Response to Wholesalers' Claim "Minors Use The Internet to Obtain Alcohol"

Part 1 in a 5-part series on why nobody trusts wine wholesalers

This is Part 1 of 5 issues of this newsletter that will detail the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers Association’s incompetence and duplicity on the issue of direct shipment of alcohol.

When the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of America (WSWA) speak no one believes them and no one takes them seriously. Not wineries. Not retailers, not consumers. And not even wholesalers. The reason this Association of protected box movers isn’t taken seriously is due to thirty years of them making unsupported, breathless claims about direct shipping that never pan out and because their claims are so obviously self-serving.

I point this out for two reasons. First, in preparation for demonstrating their incompetency below as I respond to their attempt to respond to a very reasonable and accurate article about the direct shipment of alcohol and, second because it’s always a good idea to remind folks that there are charlatans in our midst.

It should be noted that this recent attempt by WSWA to discredit direct shipment of alcohol comes not just in response to ShipCompliant’s Alex Koral’s very cogent takedown of the Myths of Direct Shipment. It also comes as distillers and brewers are making concerted and successful efforts across the country to push for direct shipping laws. So, what I’m going to expose below is not merely a failure of reason, logic and purpose, but also a pretty deep well of fear on the part of the most protected collection of mid-wits in the American alcohol industry. Below are WSWA’s failures:

Says WSWA
MINORS WILL BUY ALCOHOL ONLINE
”In a more recent study published in the  Journal of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, only 12 percent of online alcohol orders placed by underage purchasers were rejected as a result of age verification and 45 percent of orders placed by underage purchasers were successfully received….In most states, local businesses can deliver alcohol to local consumers via their own employees or licensed third parties – and are easily held liable for ID checks and underage sales. There is no equivalent accountability in the DTC marketplace.”

WSWA makes the case that minors CAN obtain alcohol via direct shipment. They cite a study that undertook stings. What WSWA does not argue is that minors ARE obtaining alcohol via direct shipment. They don’t make this latter argument because they can’t because minors don’t. In 30 years not a single member of law enforcement or the alcohol regulatory community has once said they have witnessed any problem with minors obtaining alcohol via direct shipment.

In fact, survey after survey of minors demonstrates that they DON’T obtain alcohol via Internet sales and direct shipment. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, in a 2019 survey of underage purchasers of alcohol, not a single respondent said they obtained alcohol via online purchase or shipment. Rather, they cited a number of other sources including liquor stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, sporting events, and other events. These sources of where minors access alcohol are all the licensed locations that WSWA says are safer than online sources.

And what about that safer form of delivery that WSWA endorses — “local businesses can deliver alcohol to local consumers via their own employees or licensed third parties – and are easily held liable for ID checks and underage sales. There is no equivalent accountability in the DTC marketplace.”

Last year the California Alcohol Beverage Commission released an advisory that complained “the incidence of delivery of alcoholic beverages to minors was alarmingly high.” As a reminder, this form of local delivery WSWA not only endorses but had also invested in via its part ownership of Drizly, appears far more likely to be a source of alcohol for minors.

Despite the fact that all the evidence shows that minors prefer to get their alcohol via the WSWA-endorsed method (local delivery) and from local stores the WSWA says are better able to be policed, you never see this association of privileged whiners argue that these channels should be shut down. It turns out the only alcohol distribution channel they want shut down is the one that doesn’t put alcohol in the hands of minors and the one that allows consumers to obtain wines that WSWA’s members, wholesalers, don’t distribute. Color me shocked.

WSWA has zero credibility on the issue of minors’ access to alcohol and has in fact vigorously promoted the most common way delivered alcohol gets in the hands of minors.