Opinions - Tesco ban on alcohol sales to parents

[Lunar Loops]

Surely this is madness? It takes the nannying to a new level.

The article is from The Telegraph (UK):

Tesco ban on alcohol sales to parents
Tesco is refusing to sell alcohol to parents shopping with their children under rules designed to tackle underage drinking.

The supermarket has told cashiers not to supply alcohol if they suspect an adult is buying the drink for an underage youth.
Staff have been told to “err on the side of caution” when interpreting the policy, leading to cases of parents out shopping with their children being told to put alcohol back on the shelves.
Tesco says it believes parents will support the policy and it would rather apologise where it has misjudged the situation than sell to underage drinkers.
However parents who have been refused alcohol have described the rule as humiliating and daft.
Debbie Bell, 39, a housewife from York, was told she could not buy a crate of lager at a Tesco Extra in the city with her stepson Michael Bruce, 18.
Mr Bruce, a student, was unable to show the cashier any proof of his age and his mother was told to put the 24 cans of Fosters and a bottle of cider back on the shelf.
She said: “You can’t do that just because somebody has kids with them.
“I was in there the day before with a 17-year-old lass and there were no problems.
“Michael wasn’t even carrying the beer, he was just standing next to me.”
Dominic Zenden, a television medium, was told he could not buy six bottles of Budweiser beer when he was accompanied by his 15-year-old daughter Devon.
A cashier at the shop in Sprowston, Norwich, refused to believe Mr Zenden, who has his own series on Sky television, was not going to share the drink with his daughter.
He said: “I was dumbfounded. There was absolutely no indication that my daughter would be drinking the alcohol – it was for me.
”But the woman told me that they don’t sell alcohol to people who have children with them.”
Mr Zenden, 45, who lives in Norwich, added: “They haven’t got signs up to say that they won’t sell to people who have their children with them. If they did it would save a lot of embarrassment at the till.”
The supermarket said it had bought in the policy because a crackdown on selling directly to underage teens had been so successful, youths were now forced to rely on friends, parents and relatives for alcohol.
A Tesco spokesman said: “I can understand the frustrations of the customer but I think that any reasonable parent would understand the problem and support our policy.”

[Nature Boy]

A Tesco spokesman said: "I can understand the frustrations of the customer but I think that any reasonable parent would understand the problem and support our policy."

Well, they think wrong. Simple as. This is easily one of the silliest rules I've ever heard of. Tesco have always been bastards when it comes to alcohol sales, whether it's not accepting perfectly valid forms of ID such as a passport or not having chilled beer directly for sale, but this just takes the cake. Fuck Tesco. Plenty of other places to buy booze.

[chinpokomaster]

Lots of stupid parents will probably believe it's a good thing just because Tesco are "doing something to tackle underage drinking". Tesco get to take the moral highground and the people that shop there get the feel good factor. The rest of us meanwhile die a little inside.

[FrankenChrist]

Lol, retards. This is just absurd. Hurting their own profits to project an image of moral high horse?

I keep telling this in any thread involving minors and alcohol, but it is probably better to teach them to drink in moderation at home than to completely forbid it so they do it behind the parent's backs without any form of social control.
(as supported by my big and smart looking psychology handbook that gives the examples of mediterranean and northern cultures and their respective drinking behaviours)

Not to mention this measure will completely (or at least largely) miss its intended effect. Children seeing adults buying alcohol in between other consumables probably has negligable effects on children's future drinking behaviour in comparison with them seeing adults drink it.

[chinpokomaster]

The sad fact is though, that lots of parents themselves don't have responsible attitudes to drinking because they were brought up in very much the same way as they're bringing-up their children. I'm not suggesting that parents start giving their children vodka instead of milk with their cornflakes in the morning, but a little bit of actual information about the benefits and dangers of alcohol and drugs on life and the body wouldn't go a miss instead of the usual "don't do this, don't touch that" tosh that leads to children thinking that any degree is the nth degree and going over the top.

[BuffaloBoobs]

In swim's region of the world, there's a gas station chain, Speedway. Recently, they started requiring ID from all party members that enter the store, if one of them happens to be purchasing alcohol. Swim's not sure if they do this with tobacco, but doesn't doubt it.
It's utterly absurd and drives away business--swim's at least.

Another thing--swim is a living testament to what FrankenChrist said about parents not teaching their children anything about drugs (aka alcohol). Months and years on and off of alcohol abuse after discovering the dirty liquid could have been more properly managed, swim certainly believes.

