Can an American store charge a minor for breaking alcohol? #storepolicy #minors #accidents #alcohol #responsibility
Do you know if a minor accidentally breaks a bottle of alcohol in an American store, can they be required to pay for it? Let’s find out the store policy and legal implications surrounding this situation.
Store Policy on Minors Breaking Alcohol Bottles
– Some stores may have a policy that holds minors responsible for any damages caused, including breaking alcohol bottles.
– It’s important to check with the specific store to understand their policy in such cases.
Legal Implications for Stores Charging Minors
– The legality of charging a minor for breaking alcohol bottles varies by state and local laws.
– Stores must consider the legal ramifications of holding minors financially responsible for damages.
– Consult legal experts for clarity on the legal implications of this scenario.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the issue of whether an American store can make a minor pay for breaking a bottle of alcohol depends on the store’s policy and the relevant laws. It’s essential to understand both aspects before making any decisions in such situations.
they’re not paying for alcohol but damaged property then
If we wanna get super technical about it, minors can’t be compelled to pay for *anything* they break. It’s their *parents* that are legally compelled to pay for damages their children cause.
And obviously adults can pay for alcohol.
Don’t see why not as kiddo isn’t paying for ownership of the bottle but rather to reimburse the lost profit
In short, yeah
There is no “system” per se in which something would be “flagged” as selling alcohol to a minor.
Generally speaking if a person was under 18, the store could compel, or try to compel, their parents to pay for it. You are an adult at 18 even if too young to drink, so you could then be held financially responsible.
But realistically speaking, the minor could just leave. A store is not going to file a lawsuit over someone breaking a $30 bottle of booze. And the police will not respond to this.
Accidental sommelier service, minor edition – payment in chores?
All of this seems to miss that I don’t think a “u break it, u buy it” sign is legally enforceable to anyone, kids or adults. Certainly the right thing to do, but breaking something by accident isn’t theft. The store could sue for civil losses, but of course it wouldn’t be worth their time.
All the retail stores that I worked at, if something like this happened – we would probably never know who did it because most people don’t say anything, then we clean it up. If we did see it and truly was an accident cart hitting it. We would just say it’s ok and clean it up.
Save all the box/label and submit to vendor to try to get a credit.
they have to pay for it
They shouldn’t be allowed in there alone so you make the parent or guardian pay for what they break.
Okay.I don’t know what would happen if you were to break it in a grocery store but if you were to break it in a liquor store Where I’m from there. ‘d be questions about what you’re even doing in the store.
We don’t really have you break it you buy it policies
I don’t know if it’s this way in all states, but minors aren’t legally allowed in the liquor store. Some places will overlook it, especially if you’re a mom just popping in to grab something, but it’s against the law.
That being said, some states sell alcohol in grocery stores and other places that kids are allowed.
i worked at target for years and whenever something fell and broke the store just defected out the item and the guest didnt pay anything
The you break it you buy it “policy” is usually not legally enforceable for small item store like liquor stores. It’s really only enforceable for unique or overly expensive items like china dishware and the like. Unless it is a super expensive bottle (which should never be out where a customer could accidentally break it anyway) the store just writes it off as waste and either gets a kickback from the supplier or parent company.
Most stores don’t charge you for anything if you break it
A store can’t make anyone pay for an item they accidentally broke, minor or not.
How is breaking a bottle of alcohol and grabbing frozen meat and leaving it in a random aisle any different in the store’s eyes?
Damaged and stolen product is priced in, regardless if ur a minor or not. Ive worked at target in the grocery section, Ive broken about 4/5 wine bottles trying to store them 10 feet above the ground before I eventually quit.
The trash cans at the end of each aisle with a phone on it? Theres a vomit and liquid cleanup kit on the side bin.
Unless youre actively throwing every bottle on the floor, nobody is going to bat an eye or call the cops on you.
Don’t stores have insurance to cover that shit?
We could have probably made the minor’s parents break it, but at my old store we didn’t make anyone pay for things that they broke. It was a major chain so a small business is probably more likely to make you pay.
In most cases if someone accidentally breaks a bottle in a store, they don’t pay for it. They say sorry, the store cleans it up, it’s no issue.
The stores in my area are 21 and older. So the hypothetical wouldn’t really happen.
The minor is NOT being served the alcohol. They broke a bottle. Big difference. It’s NOT the same thing.
I knocked over an entire end cap display of wine. Probably 30 bottles. Pay for it? Lol. They set it up. Their responsibility.
I’ve occasionally broken things in supermarkets here in the UK over the years. It’s never occurred to me that I’d be charged for them. I’ve just apologised and the staff have said “don’t worry we’ll get it all cleaned up” or the like.
Is it common to get charged in the US?
Speaking from Australia here so very different laws but still broken products are not flagged as sold. So you wouldn’t get in legal trouble for selling alcohol to a minor as the product is damaged and not sold.
We usually report it and the person involved is ordered to pay for the broken item if it was a deliberate act, otherwise it is just flagged as a broken product and the store eats the cost.
Now deliberate acts are handled differently and can even get the police involved if they refuse to pay up. It usually doesn’t get to actual charges but more a trespass warning so they can’t return. They still have to pay up though.
In such a situation the store isnt selling the minor alcohol. They are charging for damaged merchandise. There is a distinction. Notably the minor isnt leaving the store with alcohol.
Why would a minor be in a liquor store without a parent? If they were to flee the scene or they couldn’t contact the parent I’m sure the store would become much more strict about enforcing no minors allowed.
We don’t really do the whole “break it you buy it thing” at any major store. The amount of things that are just written off every day because of minor dents or dings per store location is pretty mind boggling.
All stores have a designated budget for predicted losses, which covers expiration, theft/vandalism, faulty items and, accidents.
That aside, even if a kid happened to break a bottle of alcohol and you did see it happen directly, there’s really not much you could do 🤷 you’d need to involve the police, be able to prove that it was intentional and then hope that the police being there would be enough to get the parents of the child to pay for it (you can’t force a child to pay for anything, ever, it falls on the guardians), if the parents refused to pay then that’d pretty much be the end of it as you’d then need to take it up with a lawsuit and demand reimbursement, which is not something the police help with other than taking statements or filing charges at the time of the initial incident.
If you went the court route, then you’d be spending a LOT more money on court costs then you would by simply cutting your losses, if the case were to actually be taken up (which isn’t super likely unless that bottle of alcohol was like 500-1500$) then you’d have to hope you win your case and are able to also get your court costs covered in the event of you winning, otherwise you’re going backwards in terms of money recoup.
Sure you can sue for pretty much anything, but a judge can very easily toss a case out that they find ridiculous or a genuine waste of the court’s time.
So, I mean I guess technically if you sued and won, in a VERY roundabout way, yes? You can kind of force a child to “pay” for damages, but that payment would fall more under “punishment from my parents for being dumb and getting them sued” rather than a true financial one lol but I guess at that point the payment for said damaged alcohol has morphed into something very different and is now no longer directly paying for alcohol anyways.
Yes. It’s not a sale if the goods aren’t exchanged. In this case, if they smash a bottle they are destroying the vendor’s wares, not receiving a quantity of alcohol. Second, if they are actually a minor (under 17), it’s the minor’s parents that are ultimately responsible for the damages.