The Weakest Link: Supermarket Self-Checkout Lanes and Alcohol Sales to Minors

摘要

In 2012, the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs published a study (Clapp et al., 2012) that investigated alcohol availability for underage customers in the growing number of supermarkets with self-checkout lanes. In that study, the self-checkout unit failed to require identification in 9.2% of the alcohol purchases, and an overall 8.8% of all purchase observations resulted in a failure to ask for identification to purchase alcohol. Clapp et al. concluded that the growing number of self-checkout lanes in supermarkets can be a potential alcohol source for minors but suggested that this risk is similar to traditional checkout purchases.