Compliance. The best way to not entrap the clerk.

At my age, I never thought that I'd be doing a compliance shop. But, I saw one that said you could be any age, as long as you were over 21, and I couldn't resist.

So, there are three important points in the guidelines.
1: I'm to leave all IDs in the car.
2: If the cashier asks for ID, I'm to say my real age.
3: I'm not to try to persuade the cashier in any way to allow the purchase.

So, I'm trying to figure out the best way to say my age, without it sounding as though I'm trying to persuade the cashier to let me buy it, by appealing to his common sense.

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What I also thought was interesting about these shops is that the alcohol cannot be consumed and you are supposed to hang on to it for 6 months.

Wait. What?

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I see this every day in some accounts for tobacco purchases. Drug store chains are next to require ID for all tobacco purchases. When they ask for ID, simply say, "I'm 39" or whatever. They will explain the policy and you can say it is in the car and leave. This happens all day long! I've never seen a cashier bend the policy. They know they are on video and if tapes are reviewed and they aren't seen checking ID, they know they will be fired.

Former mystery shopper, current merchandiser.

Yup just re-read the guidelines to make sure I am not losing it. You must retain the alcohol for six months. I personally cannot come up with logical reasoning for this.

The only thing I can think of would be that if, let's say, they fired someone for it, and the person sued for wrongful termination, they'd want the 'evidence'. (Come to think of it, I have done comic-book compliance, and they said to hang on to the evidence, too. And it never was an issue)

My plan of action, if they let me buy the beer, was to see if slugs and snails really drown in beer.

So, I guess I just say my age in a totally neutral tone of voice, and count on the cashier doing the right thing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2014 12:48AM by Ishmael.

If it's beer, it will be skunky tasting in six months.

I saw that too and chuckled. Can you imagine a MSC calling up and asking if you still have that alcohol you bought six months prior?

New MSC follow-up questions (To be answered 180 days later):

1. Describe how your alcohol that you purchased on MM/DD/YYYY tasted. Use a minimum of 350 characters.

2. Would you purchase this alcohol again and wait six months to drink it? Why or why not?

3. Upload time-stamped picture of you pouring the alcohol

4. Enter Geo-Verify code of where you consumed the alcohol.

Arguing with fools is like playing chess with a pigeon...
...No matter how good you are, the pigeon will s@^t on the board and strut around like it won anyway.

Not scheduling for ANY company.

If snails like beer at all, I bet they'll like it even better in six months!

Forget the beer. Buy red wine and let it age.

Can you even ship a bottle of alcohol? I'd think if they needed the bottle, they would have you pour the alcohol out - might as well put it to good use first!

For not entrapping the clerk, I tend to be passive. They'll either say they cannot sell whatever it is without ID, or simply never ask. I've always wondered what happens to the clerks that don't ask for ID with tobacco compliance checks, the amount that have never asked for ID when I was barely 18 is impressive.

I'm wondering if you can ship the alcohol. When you go to the post office they always ask if you have liquids in your package.

If it's part of a lawsuit, they could have someone pick it up from you.

if it's part of a lawsuit they could call you to testify

= + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = + = +
There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

Beer would have to be shipped ground because of the carbonation.

.
Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei

I don't see where how you act at all would be entrapping. I just act like a normal (yet forgetful) person when I do these sorts of things. Take it to the counter, assume you are going to pay for it and then voila don't have the ID...no extra comments just nope don't have it.

Liz

I was asked for an ID which has not been done for eons because I am old. I actually had left it in the car. The clerk was all apologetic and told me they had just been "fined" for non-compliance and the cashier had been fired. Don't know if that was the case or not - I was just happy to be carded after all this time. Also I would like to know if anyone really saves that can of beer for 6 months.

(hic) No, not all of the time.

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

There is at least one state (Tennessee) that requires that ID be presented when beer is being purchased regardless of age. There is hopefully some reasonable explanation for this law but I've yet to hear it.

If you don't make it a policy to card everyone no matter what, eventually someone will screw up.

Former mystery shopper, current merchandiser.

Being "caught" not following the rules by a mystery shopper is nothing compared to being caught by a State sting.

In a state sting operation, the clerk is not only fired, but is arrested ON THE SPOT, and taken from
the store in HANDCUFFS and put in the police car.

And the owner of the store can (and sometimes does) lose his license to sell alcohol.

Of course, in the state sting, the purchaser is actually underage.

cease

(YMMV; state laws change from state to state)

Right. You see, that's my concern about entrapment. I'm told to give my age, but not to try to persuade the clerk to sell it. But, giving my age constitutes a powerful argument for the clerk to go ahead and sell it. Not to mention my looks--I suppose I could have a terrible genetic disorder that caused me to age in dog years....

I just did one of these shops today. I'm 29. I was asked for ID and was denied purchase. Older lady cashier. Most you cashiers don't give a hoot and if you look old enough won't ask. Oh and the hold on to Tobbaco or alcohol for 6 months I risk it and buy a new tobbaco or alcohol in 6 months if they request it.

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

Ishmael Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Right. You see, that's my concern about
> entrapment. I'm told to give my age, but not to
> try to persuade the clerk to sell it. But, giving
> my age constitutes a powerful argument for the
> clerk to go ahead and sell it. Not to mention my
> looks--I suppose I could have a terrible genetic
> disorder that caused me to age in dog years....

I would understand that thinking if the shop was for law compliance, because the clerk would be using their judgement at their own risk of breaking a law. If you are obviously old enough, they could sell to you with no problem. However, this is a shop about store policy, so there is nothing to entrap. Your age has nothing to do with it if they are supposed to card every person making these purchases. Giving your age is just what would normally happen when asked for ID and you don't have one.

I have seen a 78 year old turned away.

Former mystery shopper, current merchandiser.

kamarkim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm wondering if you can ship the alcohol. When
> you go to the post office they always ask if you
> have liquids in your package.

For padding, we can just wrap it in the Sonic napkins that we've been collecting for years.

BuffaloNY101 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I just did one of these shops today. I'm 29. I was
> asked for ID and was denied purchase. Older lady
> cashier. Most you cashiers don't give a hoot and
> if you look old enough won't ask. Oh and the hold
> on to Tobbaco or alcohol for 6 months I risk it
> and buy a new tobbaco or alcohol in 6 months if
> they request it.

If they actually did ask you for it and you bought new tobacco or alcohol, how would you explain the new freshness or "born on" date?

Shopping across Indiana but mostly around Indianapolis.

More and more stores are going to this mandate, at least in California. As a matter of fact, at Target, the cashier needs to swipe your Driver License or State ID in order to complete the sale at the register. I've seen elderly folks turned away.

*****************************************************
The harder I work, the luckier I get.

Oh man, that totally takes away the trick we used to use in high school. Where we would go to the grocery store for beer and go through the line of one of our buddies that worked there. He would ID us, we'd hand him the ID, he'd look at it, hand it back, and ring up our beer.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Well, the one I did went beautifully. The cashier was both dutiful to her employee and sympathetic to me.

I just realized one reason for telling people to keep the alcohol for six months. There's a lot less temptation to try to wheedle the cashier into selling it, if the shopper knows that he or she won't get any immediate benefit from it.

Great news! You're so good.

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

What a world we live in. They turn away a 75 year old buying a beer because of no ID. Using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

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Compliance. The best way to not entrap the clerk.

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