Safeway IDs Everyone In Your Party When You Buy Beer
Daniel went to his local Safeway with his brother to buy some beer. Daniel had his ID, but his brother didn't—but that's okay, because Daniel was the one buying the beer. The cashier, however, felt otherwise, and wouldn't complete the transaction without carding both of them. The store manager told him "the policy is, at the discretion of the clerk, to check the ID of every person present."
The manager hinted that this was a liability issue, but it sounds to us like Safeway's employees have decided to play morality police instead of following the actual rules. Daniel sums up the problem:
The bottom line is that walking into a store and leaving without purchasing anything should never necessitate showing an ID. This policy creates that scenario and does not in any way prevent underage drinking. Loss of freedom and no added prevention. Lose-Lose.
Here's the letter he tried to send to Safeway, but they don't provide an email address on their website or in their press releases. (You can find phone numbers and a mailing address for Safway here, Daniel.)
Yesterday I decided to purchase a six pack of beer. Sure, there are liquor stores near me, but Safeway happens to be about a block from my house. So my brother and I, who recently turned 21 and promptly lost his ID, walked the fifty yards to Safeway. Upon arriving at the register with beer in hand I was asked for my ID, not a problem. The clerk then asked for my brother's ID. My brother had not touched the beer, nor had he handed me money, etc. I was taken back, after all I had made this exact purchase with my brother a handful of times already and had never been asked for his ID. I told the clerk this and he said that it was Safeway policy to ask for his ID. Needless to say we walked out of Safeway, sauntered across the parking lot and paid the same price for the same six pack at a convenience store - with no hassle.
Still irked by this today, I decided to stop by Safeway and see if I could find out exactly what the policy was. After speaking with the manager of the Safeway I walked away with a clearer view of the policy. The policy is, at the discretion of the clerk, to check the ID every person present. An additional reason, as the manager explained to me, was one of liability.
On the surface this sounds like a reasonable policy. However, upon further thought, it is far from reasonable.
To begin with, checking the ID of every person present does not stop underage drinking. Hell, the manager himself suggested I have my brother wait outside next time. Also, I'm pretty sure that if the clerk asks for ID and I show it to him, the liability of the store stops right there. To say it does not means that Safeway is responsible for what I do with the beer after I buy it.
The main reason this upsets me is the need for someone that isn't buying anything to show ID. If a mother and her prepubescent son walk into Safeway and she buys a case of beer, do you card the son? Clearly (I would hope) not, because there is no indication that the son is going to be drinking the beer. I'm interested, based on appearance alone - what criteria do you use to decide if that person with the alcohol purchaser is going to be consuming it? If my underage Mormon friend, who doesn't drink alcohol, tags along for the purchase am I to be denied buying alcohol? There are all sorts of scenarios that can be described that destroy any sound purpose for this policy.
The bottom line is that walking into a store and leaving without purchasing anything should never necessitate showing an ID. This policy creates that scenario and does not in any way prevent underage drinking. Loss of freedom and no added prevention. Lose-Lose. You're also losing all of my business until I have in writing that his policy has been revoked.
If even the manager acknowledges that it's a trivial "security measure" that a customer can get around so easily, why not just put an end to it?
(Photo: Getty)
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Comments:
"Also, I'm pretty sure that if the clerk asks for ID and I show it to him, the liability of the store stops right there."
Maybe they actually care about cutting back on underage drinking, not just legal liability.
So walk out then walk back in again leaving your brother outside.
I thought that was the rule everywhere.
I went to ABC liquors here in Florida and they wouldn't sell to me because my friend that was with me didn't have his ID. I couldn't even walk out and walk back in to buy it alone.
*Shrug* I have a hard time getting worked up over this. I'm pretty sure it's a state law in many places - I had to step outside once at a liquor store in New Hampshire because I forgot my ID, even though I wasn't buying anything.
