Ely entrepreneur to offer beer runs to ice houses

[Fish Felon]

DATELINE MINNESOTA

Ely entrepreneur to offer beer runs to ice houses

By: JENNIFER BROOKS
December 19, 2014 - 11:38 AM


Starting Christmas Day, Safe Rides of Ely will add alcohol delivery to the list of things it's willing to deliver around town and out on the ice.

Dateline Minnesota

For Christmas this year, ice fishermen in Ely can get the gift of beer, delivered right to the door of their ice houses.

Safe Ride, a local livery service that offers rides around town for a flat fee of $5, is partnering up with a local liquor store to offer alcohol deliveries for the same price to thirsty customers fishing on Millers Lake or Shagawa Lake.

“Santa is bringing Ely ice fishermen & women a great gift this year!” The company announced on its Facebook page. “Thanks to a partnership with our sponsor Beaver Liquor we are able to offer alcohol delivery to your ice house (or regular house, or cabin, or tree house)!!!!!”

Nicolas Jordan, an Army veteran who launched Safe Ride last December, began offering food deliveries as well as rides a few months ago. He decided to add alcohol to his delivery service once he and the liquor store figured out a system to ensure none of those deliveries would end up in the hands of minors.

“Someone calls us and says, ‘Hey, we’d like to have a case of Leinenkugel's brought out to our ice house.’ We’ll tell them to call Beaver’s Liquor,” he said. Customers then call the liquor store, place and pay for their order and give the store clerk their driver’s license number. Jordan or one of his drivers will then load the order up in a company car and drive out onto the ice, where they’ll check the driver’s license again before handing over the delivery.

[cstemig]

Sounds like a great idea....however, how do you get the drunken fishermen off of the ice? Don't most of them use a motor vehicle of some kind to get there?

Maybe this is a plot by the local L.E. to bolster their D.W.I. arrests?

[kwackkillncrew]

i assume it would be more for people who have permanent shacks out there

[HnkrCrash]

Good idea, but their system as written is illegal. You cannot accept payment until the age is verified with a valid photo ID. If they accept a drivers license number of a minor and accept payment, even without delivering the beer at that point, then arrive at the fish house and deny delivery due to the customer being a minor, they have broken the law.

I have run into this exact scenario several times while working a decade in the bar and nightclub industry and passing numerous "compliance checks" by the sneaky Minneapolis Department of Regulatory Services.

[tornadochaser]

Don't the just punch the DL number into a computer to verify its valid and over 21?

[HnkrCrash]

That may be how they are getting around it, however, it never mentions verifying age prior to purchase with a valid photo ID provided to the clerk, only that they are checking the drivers license once they arrive before physical transfer. I would never accept only yellow papers without a photo ID as proof of age prior to accepting payment. A minor can still physically be the person placing the order and paying in both scenarios and that constitutes a violation. The liquor regulators are sneaky bastards and will bust these guys real quick with a simple "I just moved here/just turned 21 and my number must not be in the system yet, you can just match it when you get out here" or having a 17 year old making the call with someone else's DL info and then paying.

I know several people who got pinched for accepting payment from a minor even though the drinks were being poured/handed over to someone who was legal.

[ducksmuggler]

wish I had that many years ago when I had a hard side shack on ML....

[Trigger]

That may be how they are getting around it, however, it never mentions verifying age prior to purchase with a valid photo ID provided to the clerk, only that they are checking the drivers license once they arrive before physical transfer. I would never accept only yellow papers without a photo ID as proof of age prior to accepting payment. A minor can still physically be the person placing the order and paying in both scenarios and that constitutes a violation. The liquor regulators are sneaky bastards and will bust these guys real quick with a simple "I just moved here/just turned 21 and my number must not be in the system yet, you can just match it when you get out here" or having a 17 year old making the call with someone else's DL info and then paying.

I know several people who got pinched for accepting payment from a minor even though the drinks were being poured/handed over to someone who was legal.

Gotta remember, they are from Ely. They don't let details, or laws, get in the way of a great idea.
Until they get busted, then it's the governments fault.

[tornadochaser]

That may be how they are getting around it, however, it never mentions verifying age prior to purchase with a valid photo ID provided to the clerk, only that they are checking the drivers license once they arrive before physical transfer. I would never accept only yellow papers without a photo ID as proof of age prior to accepting payment. A minor can still physically be the person placing the order and paying in both scenarios and that constitutes a violation. The liquor regulators are sneaky bastards and will bust these guys real quick with a simple "I just moved here/just turned 21 and my number must not be in the system yet, you can just match it when you get out here" or having a 17 year old making the call with someone else's DL info and then paying.

I know several people who got pinched for accepting payment from a minor even though the drinks were being poured/handed over to someone who was legal.

Well if they don't train their employees and they don't verify the photo ID against the face of the person taking delivery of the alcohol, they will get busted fast. I'm sure they have thought out scenarios like this and probably won't have any issues.