 21st birthday.
Making matters worse, the group says, is the fact that many of these companies require no ID check upon delivery, and other states are moving to enact similar laws with little if any oversight. The WSWA adds that most regulatory agencies have told them that resources are not available to ensure online compliance with liquor laws.
"This is a dangerous situation," WSWA Chairman Stan Hastings said. "For the first time, we have hard evidence that millions of kids are buying alcohol online and that the Internet is fast becoming a high-tech, low-risk way for kids to get beer, wine and liquor delivered to their home."
WSWA's members have a vested financial interest in the situation. As laws are relaxed regarding online alcohol sales, more and more consumers are turning to the Internet to make their purchases. In many cases, it is cheaper to purchase alcohol online, which negates the need to visit the local liquor store.
In a television report Wednesday night, NBC News backed up the industry's claims. Two packages were delivered to states where online liquor sales are illegal, with one delivered to a 15-year old with no ID check. Only one of the packages asked the delivery person to check the ID of the recipient and identified the contents as alcohol.
"Alcohol should not be sold online and state regulators need more resources to be able to enforce their state's alcohol laws, and that includes regular online compliance checks," WSWA CEO Juanita Duggan remarked.
The group is also accusing states of hypocrisy over the inconsistency between online tobacco and alcohol laws. A group of 33 state attorneys general, delivery services and credit card companies led by Eliot Spitzer recently led a successful effort to ban the online sale of cigarettes.
In New York City there is a $3.00 per pack tax on the sale of cigarettes at the retail POS. It is illegal to try and circumvent this tax by purchasing cigarettes on the internet from one of those "cheap cigarette" sites.
And PUHLEEEZE...spare us all the urge to turn this into a debate about how tobacco is worse than liquor..it's boring,OK ?
Anyway...
Recently New York City sued an out-of-state internet vendor and, as part of the settlement, received THE NAMES AND ADDRESES OF EVERY PERSON who illegally purchased cigarettes and is now SUCESSFULLY persuing them to collect those tax payments.
You can read about it here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/..._fraud_cigarettes.shtml
So far NYC has collected over $800,000
and the final total will be in the millions of dollars. Selling alcohol to minors across state lines on the internet is a crime; and when some drunken 14-year old kid runs over your dog...or worse...you won't be laughing then.
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|I see these kids hanging around the outside of my web site all the time. With their digital skateboards and virtual gadgets. They ask me if I'll buy them electronic beer on the way in. What's this world coming to. (yes, i'm kidding)
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|ROTFLMAO
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|LMAO! Good one!
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|Study: water is wet.
Study: grass greener on the other side.
Study: bears defecate in woods.
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|"and 12 percent say they know of a friend who has."
Yeah, and 12% also know a burglar, a car thief, and/or a drug dealer. This study is crap and nothing more but the WSWA trying to close out competition.
The only thing that should change as a result of this is that the delivery companies should have to request that an adult sign for the product. Oh, and Juanita Duggan should be cited for excessive distribution of bull$hit.
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|No wonder everything is out of stock. *laughs
As soon as we come up with a way to stop them from buying crack in the neighborhood we should get right on this.
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|Like any new laws are realy going to change anything most kids know exactly who will pull for them for a couple bucks or knows somebody who does know and if caught the universal answer to who bought the booze is i dunno we just asked people around the liquor store so the puller doesn't get in trouble.
Growing up in Canada it's usualy the highschool seniors doing it then the kids just put it in their slurpies or put it in their gym bags for later seen a few stupid enough to put lots in their slurpy and get sloshed and busted but pullers never got fingered.
If they realy want to do something about underage drinking tell parents to quit handing over tons of cash to the kids with little or no questions asked.
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|Actually, if you look at the data from the states, they are smart to spend their auditing efforts more on bars and stores. Their own audits show that minors WITHOUT fake ID's can buy booze 20% of the time (e.g. in liquor stores). That adds up to way more than internet sales. The WSWA is not interested in this case for any other reason than to protect financial monopolistic interests.
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|The 2% of teens 14-20 buying booze online thing isn't the big shocker IMO. The big shocker is--2% of those in the study had access to a credit card in the first place!
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|I'd be more surprised if the majority of college aged kids don't have at least one credit card of their own. Check out the stats on average credit card debt for college students.
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|As a 20 year old with a couple credit cards, I'm curious to know what sites these kids are using.
Though since I got a couple people willing to buy for me, I really don't care much. specially since I'm half in the bag now. :D
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|*shrug*
Ya know, if the kid is bright enough and has got the balls to have it delivered to his front door, more power to 'em.
Since buying it online invlves a certain 'waiting period', I don't think it could lead, by itself, to anything harmful. (Unless they're buying it in bulk)
I'd think it'd still be easier to get an older buddy to buy it like I did back in the day.
But hey...maybe that's just too old school.
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|Teenagers could start buying in bulk and selling to fellow high-schoolers. I see a new market emerging in the educational system!
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|bigger than the drug market in the educational system? right now its easier for kids to get marijuana than it is for them to get alchohol. Look at a school in any decent sized town i guarantee theres at least 3 dealers in it. (by school i mean jr. high/high school)
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|LOL! Excellent entrepreneurial thinking!
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|you can buy alcohol online without verification!?! well damn I never knew that
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|I predict a sudden surge in sales. :)
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|Maybe this explains why I see so many smokers that are in their teens every day...CamelOnline.com, perhaps? (made up url...)
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|A lot of sites use credit cards for age validation. If a kid is using their parent's credit card, then all is well in the eyes of the e-liquor store.
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|The study, sponsored by the Wine and Spirits Wholsalers of America, claims that two percent of teens aged 14-20 have purchased alcohol online, and 12 percent say they know of a friend who has
I've always wondered, if you can estimate 2% of a survey group have done something, why do you need to know they on average have 6 friends they would tell?
WSWA's members have a vested financial interest in the situation.
I had a feeling. Can't say I am surprised they played the "what about the children" card, just disappointed.
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|To be honest i think buying fake ID's online is more of a problem. I'm under 18 (18 is the age you can buy acholol in the UK) and i know of at least two people who have bought fake ID's online who regulary use them too buy acholol. It's amazing how a little bit of plastic changes everything.
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|Buy a duffle coat and a briefcase and your away. No need for fake IDs and getting arrested.
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|All I needed was to keep my goatee :P
For kicks, when I turned 18 and 21 (for smoking and drinking, respectively), I would shave and try to purchase the now legal item...and get carded; sometimes by the same people that normally sold them to me. I was buying cigarettes when I was 15. I shaved one day when I was 22 and got carded for them...of course, law enforcement really started cracking down on businesses between those ages too.
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