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AIBU?

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Original poster

I've just been ID'd

38 replies

Globules · 10/02/2025 18:14

When purchasing a 0% beer.

Alcohol content clearly listed on the side as 0.0%. So it's not 0.5%.

AIBU to think you should not be ID'd when buying 0% beer?

OP posts:
LittleRedRidingHoody · 10/02/2025 18:15

It's like, 0.01% or something in some of them. Still enough shops get in trouble if selling to someone underaged!

123456abcdef · 10/02/2025 18:18

many supermarkets put alcohol free beer under their alcohol sales category and therefore the staff have to treat it as such. It’s not worth their job to disregard this and they are not the ones making the rules. (Even if they think the rule is stupid)

WilmaTitsDrop · 10/02/2025 18:18

It's just easier to ID for all those sort of drinks really.

Saves staff having to piss about checking out the content.

malmi · 10/02/2025 18:26

The supermarkets don't want to be seen to promoting alcohol branded goods to children, irrespective of the actual alcohol content.

biscuitsandbooks · 10/02/2025 18:30

It's because it's still beer, even if it's technically alcohol-free.

ImWearingPantaloons · 10/02/2025 18:31

If it looks like beer and tastes like beer then we treat it as beer.

Even if it's 0% a child could use it to get a taste for it, which will potentially create issues down the line.

Iamallowedtodisagreewithyou · 10/02/2025 18:31

Get you! You must look really young for your age!

snoopyfanaccountant · 10/02/2025 18:32

I have been ID'd for alcohol free cider at a self service checkout (I was buying it for cooking and I wasn't willing to pay extra for the SNP's minimum unit pricing to buy the real thing). I was also ID'd when buying wine in a California supermarket last year (I had to show my passport).

TigerRag · 10/02/2025 18:33

I've only had this at self checkout. Never at manned checkouts

ChatterMonkey · 10/02/2025 18:33

Did you have ID?

Katemax82 · 10/02/2025 18:33

When i worked at sainsburys the think 25 prompt came up with 0% beer and....U certificate dvds! I wasn't ever sure about the 0% stuff but I certainly never I.D'd anyone for a Disney film

LittleRedRidingHoody · 10/02/2025 18:34

Katemax82 · 10/02/2025 18:33

When i worked at sainsburys the think 25 prompt came up with 0% beer and....U certificate dvds! I wasn't ever sure about the 0% stuff but I certainly never I.D'd anyone for a Disney film

I got ID'd at 17 in a Sainsbury's trying to buy Frozen 😂

WeeOrcadian · 10/02/2025 18:36

Be glad you got IDd - it rarely happens for some of us!!!

Saturdaynightlive · 10/02/2025 18:38

I think it's a non-issue, really. It takes about 5 seconds to get your ID out & show it.

GuinnessMug · 10/02/2025 18:43

I bought some sugar syrup and grenadine (non-alcoholic version) to make cocktails and the check ID prompt came up on the til. The cashier said that anything like is listed under alcohol as a category and they wouldnt sell it to an under 18.

I also bought some cigarettes last year and got ID'd. I am mid 40s with a long beard. The cashier said he was happy that I was over 18, but not that I was under 25 so he had to ID me. I havent carried ID since I was about 19 years old, but once I explained that the legal age to buy them was 18, and he was happy that I was over 18, he realised how daft he was being and sold them to me.

Topseyt123 · 10/02/2025 18:55

It might be 0% but it is still beer or wine and is therefore in the category of goods which can require ID. I see the notifications come up at the self-service or scan and pack checkouts. Mostly the staff just come up to me and use their store login to OK it. I'm 58 now and they must be satisfied that I look as though I satisfy the criteria as I haven't been asked to produce ID for years.

I don't see an issue with it. I have my driving licence face card in my purse if it should be needed anyway.

igivein · 10/02/2025 19:07

My two favourite 'you couldn't make it up' ID requests (both at Tesco so they must be keen as mustard) were:

  1. Buying a knife - fair enough I hear you say, but said knife was part of a 'baby's first cutlery set' that I was buying for my toddler son.
  2. All time favourite - a pack of Christmas cards with a depiction of a Christmas Cracker on the front. Apparently crackers have explosive in the snap, so it needed to be ID checked. I pointed out it wasn't an actual cracker and there was no snap, but the assistant said 'the rules are there for everyone's safety' and then huffed off 😂
DragonfliesAboveYourBed · 10/02/2025 19:35

The supermarkets are choosing (as they're entitled to do) to go further than the law here. The law allows for anything under 0.5% to be sold to under 18s.

MaltipooMama · 10/02/2025 19:46

Oh I get this too! I'm pregnant so only drinking the 0% stuff, whenever they have to approve it at the till I always ask them if they know why it needs approval but they never do! The last person I asked said "no but I'd like to know myself so I'll find out and let you know when I next see you". I'll let you know the outcome if I ever see her again 😂

Hollythedogwalker · 10/02/2025 19:54

I got ID’d for buying Tipp Ex at 29, I wasn’t even planning to drink it!

dangermouseseyepatch · 10/02/2025 19:59

This is a result of governmental responses to interfering know-it-all do-gooders campaigners.

Always affecting everything but the bloody thing that was of concern in the first place.

sweetpickle2 · 10/02/2025 20:02

0% beer isn't actually 0% alcohol because they remove the alcohol rather than put it in so they can't remove absolutely all traces of it (same as decaf is caffeinated coffee that has the caffeine removed so will always have a bit of caffeine in it) so you wouldn't want kids buying it.

Absolutely cackling at @igivein and the Christmas card though- that is truly nonsense.

Flopsythebunny · 10/02/2025 20:02

If it flashed up on the screen that it was an age restricted product, which they sometimes do because of the category it's been put in, the sales assistant has no choice other than to comply with the companies age restriction rules.

babiesinthesnowflakes · 10/02/2025 20:07

Flopsythebunny · 10/02/2025 20:02

If it flashed up on the screen that it was an age restricted product, which they sometimes do because of the category it's been put in, the sales assistant has no choice other than to comply with the companies age restriction rules.

Yep, I used to be a cashier and this was how it worked. And if you didn’t comply then you could get in trouble for it and it wasn’t worth the risk.

purplecorkheart · 10/02/2025 20:09

Flopsythebunny · 10/02/2025 20:02

If it flashed up on the screen that it was an age restricted product, which they sometimes do because of the category it's been put in, the sales assistant has no choice other than to comply with the companies age restriction rules.

Yes, I had it once with an alcohol flavoured item that actually did not actually contain alcohol. It was Christmas Eve. I felt so sorry for the lady who was serving me as she said so many people got angry at her when she asked for id and she was so grateful that I showed her my id without any issue. She was just doing her job. I tend just to carry id on me when I go shopping just in case.