Teenagers may drink during the summer holidays, but the source isn’t likely to be liquor purchased online.
A study released by the Federal Trade Commission reveals that most states have reported few or no underage drinking problems associated with direct shipments of wine.
The report, based on empirical evidence, is part of the FTC’s efforts to promote competition over the Internet. “It’s very hard to gather data about direct shipping and underage drinking,” said Todd Zywicki, director of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning. “You obviously can’t rely on minors to self-report if they’re buying wine illegally. As a result, we gathered evidence from the next best source, the state officials that actually deal with direct shipping on a daily basis.”
FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris noted that in preparing the report, his staff saw that most states that employed safeguards found few or no problems associated with wine shipments to minors.
“Many of these states require package delivery companies to obtain an adult signature at the point of delivery,” he said. “We also found no evidence suggesting that direct shipping increases underage drinking beyond the levels attributable to sales by bricks-and-mortar stores.”
Muris added that the primary consumer benefit of e-commerce in wine, access to lower cost sources of high-end, expensive wines, isn’t important to most underage drinkers. But unfortunately, he said, “the evidence shows that adolescents currently can obtain alcohol without going to the trouble and expense of ordering it over the Internet.”
In addition to requiring an adult signature, there are steps states can cake to control underage alcohol access from direct shipments, said Zywicki.
“If states choose to allow direct shipping, we would encourage them to adopt stringent requirements, similar to those that apply to bricks-and-mortar retailers, with respect to verifying a customer’s age,” said Zywicki. “For example, labeling of any package containing alcohol, and penalty and enforcement systems to provide incentives for both out-of-state suppliers and package delivery companies to comply with the law.”
In the report, Illinois officials noted that the state’s liquor commission “received no reports regarding minors obtaining wine from out-of-state shippers.” Nebraska officials reported no complaints or alleged violations, and other states, such as New Hampshire, concluded that minors are more likely to buy alcohol from local retailers because of the high cost of shipping and the fact there is a wait for the wine if you buy online.
Many states, some in response to court decisions, are re-examining their rules regarding direct shipment of wine. The FTC has received requests from two states to comment on bills that would affect such shipments. In the past year, many other states, including Virginia, Texas, New York and South Carolina, considered direct shipping bills.
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