Alcohol purchase waiver?

[Hokie_Brewer]

I had to fill out one of those in college....but I was also buying a case of vodka handles for a party...

Kinda ridiculous for 1 beer

 

[TheMan]

Sounds like George is gettin upset!!!

Serenity Now....

 

[Bottenbrew]

I had an annoying situation at a United Dairy Farmers convenience store. Went in to buy a sixer to take to a friends house. My wife walked in with me and we are both 30. I went to the register and she walked towards the door. They asked for both of our ids. I was in a crap mood and my wife left hers in the car so I argued with them. She had nothing to do with the beer. It was my credit card, she never touched the beer and she wasnt even in line with me. I complained and haven't been back for a year and a half. It is really close to my house and I went there about there several times a week before work.

Voted with my wallet. Bad part is they could probably care less, but I'm to stubborn so I inconvenience myself on a regular basis.

Should I get over it or stand on my principles?

The problem with the whole "vote with your wallet" concept is that if the store is big enough to succeed, simply shopping elsewhere and not telling a manager/owner of WHY you are shopping elsewhere will have no effect. As a former retail manager I can assure you if you complain things may happen, if you just shop somewhere else they won't even notice. Yeah you can impact their business by telling as many people as possible, but that doesn't mean they will ever understand the causation of bad policy -> decreased business.

TL: DR - complain, voting with your wallet rarely if ever succeeds in changing the crappy policy you dislike.

 

[hamiltont]

A few years ago I was purchasing a set of water skis from a reputable sporting goods store. When I went to check out the clerk ushered me over to customer service & they whipped out a 5 page form for me to sign, basically stating that I wouldn't sue them if I was hurt using them. The real funny part was that I would only use them for my personal use and that no one else could use them because I was the only one signing the form. I asked for the store manager & he was firm about me signing it or no sale. The clerk at the customer service desk was empathetic about the whole thing so after the manager left I proceeded to cross off all the items I didn't agree with, initialed each modification to the form and then signed it. I should have just walked out but I was pissed & stubborn at that point. The clerk just laughed and shook his head in approval. He said everyone else just signed the form & checked out. Cheers!!!

 

[32Brew]

In Texas, the shop owner has no criminal liability if the alcohol is sold to a person of age. It is the PROVIDOR's liablity after the purchase leaves the store. Of course, there is the civil lawsuit realm that might be what is scaring the shopowner/clerk. All it takes is a 51% majority of a jury to believe a really good lawyer to make the shopowner/clerk have to pay big. This is a bit of overkill, but that might be their line of thought......could have been sued before too, which would bump their paranoia.

 

[JJL]

It sounds like this place was recently popped for underage selling. I would be calling and speaking to the manager or owner about it and telling them that you will not be back. Just silently stopping your shopping there won't really do much but telling them why you are stopping and that you have let a few hundred folks on a forum (and I would assume in person) know that they are doing this does make a difference.

This is what I was thinking. The only times I've heard of this is at places that have had legal issues recently, or in areas where the police are really cracking down.

 

[RMitch]

If you purchase more than $26 worth of beer/alcohol they run your ID through a scanner which goes to a database, so in case the police have to deal with you later that night, they can pull that up on their computers.

 

[Slurm]

As soon as the clerk attempts to record my info, it goes from being a legal age verification check to a (potentially illegal) privacy violation. If you paid via credit card, it is a violation of PCI guidelines to collect and store information like that. In many locations requiring you to submit personal information as a condition of sale is a violation of state law -which is why stores offer incentives to sign up for mailing lists or discount cards instead of just demanding your information.

I'm not sure how I would handle it myself... but I think complaining to the manager/owner would be a good starting point. If you feel vindictive, a call to your credit card company could cost them their ability to process credit cards. A letter to your states AG could cost them even more. Or you could just shrug and walk away...

 

[RMitch]

^Well one could argue that age verification is within itself a privacy violation, and subsequently alcohol purchases cannot be considered a "private" action.

 

[motobrewer]

As soon as the clerk attempts to record my info, it goes from being a legal age verification check to a (potentially illegal) privacy violation.

If you paid via credit card, it is a violation of PCI guidelines to collect and store information like that.

They aren't storing credit card information, so PCI doesn't apply

 

[ArtVandelay]

As I keep thinking about this I'm about 85% sure that it was a cashier specific policy but whether it was store mandated for her or not I don't know. I vaguely remember her saying something like "when you come through my line you do..."
She also mentioned that it has happened before which makes me think a situation occured that directly affected her. Or maybe it happened to her kid.

Maybe her motherly instinct is trying to "protect" all the kids.

Two courses of action I may take...
-Call the store manager up and tell them I felt disrespected and ask if it is standard practice. If so I will say I will take my business elsewhere and then probably continue to shop their anyway.
-Just be lazy and try to forget about it

 

[RMitch]

As I keep thinking about this I'm about 85% sure that it was a cashier specific policy but whether it was store mandated for her or not I don't know. I vaguely remember her saying something like "when you come through my line you do..."
She also mentioned that it has happened before which makes me think a situation occured that directly affected her. Or maybe it happened to her kid.

Maybe her motherly instinct is trying to "protect" all the kids.

Two courses of action I may take...
-Call the store manager up and tell them I felt disrespected and ask if it is standard practice. If so I will say I will take my business elsewhere and then probably continue to shop their anyway.
-Just be lazy and try to forget about it

Does it really protect the kids, or simply defer liability away from her?

 

[ArtVandelay]

You're right, it doesn't. But maybe she somehow thinks it does