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DE Alcohol Server study materials
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DE Alcohol Server: Checking Identification and Preventing Sales to Minors

DE Alcohol Server · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

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Checking Identification and Preventing Sales to Minors

What counts as acceptable ID

Delaware operators are expected to rely on government-issued photo identification: an unexpired driver's license or state ID card, a U.S. or foreign passport, or a military ID. Expired documents, college IDs, work badges, photocopies, and phone screenshots are not acceptable. Many Delaware establishments adopt a card-everyone or card-under-30/40 house rule. The legal floor is that you must not serve anyone under 21, and a consistent, documented check is your best evidence of care.

How to check

  1. Hold the document - do not just glance. Feel the laminate, look for holograms and raised text, and check that fonts and spacing are consistent.
  2. Compare the photo to the person: face shape, eyes, ears, visible marks.
  3. Read the date of birth and do the arithmetic deliberately, out loud if needed. Do not trust a printed sticker or the vertical layout alone; formats vary by state.
  4. Check the expiration date and any under-21-until line.
  5. Ask a second question - address, zodiac sign, middle name - a borrowed or altered ID often fails.
  6. If the ID is questionable, refuse the sale and involve a manager. Unless house policy and local police direct otherwise, return the document and document the refusal rather than confiscating it.

Worked example

A guest hands you an out-of-state license. The date of birth reads June 15, 2004, and today is June 14, 2025. The guest is 20 today and turns 21 tomorrow. Refuse the sale and say why. If you had only registered '2004' and moved on, you would have served a minor. The check takes ten seconds and is the single most common source of citations in Delaware compliance operations.

Traps that cost marks

  • Accepting an expired license because the birthdate looks fine.
  • Assuming a vertical license always means under 21; some jurisdictions use different layouts.
  • Missing that the photo is a sibling or friend.
  • Serving a group when only one member showed ID.
  • Not writing down the refusal, so a later complaint has no record behind it.
  • Letting a 21-year-old friend order and pass the drink to an underage member of the group.