NABCA Awards
Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission
EYES ON OREGON
Award Year
2021-2022
Supplemental Award $50,000
Focus Area Data Collection | Technology
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many states authorized the delivery of alcohol to allow businesses to continue operating despite lockdown and distancing procedures. Some states among them, Oregon, also permitted the use of third-party delivery services to furnish those sales. The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) provides oversight for alcohol sales, including compliance with ID checking to limit minors’ access and to assess how often third-party delivery services were compliant with checking identification (ID).
OLCC created the Eyes on Oregon project. Using a NABCA Supplemental Award and the help of a public health consultant, the assessment was designed to provide information about whether good practices for alcohol distribution are being followed during home delivery of alcohol by third-party delivery services. Young-adult volunteers were recruited by community partners throughout the state. They documented whether ID was checked during legal purchases of alcohol for home delivery in Oregon. These volunteers, ages 21–26, were of legal age to purchase alcohol but young enough that their ID should be checked during an alcohol purchase.
From May to September 2022, young-adult volunteers completed a total of 106 observations in seven counties. The project found that 37% of the home alcohol deliveries were not compliant with ID checking requirements, including 2% that were delivered with no contact. A large percentage of noncompliance was related to use of scanners or digital photos of IDs uploaded during online ordering; these are tools intended to support age verification, but they do not replace the need to check a physical ID.
OLCC’s goal of 80% compliance during alcohol home delivery transactions was not met. Noncompliance was observed in a variety of third-party delivery entities and in four of the seven counties where observations occurred. Noncompliance happened more frequently among the younger volunteers and was almost 1.5x as frequent with younger volunteers compared to older ones. The project also found that noncompliance was observed more in high-delivery locations like suburban metro areas and college towns. Though no meaningful differences in noncompliance were found by gender or race or ethnicity, noncompliance appeared somewhat greater for deliveries during evening hours of 6–10 p.m. (56%) and for deliveries made to apartments (44%) and graduate housing (50%). These findings revealed a need in capacity to address the avenues of noncompliance in alcohol sales made possible by the new mechanism of access through third-party delivery, which would allow OLCC to provide better service to the citizens of Oregon and promote targeted best practices in ID verification for third-party delivery licensees.