Primary drivers of alcohol use are availability, affordability, and convenience. Drone delivery of alcohol ticks all three of these boxes. Drones can bypass traffic congestion, reduce costs by eradicating the need for a driver, and provide fast access to alcohol at the click of a button. Drone delivery trials for food products are already in place in jurisdictions such as the United States and Australia.
Imagine a world where drone delivery distribution centres positioned on top of your local shopping centre can respond to online alcohol orders in a matter of minutes, bringing alcohol to your door (front or back) or balcony in record time. While this may be handy on occasion, do we really want the drunken party next door to have access to fast and cheap alcohol deliveries when they run out of booze in the middle of the night?
Responsible service requirements could be quite easily met. Facial recognition technology could verify that the recipient is the same person who placed the order, and automated gait analysis techniques could be used to estimate inebriation levels. Prevention of secondary supply to minors is likely to be a more difficult task, but evidence is lacking that current delivery methods are addressing this issue anyway.
Research conducted in Australia shows that many consumers are supportive of drone alcohol delivery services, and a sizeable minority plan to use these services to access alcohol once they are available. Fewer than half (46%) of surveyed adults expressed support for placing bans on alcohol delivery via drone, while 36% reported intending to regularly use drones and other autonomous vehicles to access alcohol in the future.
Experts have expressed concern about the potential impacts of drone-delivered alcohol. These experts represented diverse sectors including health, alcohol regulation, transport, engineering, planning/infrastructure, telecommunications, and insurance. A main concern was that the supply- and demand-side advantages of drones will herald in a new era of enhanced alcohol availability that could have substantial adverse impacts on individuals and society by facilitating higher levels of alcohol use.
The expectation that population-level alcohol intake will increase was supported by the results of the consumer survey. Around half (47%) of survey respondents thought that overall consumption would increase once these kinds of delivery services are available.
It is very difficult to wind back attractive, affordable consumer services after they are in wide use. Once businesses are earning profits and consumers are enjoying the benefits, governments will be reluctant to intervene due to anticipated backlash across multiple fronts. It is therefore critical for restrictions to be placed on drone-delivered alcohol before such services become embedded in society.
So what could appropriate alcohol drone delivery restrictions look like? A key policy would be to require all alcohol deliveries to be made by humans. This would effectively pre-empt future advancements in autonomous delivery technologies. Monitored and enforced curfews for alcohol deliveries and mandatory minimum time delays (e.g., 2 hours) between ordering and delivery would also help to neutralise the benefits of drone deliveries. Implementing such policies is necessary now to prevent future alcohol-related harms in the community.
Written by Professor Simone Pettigrew, Head of Food Policy, The George Institute for Global Health.
All IAS Blogposts are published with the permission of the author. The views expressed are solely the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute of Alcohol Studies.