This seems like a good method of making your customers unhappy. Do they also check the IDs of teenagers when they happen to be with their parents while they purchase beer too?
No beer for you!
Liquor stores do this all the time where I live. My friend got arrested because she bought liquor and put it in her car (not her trunk) with an underage passenger.
It's nothing new, really. I've had multiple grocery chains do this over the past decade. I don't think they're trying to invade your privacy...they're just trying to avoid paying hefty fines.
I don't know where the OP lives, but in the town I live in (northern California), all stores do this, and have for years. I live in a small college town, and so many stores have been cited by the ABC for selling to minors that they go overboard the other direction. I'm not sure if that is the law here, but it is definitely the practice.
This happens to me at the majority of the liquor stores I go to. I think that stores are so paranoid about getting busted for promoting underage drinking that they don't really care how much they inconvenience you. IMHO writing this letter to Safeway is going to be a waste of your time.
Safeway sucks donkey balls for prices, I bet he saved a few pennies going to the convenience store. I have left a full carts of stuff at stores and walked out for their stupid policies. Nothing pisses me off more than a power tripping employee.
I used to work in a grocery store that wasn't Safeway (we don't even have them around here) and have seen this rule pulled a hundred times. Even now, years later, if I go to buy beer or liquor I have anyone underage wait in the car because it's not a hassle I want to bother with. I always assumed it was state law.
I know where I work (a local grocery chain in the Cleveland, OH area), we can get fined if we don't check everyone's ID.
Oooh time for my favorite quote of the week, "Policy is not the Law"
In NJ, the discretion is with the seller. If they suspect you are going to pass along to a minor, they have to either refuse the sale, or alert the police. If they don't they face escalating fines. I'm sure ABC rules differ, and some places don't follow the rules, but given the recent rise of anti-teen drinking commercials and ads, I can understand this. Was this close to the 1st? B/c that was a party day, and cops were out. I'm also sure that if the store gets fined, the employee gets fired, so if he wants to follow the rules, who can blame him?
@esd2020: Wegmas will do that from time to time. They will call the police if you do, and ban you from all of their stores. they will also refuse to sell you booze if they think you are going to give it to a kid waiting outside.
I can see this policy in a "Liquor Store" but not a "Grocery Store". A underage person should not be in a liquor store in the first place.
I worked at a Wegmans and they also told us we can do this - if people are together that look underage (30 or below they proofed), you should proof them all, if they didn't have ID, you can call a higher up and they can decide what to do - of course, this didn't apply to parents with children. I don't think it's that big of a deal, they're just covering their butts. Now Wegmans proofs EVERYONE - including 80 year olds.
in college i once had a Hess Mart clerk make the people waiting in the car come in and show ID's before he would sell us beer. after that we just parked where he couldnt see the car or it's passengers.
i still don't understand why we don't have an 18yeard drinking age and a 21 year old driving age.
A lot of grocery stores do this, Tops and Wegmans around where I live do this all the time.
To say it does not means that Safeway is responsible for what I do with the beer after I buy it.
Haven't bars been sued after someone left drunk and decided to drive?
I'm not saying that carding people the person purchasing alcohol happens to be with is right or fair. I'm just saying I can understand it when people get a little paranoid.
Everywhere I've been to in Texas does this. I've seen them do it to a mother with her teenage son at the supermarket. They do it with cigarettes too. Providing tobacco to a minor is some crazy fine (for both of you.) Can't wait 'till they send in decoys to bum a smoke and then bust people on the corner. Damn. I gave them an idea.
@Jubilance22: Well just walking into a liquor store means you are required to show id, however safeway is a grocery store that doesn't require id just to come inside..
PEOPLE- this isn't a liquor store, it's a freaking grocery store, it clearly states on the doors of ALL liquor stores everywhere that you have to be 21 just to enter. If you look younger than 45 they are required to ask for your id, whether your buying anything or not.
ya your business isnt really gonna hurt them. the world is full of drunks to take your place. and people turn 21 all the time. it is a lame ass policy though. next time buy a couple chickens too, that way you can say your making beer can chicken.
