Underage alcohol-purchasing strategies and alcohol availability through self-checkout lanes in supermarkets

Figures & data

Table 1. Quantity of alcohol purchased per day.

Weekend	Day	Liters/US gallons alcohol	Average liters/US gallons per purchase
1	1	170.75/45.11	5.02/1.33
1	2	204.16/53.93	6.38/1.69
2	1	204.12/53.92	7.56/2.00
2	2	275.64/72.82	10.60/2.80
Total		854.67/225.78	7.18/1.90

Table 2. Quantity of alcohol purchased per outlet.

Outlet	Liters/US gallons alcohol	Average liters/US gallons per purchase
1	79.68/21.05	4.69/1.24
2	192.02/50.73	6.62/1.75
3	290.99/76.87	7.86/2.08
4*	180.50/47.68	9.03/2.39
5*	111.48/29.45	6.97/1.84
Total	854.67/225.78	7.18/1.90

*Due to the unexpected fact that both cars were almost completely filled with alcohol after the third outlet, the mystery shoppers were only allowed to make one purchase (instead of three) at the fourth outlet, but still an unlimited amount. At the fifth outlet, only one bottle or package was allowed.

Table 3. (Un)successful communication strategies used by mystery shoppers (n = 134).

Strategy	Alcohol purchase disapproved	Alcohol purchase approved
Vendor did not validate ID and age (n = 85)
Four terminals at once	0	15
Vendor busy or away	0	21
Hide alcohol	0	2
No strategy	0	47
Subtotal	0 (0% compliance)	85
Vendor did (attempt to) validate ID and age (n = 49)
Fake ID	0	7
Overacting	0	3
“Forgot” ID	4	0
Alcohol for someone else	2	0
Four terminals at once	1	9
No strategy	8	15
Subtotal	15 (30.6% compliance)	34
Total	15 (11.2% compliance)	119