Adult Signature Required — Good Or Bad For Wine Clubs?

By Kent Campbell

Since the economy has fallen into recession, the word ”regulation” has developed an aura of sanctity because we”ve discovered that if Wall Street had followed the rules or even had rules to follow, we”d all have more money in our 401Ks, more equity in our homes, more job stability, more wine in our glasses, and more fun.

One of those regulations recently becoming strictly enforced by delivery services is the adult signature rule for wine deliveries. For wine clubs, this means and adult signature is required on every delivery by federal law and that these deliveries can no longer be left on a doorstep or with anyone under the age of 21. Upon delivery to a home or business address, an adult over the age of 21 must show their identification and sign for receipt of the wine. The person expecting the delivery cannot sign and leave a signature waiver and delivery services cannot leave a package containing wine with an adult signature request.

This article looks at adult signature required regulations for wine deliveries and whether it is good or bad for wine clubs.

Varying Regulations

Each state has its own system of alcohol regulation influenced by local businesses and politics. This results in laws governing the shipment of wine varying widely. The order origination also affects wine shipments as onsite and offsite orders fall under different regulations. Offsite shipments result from a person placing an order over the internet, phone, or fax while onsite shipments come from customer orders made while visiting a winery’’s tasting room in person.

The Good And Bad

With all due respect to rules and the government agencies that make them, we sometimes flaunt rules not for personal gain, but because they are less than relevant. The adult signature rule is supposed to prevent teenagers from ordering premium wine on the internet, which the U.S. Supreme Court said in its Granholm decision was not a danger because there had never been a known case of that occurrence other than when a particular wine business had been set up by wholesalers.

Diligently trying to protect their middleman services and profits, wholesalers have been using the under-aged drinking issue to prevent customers from having direct access to wineries via the internet in much the same way that music companies are trying to maintain their middleman function despite a new technology that makes their services mostly irrelevant.

While everyone will agree preventing these problems associated with teenage drinking is important, the question becomes whether the adult signature required regulation hurts the business of wine clubs, especially as older people whose children are grown make up the majority of members.

The Answer

Probably not. Wine clubs offer an excellent way for wine enthusiasts to enjoy unique wines from all over the world. Although wine deliveries do require an adult signature, the benefit of a wine club membership outweighs this minor inconvenience. After all, there are alternatives to having wine delivered to your home during the workday when you aren”t there.

You can change your delivery address to your place of business or even to an address where there is always an adult present. If you find a delivery sticker on your door, you can call the carrier to provide them with a different delivery address free of charge. You can also go to the carrier’’s office to pick up your wine in person.

Don”t let the adult signature required rule keep you from enjoying deliveries from your favorite wine clubs. Although inconvenient, these rules protect teenagers and others and by using one of the above methods, you may actually find your wine deliveries become more convenient than ever.

About The Author

Kent Campbell is an author for the premier wine club Celebrations Wine Club. Celebrations Wine Club is one of the few Italian wine clubs offering the wines of Sicilia.