DoorDash just made itself a more attractive option for millions of consumers by adding the ability to order alcohol on-demand.
Beer, wine, and spirits can be ordered via the DoorDash Marketplace as long as you live in one of the 20 supported states, the District of Columbia, Canada, or Australia. In total, some 30,000 SKUs will be offered as part of an alcohol catalogue spread across thousands of restaurants and retailers. It’s also possible to order alcohol alongside meals using DoubleDash, which allows items to be added from nearby stores with no additional delivery fee or minimum order.
Of course, ordering alcohol requires being of legal age and DoorDash has had to ensure it doesn’t break the law in each of the states being served. With that in mind, “rigorous ID verification” will be carried out before the checkout process can be initiated, and multiple ID checks will be performed during the delivery process to “ensure customers are of legal age.”
DoorDash does offer a one-time process to verify your age which involves uploading a photo of your ID. “Dashers” delivering your order will only be able to see the photo and date of birth on the ID so they can be sure the person accepting the order is of legal age. Any Dashers aged over 21 can take a compliance course to ensure they know the laws surrounding alcohol deliveries, and customers can exclude themselves from receiving alcohol orders if they wish, which also means they won’t get any alcohol-related marketing.
DoorDash hasn’t provided a list of the 20 states this new service will be offered to, but it should become clear soon enough to anyone using the DoorDash app in a state where alcohol can be delivered. Restaurants and retailers will be pushing it as something to add to meal orders, while Dashers probably won’t be looking forward to the extra weight alcohol will add to their trips.