Nuked The state’s Department of alcoholic beverage control found a surge of alcohol deliveries to underage minors in California last month. The issue is getting worse because of relaxed restrictions around alcohol takeout and delivery during covid-19.
The state began allowing the sale and delivery of to-go cocktails and other forms of liquor in March. The investigation’s findings were posted as an industry advisory to the ABC’s website.
Doordash, Postmates, and Uber did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Washington Post article detailed the ease with which Uber eats customers could order alcohol for delivery during the covid-19 pandemic.
The post tested alcohol delivery via on-demand apps in California. The apps allowed the order of alcohol without an accompanying food item.
California regulators say the fault lies mostly with the on-demand delivery services. Uber eats does n’t have a built-in ID check mechanism in the app. Doordash and Postmates have ID checks built into their apps because both officially support alcohol sales.
The department has conducted enforcement actions throughout the state and found significant violations of the law. The department encourages licensees to review the practices of these services and their reliance on them.
Doordash, Uber, and Postmates – which are the dominant food and beverage delivery apps in California – have guidelines in place to protect against delivering alcohol to minors.
The restaurants and bars illegally provided minors with alcohol about one out of every four deliveries in the test, or a 25 percent failure rate. On-Demand apps did so four out of each five.
