Here’s another odd duck, a promotional film created in the early 1970s by the National Association of Convenience Stores. It was apparently made by students at Kansas State in association with several sponsors, who also provided grant money for it, including the NACS, the Southland Corporation (7-11) and Falstaff Brewing. It also had the cooperation of four state alcohol agencies, from Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio, along with the United States Brewers Foundation.
Entitled A Case For Beer (A Major Minor Dilemma), it’s aimed at Convenience Store owners with tips on how to not sell to underage customers, while still being polite so as not to lose their non-alcohol business and not alienate them so that when they become adults they’ll still spend their money at the C-store. It’s a great time capsule — check out the cars, the fashion and the look of the stores themselves.
Some highlights:
- Factoid: 2 out of 3 families use beer as a beverage.
- The two things you have for determining a customer’s age: A Valid ID and “good judgment.”
- Advice after a woman comes in the store in a bathing suit: “don’t allow yourself to be distracted (checked everything but her age).”
- More feminine advice: “Beware of women, some have cheating hearts.”
- Great final quote: “Americans love their leisure time, and convenience stores, with their quick shopping supply of beverages and related foods, contribute to the nation’s enjoyment of leisure time.”
- Look quick at the end: and you’ll see a woman spreading relish on her hot dog with a beer can pop tab.
Wow. Some still/always-valid points on courtesy when denying service – love the logic that many underage kids live locally and will soon be legal, so be nice to them in order to sell them a beer later on. “He checked everything, but her ID”… oh yeah, that’s classy.
Good stuff, Jay.
What a hoot! In the 70’s, I worked in a grocery store that sold beer & wine; in 1972, MD reduced the legal purchase age from 21 to 18 (to match DC, where all the 18-20’s went to buy beer & the popular “pop” wines of the day). When I worked the express lane, which was close to the door AND the beer & wine, I carded only those who looked extremely young or who acted nervous, plus babes I’d never seen before.
However, there’s another side of the business that’s not addressed in that clip – it also was illegal in most states to sell alcohol to the obviously inebriated. That’s a continuous bar/nightclub problem, which modern DUI laws have made worse. Bartenders/servers have to know the “regulars” & how they get home. Cab/public transit/foot are no problem; driving is – forcing the publicans onto a judgment tightrope w/those customers. For stores, especially the smaller ones, ‘hood alcoholics (mostly winos) are the biggest hassle, especially if they turn aggressive when you refuse to sell them. The cool ones who aren’t staggering are fine -if they get stupid later & get busted, the merchant’s unlikely ever to get crap from the ABC folks.