Age-Restricted Products: Delivery Trends and Risks
Delivering age-restricted products, such as alcohol and cannabis, is quickly becoming a common occurrence; but with it comes a substantial risk.
While it is convenient for the consumer and can accelerate a business’ sales, the consequences of selling such products to minors can be severe.
Avoiding those risks related to age-restricted products while accommodating convenience is imperative for budding businesses. Here are a few trends and risks to plan for:
Risks of Delivering Age-Restricted Products
Age restrictions can be complex and delivering products to multiple jurisdictions often involves offering them to different age groups. Some parts of the US, such as Puerto Rico, allow alcohol consumption at the age of 18 while most states would regard alcohol sales to anyone younger than 21 as illegal. Differences like these must be accounted for in advance for companies to mitigate the risks associated with the sale of such products.
Cannabis Delivery Risks
Fines, jail time, and license suspension are risks businesses in the cannabis delivery space face for failing to identify under age customers. In many states, age verification must be carried out at the point of sale and upon delivery to ensure that customers are exactly who they say they are and can legally purchase cannabis at that time.
Alcohol Delivery Risks
Delivering alcohol to minors carries the risk of serious fines and lawsuits against your business. IDs must be validated at each step of the sales and delivery process to ensure your company is in the clear.
Besides the immediate financial risks imposed by fines and legal proceedings, the reputational damage suffered by your business when incidents like these become public can cause lasting issues. Bad press could even threaten your business should regulators be moved to make changes to compliance requirements.
Preparing Your Business
The only way to be prepared for the risks inherent to the age-restricted product delivery space is to incorporate compliance into your business processes from the start. ID validation software serves as the ultimate safety net, keeping both your business and your customers safe, simultaneously.
Traditional ID verification techniques involve looking at a document and making an informed decision about its validity on the spot. Naturally, this process is prone to human error and a single slip-up can result in legal liability on the part of your business.
Risks of all kinds can be averted by using the right technology to verify that the ID you’re given is legitimate. In fact, bad tech solutions can gravely impair the user experience, creating delays and false positives that turn patrons away for good. They can also put your business at risk by allowing the underaged to receive delivery. ID validation software should protect your business and help you comply, while keeping your customers engaged. That’s where Intellicheck comes in.
Intellicheck’s ID validation solution is designed with real-world requirements in mind. Not only does it boast 99.9% accuracy, but it’s also fast, delivering sub-second results. Intellicheck solutions work on mobile devices, computers and store scanners. They can be tightly integrated with your systems and user experience, or they can operate standalone and be up and running in under an hour.
