Retailers Offering Curb Side Pickup, BOPIS, or Delivery could be in for a Shock (in a very bad way)!

So, I was just made aware of something not good about offering curb side pick, buy online pickup in store (BOPIS), or delivery. Basically, the company that handles your processing/merchant services account may immediately terminate your contract with them if they find out that you are offering curbside pickup, BOPIS, or delivery.

It boils down to the stipulations in your merchant services agreement. If it does not include curbside pick up, BOPIS, or delivery, then you are in breech of contract. This means that there is just cause to terminate the contract and you will lose the ability to accept payment by credit or debit card (with little to no warning).

Some common questions and advice:

1. Seriously? Would the merchant services companies really do this? Yes - this information came directly from merchant services companies.
2. How much notice would I get that my account is being terminated? In my experience, normally one business day but it could be more or less depending on which company handles your merchant services/credit card processing
3. How would they even know that my retail store is offering delivery, BOPIS, or curbside pickup? If you have a local salesperson, they may notice what you offering (but may or may not say anything). The biggest danger is if you receive a charge back / dispute - then they will know for sure if the consumer states that the transaction was done curbside, BOPIS, or via delivery and not in store card present.

My Advice:

1. Review your merchant services agreement / contract to see if delivery, BOPIS and curbside pick up are allowable. 
2. If you are not sure, then contact the company or your salesperson directly.
3. Use Square for processing sales that are not traditional in store card present transactions. Square appears to be more flexible when it comes to non-traditional sales transactions (but double check the agreement / contract to play it safe).

One other thought:

Your risk also appears to be related to what types of products you sell. For example, a retailer selling age restricted products (eg: tobacco or alcohol) appears to be in more danger than a retailer selling yarn

I'd appreciate any comments, questions or feedback on this topic! You can reach me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632

RITE "Bottoms Up" industry news for Liquor Stores

RITE "Bottoms Up" industry news

Keeping you up to date on everything BWL

Dear Retailer, For over 15 years we have been on the edge of relevant information and offerings within the Retail Alcohol Industry to help guide your interests and decisions. In testament to this, we received the 2019 "Friend of the Retailer" award from MN's Licensed Beverage Association (1st POS company to win the award). The Industry is changing and we are changing right along side it to better suit your needs (scroll down to announcement about our new Curbside Pickup offering). *If you think a friend may benefit from this content, feel free to forward it to them.

Beer sales are soaring, and these brands are winning the booze battle Read More Here (estimated read time 2-3 minutes) Americans' thirst for alcohol has increased since the coronavirus pandemic began, spreading across the United States in mid-March. That's benefiting beer, a beverage that was once falling out of favor with consumers as they shifted their preferences to low-calorie drinks, including spiked seltzer and spirits. People are still buying a lot of White Claw, spirits and wine, but budget beer brands have also spiked in sales over the past two months. In particular, Anheuser-Busch's Busch Light sales have increased 44%, according to inMarket. Other brands have also recorded double-digit sales increases, including Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra and Natural Light. Uh Oh: Underage Drinkers Are Apparently Ordering Delivery Booze Like Crazy Read More Here (estimated read time 3 minutes) "The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control says that - surprise, surprise - a whole lot of underage drinking is happening now that customers can order booze delivered right to their door. In a memo sent last night, the ABC says that “minors are routinely able to purchase alcohol through delivery from restaurants,” and implies that more enforcement against restaurants could be coming if the problem isn’t solved soon." Booze bonanza for shops masks beer and spirits downturn Read More Here estimated read time 4 minutes "...Sales at U.S. retailers shot up more than 50% in the week after the country entered a state of national emergency. But the drinks industry isn’t popping any corks. The surge in demand came as sales through bars, clubs and restaurants fell to zero as they were closed to contain the virus. In the United States, “on-trade” drinking at bars and restaurants accounts for about 20% of spirits sales and 25% for beer, so off-premise drinking would need to keep growing by 25-30% to compensate. The signs are it’s already starting to slow. While U.S. stores’ alcohol sales are up a quarter since early March, the rate of growth slowed to 16% in the week to April 18."

Best of the Rest Don's Diner & Cocktails Takes New Identity as Don's Grocery & Liquor From West Virginia To Kansas, alcohol sales increase in wake of COVID-19 A Tavern fights for NJ restaurants to sell house-mixed cocktails to-go City Council of Monticello MN approves liquor license credits When will Arizona bars reopen? Will to-go cocktails be legal? MN Municipal liquor stores see change in buying habits during COVID-19 5 things to know about Robbinsdale Wine & Spirits right now Massachusetts Lawmakers Approve Bill to Allow Restaurants to Sell Alcohol To-Go

RITE Releases 'UnCorked Commerce' Curbside offering RITE is committed to supporting retailers in any business environment. We acknowledge that a lot of you have had to shoot from the hip and make it up on the fly to serve customers via phone orders, email orders, product catalogs loaded onto Facebook etc... We applaud your efforts and creativity during these wild times. As you are ready, we want to build off what you're doing and streamline sales methods that will continue to be requested, and to some extent required. Give us a call, and we'll take you "From the Hip" to Fully Hip.

Do you have comments, suggestions, or feedback about this newsletter? Questions about liquor store point of sale systems - including the low cost replacement program for Microsoft Dynamics RMS, or other legacy POS systems? Then please contact RITE's sales and marketing team at 888-267-7483 or sales@rite.us

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