Title – My Wife is too young to drink – at 22 (Metro 16-10-09)
Title – Booze plan ‘will not work’ (Metro 16-10-09)
Title – Supermarkets reject calls for ‘alcohol kills’ warning signs (Evening Standard15-10-09)
The argument about the Responsible Sale of Alcohol by supermarkets runs on and on, both sides (the supermarkets and the government) seem to be getting further and further apart; this makes the prospect of further legislation for the whole of the Licensed Retail Sector more likely.
The first two articles here are from the same paper on the same day and demonstrates the ‘no-win’ position the supermarkets are in. On the one hand berated for selling alcohol as a loss-leader and for high profile promotions and chastised when they enforce their policy towards the sale of alcohol to ‘children’.
Many of the arguments simply don’t work and seem to be as a result of the desire to grab a headline rather than a sensible argument. The current proposal for minimum pricing is not a ‘stealth tax’ as it is not an additional tax, it is money that will go to the drinks manufacturers and retailers (welcome I would think, unless the analysts believe that overall sales will fall, which they must if they are so worried about it). That it will lead to some kind of explosion in illicit production is a farfetched suggestion, as if we will all set up stills in our front room… Equally going down the route that ‘alcohol kills’ signs be displayed under the shelf displaying Moet Chandon is a slippery slope to warning that chocolate, salt, chips, petrol, cars etc. kill (I know my argument is a little extreme). Why not give the general public some credit and provide information and ‘education’ which allows them to choose for themselves without lowering ourselves to scaremongering and patronising.
That in the same edition there is an article effectively mocking a supermarket for it’s very responsible approach to underage sale of alcohol seems a little strange. In this case I am 100% on the side of Sainsbury’s. Yes it is frustrating for the couple involved, but they should be able to see the sensible side (and for that matter the funny side) of this situation. Hundreds of times a day up and down the country people selling alcohol are faced with adults trying to buy alcohol for youngsters and making up all sorts of stories to justify it. If they are caught they face personal sanction, fines and the threat of loosing their licence. Most of the big supermarket chains have now adopted a challenge 25 policy (if you look under 25 you’ll be asked to prove you are 18) to make life easier for employees and to meet their responsibility of not selling alcohol to children (and if we are honest to meet the requirements of licensing officers). This lady not only looks under 25, she is under 25, so the member of staff followed their required procedure.
People who look or are under 25 need to get used to being asked to provide ID, that is the way local authorities and government are leaning and many outlets are now forced as part of their licensing conditions to enforce a ‘challenge 21’ or ‘challenge 25’ policy. Imagine this lady had been under 18 and this man had been buying alcohol for her and they had been caught, the story would be all about the irresponsible retailing of alcohol; sometimes the industry just can’t seem to get it right. As for the argument that they should have used ‘common sense’, well ‘common sense’ is much easier when you know all the facts and less easy when on a daily basis you are lied to by people trying to purchase alcohol, battered by the press & government for being irresponsible and all on close to minimum wage… A sense of humour and a little perspective rather than a newspaper article would seem a more logical an approach…
At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.
Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.
For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.
Title – Booze plan ‘will not work’ (Metro 16-10-09)
Title – Supermarkets reject calls for ‘alcohol kills’ warning signs (Evening Standard15-10-09)
The argument about the Responsible Sale of Alcohol by supermarkets runs on and on, both sides (the supermarkets and the government) seem to be getting further and further apart; this makes the prospect of further legislation for the whole of the Licensed Retail Sector more likely.
The first two articles here are from the same paper on the same day and demonstrates the ‘no-win’ position the supermarkets are in. On the one hand berated for selling alcohol as a loss-leader and for high profile promotions and chastised when they enforce their policy towards the sale of alcohol to ‘children’.
Many of the arguments simply don’t work and seem to be as a result of the desire to grab a headline rather than a sensible argument. The current proposal for minimum pricing is not a ‘stealth tax’ as it is not an additional tax, it is money that will go to the drinks manufacturers and retailers (welcome I would think, unless the analysts believe that overall sales will fall, which they must if they are so worried about it). That it will lead to some kind of explosion in illicit production is a farfetched suggestion, as if we will all set up stills in our front room… Equally going down the route that ‘alcohol kills’ signs be displayed under the shelf displaying Moet Chandon is a slippery slope to warning that chocolate, salt, chips, petrol, cars etc. kill (I know my argument is a little extreme). Why not give the general public some credit and provide information and ‘education’ which allows them to choose for themselves without lowering ourselves to scaremongering and patronising.
That in the same edition there is an article effectively mocking a supermarket for it’s very responsible approach to underage sale of alcohol seems a little strange. In this case I am 100% on the side of Sainsbury’s. Yes it is frustrating for the couple involved, but they should be able to see the sensible side (and for that matter the funny side) of this situation. Hundreds of times a day up and down the country people selling alcohol are faced with adults trying to buy alcohol for youngsters and making up all sorts of stories to justify it. If they are caught they face personal sanction, fines and the threat of loosing their licence. Most of the big supermarket chains have now adopted a challenge 25 policy (if you look under 25 you’ll be asked to prove you are 18) to make life easier for employees and to meet their responsibility of not selling alcohol to children (and if we are honest to meet the requirements of licensing officers). This lady not only looks under 25, she is under 25, so the member of staff followed their required procedure.
People who look or are under 25 need to get used to being asked to provide ID, that is the way local authorities and government are leaning and many outlets are now forced as part of their licensing conditions to enforce a ‘challenge 21’ or ‘challenge 25’ policy. Imagine this lady had been under 18 and this man had been buying alcohol for her and they had been caught, the story would be all about the irresponsible retailing of alcohol; sometimes the industry just can’t seem to get it right. As for the argument that they should have used ‘common sense’, well ‘common sense’ is much easier when you know all the facts and less easy when on a daily basis you are lied to by people trying to purchase alcohol, battered by the press & government for being irresponsible and all on close to minimum wage… A sense of humour and a little perspective rather than a newspaper article would seem a more logical an approach…
At Beyond The Blue we run a number of courses for those working in the Licensed Retail Sector to help them sell alcohol more responsibly. These include; The Award in Responsible Alcohol Retailing (ARAR) designed for front-line staff to help them meet their statutory requirements; The National Certificate for Personal Licence Holders (NCPLH) which qualifies candidates to apply for their personal licence; Our Conflict Management and Resolution (CMR) course compliments these courses to help employees deal with Workplace Violence and alcohol related disorder.
Please visit our website at www.btbl.co.uk. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.
For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.
No comments:
Post a Comment