A new survey of the public has found most New Zealanders would support tightening up the rules. Photo: 123rf / Rushay Booysen @rushay
Booze delivered to your door with just a few taps on your smartphone screen - it's convenient, quick, cheap, and also fuelling huge amounts of alcohol-related harm each year, according to public health experts.
A new survey of the public has found most New Zealanders would support tightening up the rules.
A separate international study released on Thursday ranked New Zealand last on alcohol control policies, especially when it comes to marketing and longer than average trading hours.
Research (carried out by Talbot Mills for Health Coalition Aotearoa and the Cancer Society) found 81 percent of respondants throught online deliveries should have to follow the same checks as bars and stores.
Co-chair of the Coalition's expert panel, Steve Randerson, told Nine to Noon online delivery services were flouting the rules, but the rules themselves were not fit for the digital age.
"When it comes to that online delivery system, every phone is now a really sophisticated advertising platform and a bottle store," he said.
New Zealand law does not require proof of age identification at the point of online purchase, or the delivery of alcohol.
The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act states that so-called remote sellers - internet, phone, or mail order vendors - should take "reasonable steps" to verify age, such as requiring purchasers to tick an onscreen box confirming they are 18.
Research published in the NZ Medical Journal last year found three-quarters of alcohol deliveries to Auckland homes were being handed over without checking IDs or simply left on the doorstep.
Despite multiple recommendations over the years for a further overhaul of the Sale and Supply of Liquor Act, the law was lagging well behind the reality of alcohol marketing and retail.
"It's evolved out of all sight.
"Social media platforms are now using masses of our data to tune in to what we like, alcohol retailers are uploading their own data about their customers, and together these systems are teaching themselves to get better at engaging us."
Not only were alcohol ads more "engaging" and better targeted, they often included a "buy now" option, he said.
"So we're constantly getting nudged by alcohol advertising, which we know shapes how we drink, and with just a few taps you have can alcohol at your door within minutes."
Randerson said online purchasing did not only make underage drinking possible, but also extended binge drinking sessions.
"It's cheaper, it's higher volumes often, and if you're delivering that into the home it can contribute to some of the serious harms around alcohol, including self-harm and family violence."
The survey also found widespread support for curbing sponsorship, advertising and trading hours, as well as raising prices.
