Can alcohol home delivery prevent underage drinking?

It sounds like a joke, doesn’t it? Any teenager knows his/her way around a mobile phone and can easily hoodwink the system to get a drink. If anything, it makes it easier. Right?

Not really. It is easier for a teenager to walk into a store in any Indian city or town and buy a bottle of whisky than it is for that teenager to order the same whisky online.

Underage drinking is a big problem in India. In a survey conducted by the Community against Drunken Driving (CADD), 88.8% of respondents confessed to consuming alcohol before they reached the legal drinking age in their state. 66.7% of the respondents obtained alcohol from stores and bars and 19.9% were given alcohol by a family member. There are clearly no statutory checks at the point of sale and will only increase if left unchecked.

Fortunately, technology may have the answer.

Age-gating

When a customer downloads the HipBar app, he/she has to declare his age to enter the platform. Of course, this is not foolproof but is some form of a deterrent to curious teenagers and informs anyone that the application is only for persons of legal drinking age.

KYC

The next step is to upload an official ID for KYC verification. Only persons of legal drinking age will be allowed to proceed.

Age-verification at the time of delivery

Even if someone crosses the first two stages and manages to place an order, delivery is a hurdle that can easily be crossed. The delivery agent is required to check the identity of the recipient against any of the following official IDs (Aadhaar Card, Voter ID, PAN Card, Driving License or Passport). Only if the identity of the person matches, is the product(s) handed over.

Blacklisting & closing the loop

If the intended recipient is found to be underage, the agent cancels the order, returns the product(s) to the retail store and reports the matter to the support team. The support team will then look into the matter and blacklist the accused from using the HipBar app any further.

Though we believe our system is a gamechanger in the fight against underage drinking, we’re always looking for chinks in the armour that could be exploited and are improving the system on an ongoing basis.

Digital technology can be of immense help to Governments looking to forever remove the problem of underage drinking. The time is now!

Cheers,

HipBar