Alcohol delivery in New Zealand

Local laws require that alcohol isn’t delivered to people under the age of 18 or people who are intoxicated.

This means that if the order you're picking up contains alcohol, the app will prompt you to complete a set of checks to assist you in complying with your legal obligations. This process is the result of legal and regulatory requirements, not independent instructions or guidance by Uber.

Under our Community Guidelines, delivery people are required to follow all applicable laws and regulations. This includes road safety laws and laws relating to the delivery of alcohol. Failing to comply with the law may be a breach of Uber’s Community Guidelines, and may result in you losing access to the app. It may also lead to fines for breaching your legal obligations.

In some locations, the law also requires that records of delivery refusals be kept. Please ensure that you follow the in-app prompts and always return the order to the store if the customer is underage or appears intoxicated, or if their identity doesn’t match the name shown in the app.

In order to receive alcohol delivery requests in the Driver App, you must complete the education modules.

If you wish to stop receiving alcohol delivery requests, please reach out to our Support Team through your Driver App. 

The legal drinking age in New Zealand is 18. 

Secondary supply is when a person obtains alcohol for anyone under the age of 18 (a minor).

It is against the law to sell or supply alcohol to a minor. It is also against the law for anyone to obtain alcohol for a minor. This is known as “secondary supply”. It is a serious offence to sell or supply alcohol to a minor and action may be taken against the delivery person.

According to the New Zealand Health Promotion Agency, common signs of intoxication include:

• Speech: Slurring, difficulty forming words, loud, repetitive, loses train of thought, nonsensical, unintelligible

• Coordination: Spills drinks, stumbles, trips, weaves, walks into objects, unable to stand unaided or sit straight

• Appearance: Bloodshot eyes, eyes glazed, inability to focus, tired, asleep, dishevelled.

• Behaviour: Seriously inappropriate actions or language, aggressive, rude, belligerent, obnoxious behaviour

Alcohol deliveries can only be made on the platform between 11:00 am and 10:00 pm. Don’t worry, you won’t receive alcohol delivery requests outside the hours.

• Step 1 - Sobriety check
  Make sure that the recipient is sober.
  The law requires that you always check to make sure the person accepting the delivery is NOT intoxicated. It is against the law to provide alcohol to a person who is intoxicated.
  
• Step 2 - Request ID
  The app will prompt you to request a valid photo ID from the recipient.
  
  Under the Alcohol Regulatory & Licensing Authority, acceptable evidence of age documents are:
  • Any current passport
  • A current New Zealand driver licence
  • A hospitality NZ 18+ Card
  • A Kiwi Access Card

• Step 3- Check identity
  Please check that the person to whom you’re delivering the alcohol matches the photo of the person on the ID.
• Step 4 - Scan the ID
  Using your Driver App, follow the prompts to take a photo of the customer’s ID to confirm the customer is over 18.
• Step 5 - Complete the trip
  If you have checked that the recipient is sober, verified their identity and followed the in-app prompts to take a photo of their ID, or (if in app verification has failed) manually entered their name, date of birth and the expiration date of their ID and the app verifies the recipient, you may hand the order to the recipient and complete the trip.

If you are concerned that the recipient may be intoxicated, please hit the ‘INTOXICATED’ button in your app and let the recipient know that you are not legally allowed to deliver the alcohol to them. Once you mark the recipient as intoxicated, the app will navigate you to return the alcohol to the store. Don’t worry, you’ll be paid for the return trip.

If the customer is uncooperative or tries to argue with you, consider politely ending the conversation. If you ever feel unsafe, please leave the property immediately and contact our Support team as soon as you can.  If  you have immediate concerns for your safety, call 111 for immediate assistance. You are also able to call emergency services using the safety toolkit in your Driver App.

If the customer has preemptively taken the order before you could complete all the steps and is uncooperative, please leave the property immediately and contact our Support team as soon as you can. 

If you cannot complete the delivery for any reason, select the most relevant reason for not completing in the app and return the order to the store. The app will navigate your return trip to the store. Don’t worry, you’ll be paid for the return trip.

It is against the law to keep items containing alcohol, even if a trip is cancelled. If you have any doubts about what to do with the items, we recommend you contact our support team.

Please contact our Support team and they will be able to help you. Don’t worry, you’ll be paid for the trip.

Under the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act 2012, acceptable evidence of age documents are:

• Any current passport
• A current New Zealand driver licence
• A hospitality NZ 18+ Card
• A Kiwi Access Card

If the recipient does not produce a valid ID, please hit the ‘No Valid ID?’ button in your driver app, which will initiate a return trip. Let the recipient know that by law you cannot deliver the alcohol without a valid ID.

If there is a mismatch, please select the ‘Customer doesn’t have valid ID’ button to initiate the return trip. Let the recipient know that you cannot deliver the alcohol to them if they are not the account holder.

The app will direct you to scan the ID of all customers who have ordered alcohol, regardless of the age they appear. We recommend you follow these instructions to meet your legal requirements to verify the age of the recipient

If the customer does not agree to have their ID scanned for any reason, select “Cannot show valid ID” in trip issues and you will be prompted by the app to return the items to the store.

Place the card in the frame and make sure all text is clear and visible

Avoid glares or shadows in the photo

After submitting the photo, please allow 30-45 seconds for ID verification to complete.

If the in-app verification fails, the app will prompt you to input the delivery recipient’s date of birth and the expiration date of their ID into the app. Be sure to input the exact date of birth and expiration date on the ID.

If the customer does not agree to have their ID scanned for any reason, select “Cannot show valid ID” in trip issues and you will be prompted by the app to return the items to the store.