[Mammon]

Yeah, Tescos are full of shit. I'm 30 and they ID'd me. I go there for the same reason all the kids do - it's so cheap.

Best way to get around the hassle of always having your passport on you: grow a beard. No-one asks me now.

[Tony Williams]

I went to Tesco awhile back with my friend, he went to buy some Gin and I needed ID too.

I don't see how that helps anything, 'cuz he went back in on his own and got it.

[Alfa]

Ah an excelent rule. They should stop selling cigs to people with grandparents as well. Those grannys might die from them, so...

WTF?

[fnord]

Jesus i remember when i was having people buy beer for me when i was a kid the number one rule was YOU NEVER GO IN THE STORE, a few stores in the us will ID both people when theres more then one person and the other looks under age.


Seems pointless to me.

[chinpokomaster]

I'm guessing Tesco won't be expanding their empire across the channel anytime soon.

[enquirewithin]

Tesco are far too powerful. Boycott them.

[Coconut]

What gets me about Tesco Ireland (among many other things) is the fact that they refuse passports as ID. Passports!

Fucking hell.

[Mammon]

Good to hear that Tescos are U.K.-wide fuckwits, not just in my crappy town. A friend who works there (he hates it) says it's like The Temple of Doom.

Refusing passports - that's the best one yet.

[Jatelka]

Originally Posted by enquirewithin

Tesco are far too powerful. Boycott them.

Quite.

That's this thread done

[Nature Boy]

Their booze isn't actually that much cheaper so it's not worth the bother. SWIM would just avoid buying alcohol there. They clearly don't know how to cater to that element of the consumer demographic. Fuck them, but I'll still buy crisps there.

[Mammon]

They deserve every shoplifter they get.

The lame thing is that since Tescos moved in, every small off-licence in my town has shut down. Christ, the girl who used to run the offy now works there. It breaks my heart to see her stacking the shelves as the slave on the tills asks:

"HAVE YOU GOT ANY ID?"

Jamal added 11 Minutes and 39 Seconds later...

Crisps - yeah, but not those huge bags of diamond-hard potato slivers with pretentious flavours. Sea salt and cracked black pepper: like I could tell if the salt was from the sea, and you bothered to crack the peppercorns for me, as opposed to just put them in whole.

Fuck off. Walkers salt and vinegar: the ultimate drink snack.

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by Jamal

Crisps - yeah, but not those huge bags of diamond-hard potato slivers with pretentious flavours. Sea salt and cracked black pepper: like I could tell if the salt was from the sea, and you bothered to crack the peppercorns for me, as opposed to just put them in whole.

Fuck off. Walkers salt and vinegar: the ultimate drink snack.

Haha! Too true. SWIM tends to hit the multi-packs of KP Meanies or even those Real McCoy's Specials although I never see the rib-eye steak flavour around anymore. I guess they were just too tasty.

[Coconut]

Originally Posted by Nature Boy

Haha! Too true. SWIM tends to hit the multi-packs of KP Meanies or even those Real McCoy's Specials although I never see the rib-eye steak flavour around anymore. I guess they were just too tasty.

Hunky Dorys buffalo flavour!

I don't care if it's laced with monosodium glutamate. Nyom nyom nyom!

They're great if you're low on cash, staggering around after a night of drinking and need something to eat.

[enquirewithin]

Tesco are even all over Thailand, ruining local businesses. They are very aggressive, they have even:

sued three Thai journalists in just one month for writing about the “aggressive” operations of the global retailer in Thailand. As a protest, Fable supports a worldwide boycott campaign of Tesco Lotus.

The current government wants to stop their expansion.

[Coconut]

<rant>

Tesco are one of those businesses that bear remarkable similarity to a virus.

Their fruit and vegetables are bland and tasteless. Another thing that irritates me is that their mushroom selection is atrocious. Agaricus bisporus and a few packs of rip-off "finest" wild mushrooms whose species aren't even listed on the packaging. Fucking useless.

</rant>

[chinpokomaster]

It's not just crisps. All pretentious foods use as many superlatives(in the eyes of the idiots that buy them) as possible to describe each ingredient.

[fnord]

Why express your displesure here? Tell tesco what you think of there store policys and there impcact on the local economy:

Please feel free to contact Customer Services using the details listed below: ... to Saturday and 10am to 6pm Sunday, or email us at online@tesco.co.