Delivery service GoPuff loses license for selling alcohol to minors around Boston College
BOSTON - This weekend, more people will have to make their own liquor store runs because a popular delivery service just had its license revoked.
GoPuff is accused of 19 counts of selling alcohol to minors around Boston College, raising questions about how the industry is regulated. State investigators said the company's management did little to prevent alcohol from being sold to minors, even after they were confronted several times.
It all started with an undercover investigation in 2021. The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) said investigators got tipped off that GoPuff was "selling and delivering alcohol to minors," and now the delivery company has lost its alcohol delivery license.
Some app users weren't surprised.
"I understand why people were getting alcohol, I think for a lot of people it was an under the rug type of thing," said app user Katalina Valdez.
"Usually, they just drop it on the doorstep, so it's kind of easy to get alcohol from them if you're underage," said app user Olivia Williams.
Undercover investigators said in several instances, they followed drivers from the GoPuff warehouse as they delivered alcohol around Boston College, including to freshman dorms.
Detectives said the underage students would present fake IDs and, in some cases, they weren't asked for identification at all.
"GoPuff, as a company, should have had more regulations, more things in place to identify, 'oh this is happening' and make sure it wouldn't be," said Valdez.
"Organizations should be able to see these problems beforehand before getting in trouble like losing your license and everything like that," said BC student Ricardo Ponce.
Officials said some of the drivers didn't even carry permits as required by the law.
It comes as the Massachusetts Attorney General fined the company $6 million in violations for misclassifying its drivers as contractors and other labor violations. The AG's office said the company had been issued three citations for misclassifying employees as independent contractors, failing to furnish suitable paystubs, and failing to maintain an earned sick leave policy.
In total, 968 employees will be impacted.
In a statement, State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg, who oversees the ABCC said, "I want to commend the ABCC team for their diligent work on this case. We are committed to stopping underage drinking and its devastating consequences. To prevent these situations, we outreach and educate young people and their families, as well as proactively ensure compliance across the state."
GoPuff officials said since the investigation, they've taken steps to prevent the sale of alcohol to minors, such as implementing enhanced ID scanning technology, enhanced driver partner education, operational compliance procedures and a secret shopper program.
In a statement a spokesperson said, "We have always taken the responsible sale and delivery of alcohol extremely seriously and continually enhance the robust systems we have in place to prevent the sale of alcohol to underage customers. As soon as we were made aware of these events, we immediately began working to further enhance our compliance measures in close collaboration with the ABCC. These measures included enhanced driver partner education, communication streams, operational compliance procedures, a secret shopper program, and the implementation of enhanced ID scanning technology. We strongly disagree with the Commission's decision and will appeal."