LA CROSSE, Wis. (WKBT) — People can order just about anything with the touch of a screen — except for alcohol. Some business leaders want to change that. Others argue it’s a safety hazard.
Online grocery shopping was popular before the pandemic, and it’s only grown since then. Now customers want alcohol included in this perk. But is it safe? It depends on whom you ask.
Instant gratification drives the retail and foodservice market with delivery apps thriving in a technology-driven world.
“One of the things customers want is to have a six-pack of beer, a bottle of wine, or booze delivered to their home,” said Brandon Scholz, CEO of the Wisconsin Grocers Association.
In the abstract, I support this. Whether it is the family making their weekly grocery order and wants to include alcohol or the replacement of the very dangerous late night beer run, alcohol delivery does not seem like something that government has a pressing interest to prohibit.
Also, here again, Wisconsin is hardly in the vanguard on this issue. Several other states already allow this and I can’t find any data to show that it has had a negative impact. If there isn’t a provable negative impact, then government should not restrict the free exercise of commerce. Even if there is a negative impact, that must be weighed against the restriction of freedom and commerce to decide if those consequences are severe enough to justify government regulation.
I did find this concern comical:
Lawmakers will have to consider several issues. One is how delivery drivers plan to check the photo IDs of those who are ordering.
So we can vote by mail with a photo copy of an ID, but we can’t make this work? I think we can handle this concern.
We already allow this in Arizona and liquor stores can deliver at home.
My hunch is that the government is trying to protect the mom and pop liquor stores. Kind of like the stupid Wisconsin mark up law.
What’s wrong with protecting the mom and pop liquor stores?
What’s wrong with protecting consumers.
And if a mom and pop store cannot provide very good service at a reasonable cost, they shouldn’t be in business.
And no, Walmart didn’t kill small businesses. In fact, most are thriving.
It’s even looser than that. If the clerk has a copy of your ID on file, you don’t have to mail it in ever again.
Oh, hell yes.
Give an unknown minimum wage corner liquor store clerk unfettered access to your credit card info and DL info in exchange for Cuervo delivered to your door. People are getting dumber by the day. Just because stupid is trending doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to follow along.
Merlin, the way they do it in Arizona is the customer calls up or goes online and pays by credit card and the delivery driver makes sure they are of age.
You go orderline at the big stores and when you get there, the person taking your booze out to you cards you and they enter the info into their hand held devices.
There’s been no problems that I am aware of.