Who Can Really Say?

Todd Zywicki at Volokh writes about the "Wine Wars", also known as the sale of wine over the internet.

What about underage drinking? This may come as a shock to Conspiracy readers (who certainly would never have done such a thing in their younger days), but apparently some kids these days are able to buy beer and wine at the local 7-11, notwithstanding the vigilent efforts of the sleepy, hourly-wage sales clerk behind the counter at 11:00 p.m. Friday night. In fact, studies show that minors can fairly routinely purchase alcohol from traditional bricks-and-mortar sellers.

Does this mean that minors will be buying Pinor Noir over the Internet? Probably not. The FTC surveyed liquor enforcement officials in several states that permit direct shipping and they reported few, if any, problems with direct shipping leading to increased underage access. This is not surprising, of course, as intuition tells us that minors are not likely to get a hankering for a perky Merlot, swipe their parent's credit card, order wine on-line, and have it shipped to them for arrival several days later, and to make sure that there is some adult at home to sign for the package when it arrives.

Which brings me back to 1968, as my parents approached their 20th wedding anniversary. Us kids decided to chip in a few quarters and nickels, etc. and buy Mom and Dad a bottle of wine for their anniversay. The local liquor store actually delivered, and for all I know they ran monthly accounts for their customers. I was elected among us kids to be the one to place the phone call and make the order. At the age of 12 and a half, I'd won my first and last election. The call went something like this:

Me: I want to order a bottle of wine (I have no idea how I decided what wine I wanted, but I told him).

Clerk: Sorry kid. We can only sell you wine if you're over 21.

Me: Yeah I know, but it's for my parent's anniversary.

Clerk: Nice try but you're a kid.

Me: Mom! (calling out which was probably more like yelling loud enough for the whole house to hear) -- Can you help me out here?

The surprise was trashed, but the sentiment was appreciated, and the bottle of wine was delivered as planned after my mother told the guy it was ok.

So regardless of how this internet wine sale thing works out, I'm all in favor of an anniversary gift exception for kids.