I was at Wal-Mart (when I lived in the middle of nowhere it was the only reasonable place to buy beer at 11:30) buying beer with friends. There were four of us and because we were splitting the cost and two of us only had plastic, we split into two lines to pay for our two items so as not to wait for two transactions at one register. We were obviously together, because we were talking back and forth. When it came time to show ID, not only did both people in each line have to show ID to the cashier that was checking them out, since we were together we each had to show ID to the cashier at the OTHER checkout. So, each member of my party had to show ID twice, even the people not buying beer. It made no sense, I guess it was just super strict, ridiculous to the point of pointlessness policy following.
I have had this happen to me as well in MD. Certain counties in MD allow beer and wine to be sold in gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores.
This has only happened to me when I try to buy in any store that is not an actual liquor store. Granted as I have grown older, this has stopped. I always thought it was the law but that it might get iffy/hard to enforce if it was an adult with their children trying to buy booze.
If this is common behavior, then I take it parents can never buy alcohol with their groceries if their underage children are present?
Hey! Come to Pennsylvania! You can't buy beer in a grocery store. Or a convenience store.
The only place you can buy beer is at a beer distributor (full cases only), or a bar (grossly inflated prices for 6-packs).
I drink about a case a YEAR, so chances are if you stop at my house for a beer, it's old. Sorry.
Now I feel better about leaving my 10 y/o out in the parking lot when I buy my weekly bottle of Jack.
This isn't uncommon.
Wegmans, P&C, and Price Chopper do that here in Syracuse.
It's their policy. They do have a right to refuse sale.
@Rectilinear Propagation: Bars get in trouble because they are serving you and should be cutting you off once you are drunk/wasted/smashed etc.
You can't sue a grocery store (for drunk driving or whatever happens after you drink the booze) because they aren't the ones who are actually serving you.
@sir_eccles: I was in my local Giant when the people ahead of me in line did exactly that. When they realized the cashier was going to check all the IDs, they walked out and the older guy walked back in alone. The cashier called the manager, and the manager explained very politely but firmly "Sorry, there were two of you and now there's just one of you. Unless the other guy comes back and shows his ID too, I'm not selling you alcohol."
Personally, I was very impressed with how they handled it. I didn't even mind the "inconvenience" of having to wait a little longer in line.
at dominick's #1136 in buffalo grove, IL, we've seen this problem before, more than once. dominick's is owned by safeway.
i actually bumped into a friend in the store when i went to buy beer. we went to the checkout together, because we were having a conversation. they would not let me buy the beer because his ID was not with him, even though he is 24. When I told them we didn't come together, they said it didn't matter. I asked when I could come back later to get the beer alone, and they said I couldn't.
So I went to jewel, their competitor.
It does not surprise me. I went to the Helena, Montana Safeway last month and among other things grabbed a bottle of wine. They carded me. I have them my state of Montana temporary drivers license as that is what everyone gets until they get around to mailing you the real one since they have no printers at the DMV. They (both the clerk and her manager) would not accept it as they did not recognize the ID. Yeah, one issued a mile away at the DMV in the capital city. *sigh* morons.
I had that happen in college, it's PHENOMINALLY stupid. One local liquor store allowed you to bring in your a child if he was under 5, but between 5 and 17, had to sit in the car, and over 17, YOU couldn't buy unless THEY also were 21. The one down the street didn't let in infants and toddlers, so if you'd given birth in the last five years, you were SOL liquor-wise. Which is really not a good thing.
So basically, if I at age 26 stopped by the liquor store with my 20-year-old sister so we could pick up a bottle of cheap red for cooking the day before Thanksgiving while running last-minute errands for my mom, I'd get denied because she was 20 and I might be buying her liquor. STUUUUUUUUUPID.
