Alabama’s alcohol industry is gearing up for a new way to reach customers. Stores that sell beer, wine, and spirits will be able to use delivery services like Shipt or Grub Hub to deliver orders to private homes. Out of state alcohol merchants may soon be able do the same thing with FEDEX or U-P-S. Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill allowing the home delivery of alcohol from Alabama businesses. The out of state delivery bill is still under consideration. Daniel Dye is with Alabama’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. He said COVID-19 and the need to help businesses spurred support of these bills.
“I think COVID-19 was what really opened the eyes of a lot of people to realize that having delivery service to include alcoholic beverages was key to helping businesses move into 2021.”
Dye said the Board is busy preparing rules and regulations before the goes into effect in October.
“We have a lot of work to do between now and then. You can pretty much say that we’re starting the first quarter of the game and just getting into it. So it’ll be fast-tracked, and we’ll be down the road very quick with this.”
The legislation requires that the delivery service must check the customer’s ID. It also limits how much alcohol can be delivered in a day. Recipients can be denied their delivery if they’re intoxicated.