Millions and millions of teenagers are ordering booze online! Really! Truly!
Millions of minors either buy alcohol online with ease or know an underage friend who does, according to a survey released today by the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America,Inc. (WSWA). A related audit of states conducted by WSWA confirms legislators are moving to increase online alcohol sales despite almost no compliance checks or enforcement by state regulatory agencies due largelyto a lack of resources.
“This is a dangerous situation. For the first time, we have hardevidence that millions of kids are buying alcohol online and that the Internet is fast becoming a high-tech, low-risk way for kids to get beer, wine and liquor delivered to their home with no ID check,” WSWA Chairman Stan Hastings said. “This landmark data is alarming because state legislatures are rushing to allow wine and other online alcohol sales at a time we know regulatory agencies are telling us they are unable to monitor these types of sales
because they lack manpower and resources.”
Really! Truly!
Well … no. Not really and truly.
People who agree to participate in online surveys are, by definition, Internet users, something that not all teens are. (Also, people who actually take the time to complete such surveys may be more likely to be active, or heavy, Internet users.) It’s safe to say that kids who use the Internet regularly are more likely to shop online than those who don’t. Teenage Research Unlimited told me it weighted the survey results to adjust for age, sex, ethnicity and geography of respondents, but had no way to adjust for
degree of Internet usage.Regardless, the survey found that, after weighting, just 2.1% of the 1,001 respondents bought alcohol online — compared with 56% who had consumed alcohol. Making the questionable assumption that their sample was representative of all Americans aged 14 to 20 with access to the Internet — and not just those with the time and inclination to participate in online surveys — the researchers concluded that 551,000 were buying alcohol online.
But that falls far short of the reported “millions of kids.” To justify that headline, the wholesalers’ group focused on another part of the survey that asked respondents if they knew a teen who had purchased alcohol online. Some 12% said they did. Of course, it’s ridiculous to extrapolate from a stat like that — one buyer could be known by many people, and it’s impossible to measure overlap. Consider a high school of 1,000 students, with 20 who have bought booze online and 100 who know about the purchases.
If 100 of the school’s students are surveyed at random, you’d expect to find two who have bought and 10 who know someone who has — but that still represents only two buyers, not 10. (Not to mention the fact that thinking you know someone who has ordered beer online is quite different from ordering a six pack yourself.)
Aside from the fact that this is “news” released by a Public Relations “news wire,” and the study was sponsored by liquor store owners (who naturally oppose any online sales of liquor), the underlying statistics are not only nowhere near the numbers being trumpeted, the stats are significantly lower than teens buying (or getting bought for them) booze from, ahem, liquor stores.
Speaking only for Colorado, I can say that wine deliveries are always signed for. I actually find that annoying — though I might feel differently in 10 years or so …