I don't think it's a fair rule, and it is a form of accusation. The whole thing is bullshit. If a minor wants to drink alcohol, there is little your going to do to stop it. Doesn't anyone remember what it was like to be a minor? This situation is would have only been a minor set back to me and my friends. This is like when I go to a football game, buy 2 beers and give one to my fiance who inevitably leaves her id in the car. They can accuse me of contributing to a minor all they want but the fact is I know how old she is so I know I'm not. Put me in jail for it, and when it comes to court that I did not contribute a minor, I will then sue the shit out of you.
we have a convienence store located in the middle of our student neighbourhood where I go to college that ID's everyone in the party. granted, different atmosphere than Safeway (1 6 pack or so vs. 2 guys carrying 8 cases to a party), but you get the idea.
Beer isn't a right, it's a privilage.
When I was in college I was in line, ready to buy some beer. This cute girl was behind me and I started talking to her. By the time I got to the front of the line the cashier asked for both our IDs. I told him I didn't even know her name and he would not believe me. On principal we both left. We exchanged numbers, went out later that week, did many things that college students tend to do. I LOVE that cashier.
Another time, at the same store (Wegmans in Ithaca by the way) I saw a father buying beer and they DID ask for his daughters ID. He was incensed.
Safeway is completely within their right to refuse to sell alcohol if there is any question regarding the age of people in the party. In college, I managed a liquor store. If there was anything 'odd' about the customer, we could refuse them service. Odd things included sketchy (possibly fake) ID, acting overly nervous, or being possibly intoxicated. If anyone complained about being refused service, I would tell them to come back with a police officer and I would be glad to sell to them. Funny thing, no one ever came back.
Most states make it illegal to sell liquor to someone you suspect is going to give it to a minor, so carding everyone in a party is just part of a common sense way to make sure you comply with the law.
If I were a cashier, even it weren't store policy, I would card everyone in sight. Cashiers are PERSONALLY responsible for violations of liquor laws, including large fines and usually on-the-spot firing.
that happened to me once. i had a cart full of groceries along with my 12 pack of beer. my roommate didn't have his ID, so they clerk said he couldn't sell me the beer w/o my buddy's ID. i looked at him and said, "well, enjoy putting all these groceries back then, b/c i'm not buying jack here!" and walked out, leaving said cart full of groceries in the middle of his lane. i should have stuck around to see what he did, but i was too pissed.
This happened to me when I went on a walk with my girlfriend. She didn't bring her purse and we stopped by a liquor store on the way home. The guy wouldn't sell me a bottle of rum because she didn't have her id. This just pissed me off so I told him I would never shop there again. (Which sucks because it's like 3 blocks away) but I found out by going to a different store that they were way overpriced. Score.
State liquor control have kicked retailers in the pocketbook, they have done it hard and they have done it repeatedly. Anyone who complains will get an apology for the inconvenience, perhaps even a gift card or a few lottery tickets from the store director. But this policy will. not. change. Ever.
It's not just store policy it's the law you dumbasses. It's called a two party sale. That store clerk could get fired or worse fined.
Every single grocery store I have purchased beer from in New York state has ID'd everyone with me at one time or another. Its very common and is recommended by the state of new york.
@louiedog: Wal-Mart really cards everyone for everything that "might" causes trouble. In the past six months, I have been carded for sinus medication (didn't have my ID - was dripping in snot and coughing - I obviously needed the damn medicine), Sharpie permanent markers, and correction fluid.
@MPHinPgh: I spent the first 23 years of my life in PA and the last couple were a real hassle buying booze. Now I live in CA and I can walk into Rite Aid and buy a bottle of rum if I want to. When I go to the market to buy food for dinner I can buy a bottle of wine to go with it. I really wish other states would get on board with sane liquor laws.
Tops Friendly Markets once followed me out to my car to make sure I wasn't handing off the beer to someone underage. I'm not sure what would've happened if I was -- were they gonna take it back?