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UK RETAIL: Age is an issue
“standfirst”>With the problem of underage drinking hitting the headlines on an almost daily basis, work is urgently needed to prevent sales of alcohol to youths. The RRF’s Dr Brad Krevor tells Ben Grant his ideas for a workable and effective solution
Reading through the daily news it’s easy to believe that the UK has descended into some kind of hellish, Lord of the Flies-esque dystopia. The streets of Britain have – apparently – been overrun by marauding armies of knife-wielding kids who wear their Asbo as a badge of honour and leave their neighbours too terrified to venture out of the house. The reality is, of course, rather less dramatic. There is no doubt that the behaviour of a sizable minority of young people clearly oversteps the line of acceptability, but not every young person in a hooded sweatshirt is a gang member – though that is the clear impression the media seems intent on circulating. The press has been whipped up into a frenzied pique of righteous indignation about the state of the nation’s youth. The issue has been elevated to the fore of the national conversation, and when we discuss the question of youth behaviour the spectre of underage drinking is always inextricably linked. Reading the most virulent columns in the more reactionary national newspapers you’re left with the impression that our society is on the brink of imminent collapse, and the fault lies almost entirely with those who produce and sell alcohol.
It goes without saying that underage drinking is a massive issue that desperately needs to be addressed. In order to make genuine progress it must be tackled by a coalition of stakeholders: public health organisations, legislators, law enforcement and various others must work hand in hand with industry. However, many of these stakeholders are so convinced that industry is the cause of the problem they cannot acknowledge that the trade can play its part in the solution. Playing the blame game is far easier than tackling a deeply complicated and entrenched social problem – and those who sell alcohol have been singled out as a particularly soft target. To hold licensees responsible for all our social ills is remarkably shortsighted, but as the gatekeepers they are the easiest group to single out. As a result it’s essential for them to ensure that their conduct is whiter than white.
Underage drinking is by no means an exclusively British problem. The restricted, illicit nature of alcohol makes it deeply attractive for rebellious youngsters in many cultures and countries. Around the world there have been various initiatives and strategies implemented in an effort to curtail the problem: with UK retailers under acute pressure they could do a lot worse than learn from the strategy that has had a significant impact on tackling the issue in the US.
Dr Brad Krevor heads up the Responsible Retailing Forum (RRF), an organisation that was founded in 2003 to bring together various parties in a collaborative and constructive environment to address the key issues, rather than just apportion blame. Speaking to the drinks business during a recent visit to the UK, his first reaction to the marketplace was “a feeling of déjà vu”. When the RRF met for its first meetings “there was suspicion and discomfort. [The stakeholders] were more used to seeing one another in the courtroom than sitting down having constructive discussions. But year by year there has been more acceptance”. It is only by working together – and learning about the challenges that different organisations or individuals are confronting – that meaningful progress can be made. Krevor has learnt this from personal experience: in his former occupation as an advocate he “put people out of business for selling to minors”. “It seems painfully simple to legislators,” he recalls, but he has subsequently “realised that the problem is much more complex and intractable”.
Krevor combines his role as president of the RRF with his academic job as a senior researcher at Brandeis University, near Boston. He is aware of the challenges that retailers face, but stresses that they will always come under close scrutiny and because of this it is essential that they raise standards when it comes to age verification. “For years, retailers have lamented, ‘why are you focusing on us?’ The answer is that they are a static target – it’s easier to go after a retailer than anyone else.” It’s safe to assume, therefore, that there seems to be little prospect of the pressure on retailers letting up. However, the RRF is enlightened enough to understand the complexity of the challenges that retailers face, and has thus set about a strategy that is more focused on offering advice on improvements than dishing out punishment for failure.
“The great irony,” he explains “is that if a minor is served, then the outlet is seen to have violated the licence. It was one server, but the behaviour of an individual clerk is attributed to the licensee… A retailer’s policy [on combating underage sales] is only as strong as the weakest employee on the busiest day of the year.” However, the high turnover of personnel at the lower level of the spectrum means that it’s incredibly difficult for retailers to ensure that staff are implementing the rules strictly.
Enforcement “is absolutely necessary, but it is not the solution in and of itself”. Working on the checkout is relatively repetitive work that results in employees working on “auto pilot”, so indiscretions tend to be “a crime of inattention” rather than an intentional breach of the rules.
If a member of staff is caught serving alcohol to a young person the obvious reaction is instant dismissal – this strategy was particularly prevalent among the big retailers. As Krevor asserts, “Among the large chains we found they frequently had a zero-tolerance policy; they think that this shows legislators and law enforcement they’re serious.” However, Krevor stresses that, on the contrary, this solution is highly ineffective. “Research has shown that in the first 30 days in the job they are much more likely to make an underage sale than experienced employees.” As a result, RRF advises that a warning combined with retraining is far more successful as a long-term strategy.
Estimating the age of the person standing in front of you is an incredibly difficult thing to do as many youngsters naturally look well beyond their years. This causes a major headache for retailers, so Krevor advises that the only strategy to effectively combat it is asking for ID from every shopper. He cites the example of one retail chain that asked for age verification from anyone who looked under 40 – but was still regularly being cited for selling to under-21s. “If you are depending on individual judgement then the system will always break down, the margins for error are enormous,” he warns. “It may be a blunt instrument, but checking everyone is the only way.” Some could argue that such a strategy is excessive – and the stories of 50-somethings being refused service will always be picked up by the media as outrageous – but it’s exactly the same media that cries foul about young people drinking, and Krevor is adamant that it is the only way to combat the problem. “You need a continuous system”.
Much of the work that the RRF does revolves around advising retailers on best practice and advising them on what they are doing right and wrong. The organisation sends lots of mystery shoppers in to test out systems, and the key benefit of this is that they are able to generate instant feedback. Fortunately it appears that the most effective remedy is incredibly easy – and cheap – to implement. Rates of underage sales can be reduced dramatically simply by using an “in-built reminder system”, such as a shift reminder, before the staff go onto the shop floor, to ensure that the issue is front of mind. “Constant reinforcement” of the rules is the most effective way to tackle the problem.
db © August 2008