What Do You Do If A Passenger Wants To Stop At a Liquor Store?

Rideshare Guy, here and today I’ve got a video for you on what to do if a passenger wants to stop at a liquor store. This question was actually asked on Facebook by one of the Rideshare Guy fans, Leah. So thank you for asking that. Obviously, if you guys have any questions, definitely leave them on the Facebook page or the YouTube channel, or send me an email. If I like the question or if I think it’ll help out a bunch of drivers, I might end up making a video and giving you guys a little shout-out.

This is a somewhat unique situation. When you’re out there driving, a lot of these types of situations are going to happen. Your passenger may not necessarily want to stop at a liquor store, but they might want to stop and get a burger or a burrito after the bars, or pick up a friend, etc. How you handle them, though, is going to be very similar, and that’s what I’m hoping to give you guys some advice with in this video.

Hopefully you can take this advice and apply it to more than one situation. Because we all know that obviously there are a lot of things that happen every time you’re out on the road. It’s those weird situations, those weird questions that that’s when you have to be prepared. Most rides are normal, but when something does come up, you want to really be able to think about it, be calculating, and make sure that you put yourself in the best position, and what to do and how to handle it. I think it makes a lot of sense to think about these things and take a proactive approach

Making quick stops is part of the driver gig

First of all, in this situation let’s say you have a passenger and they want to stop at a liquor store. After the actual stop, I know that some drivers might be wondering, “Hey, am I even allowed to make stops?” Yes, you are. It doesn’t happen a ton. But me, personally, I always make these stops because really it’s part of the gig. You guys understand that as a driver, your customer really comes first and that’s the whole reason why passengers are taking Uber and taking Lyft. If they want to make a quick stop at a liquor store, I mean, I think you need to definitely make that stop.

Come in with the right attitude. Don’t be thinking, “Hey, I could be out making more money giving rides.” I mean, there might be one or two situations if it’s a 5x surge. If you’re in the middle of a 5x surge and these guys want to stop for 20 minutes to do whatever, get liquor, or they’re going to take forever, or they want to do a Costco run or something like that, at that point I might say, “Hey, guys. I need to be making money, Just feel free to request another Uber-er when you guys get done.” Most of the time though, I think it’s pretty okay and a pretty reasonable request if a passenger wants to make a quick stop. It’s part of the gig. You guys are going to get paid while you’re waiting there. Obviously, the per-minute rate isn’t quite as high as the per mile rate.

But there’s lots of things you can do to occupy yourself while they’re in the store. Hop on Facebook. I mean, most of these stops aren’t going to take more than 5 to 10 minutes max. So hop on Facebook. Read an article or two. Head over to the Rideshare Guy. Read an article or hop on the YouTube channel. I mean, there’s lots that you can really do to be productive in the 5 to 10-minute period. We’re not talking about waiting an hour or two. Most of these stops are pretty quick.

Try to make the best of it. I mean, a lot of these requests are really part of the gig. I try to just go in with the right attitude. If these guys want to stop at Starbucks or if they want to stop at a liquor store and they ask me for something I say, “Hey, sure. If you guys are going to grab something, grab me a coffee,” or, “Grab me a Red Bull for later.” There’s lots of stuff. Even if they’re stopping for a burrito, grab a burrito and eat it the next day or whatever you want. I mean, most of these passengers are pretty understanding. They’re not going to stop and say, “Hey, we’re going to go in and eat for 40 minutes. We’re not going to get you anything.”

So it’s really kind of how you approach it, and especially the times that you’re driving too. You have to understand what people want. There’s going to be people who are much more likely to stop on a Saturday night when the bars get out. Or when they’re headed home and they want to grab a burrito, as opposed to during the day maybe people are going to want to make a quick liquor store stop on the way to a barbecue.

Can drivers transport alcohol?

So, that’s kind of how you handle that first part, the logistics of actually making the stop or not. Secondly, and this situation is a little unique because you’re actually transporting alcohol. So the same kind of applies with food. But I’ll touch on alcohol, because obviously this does happen from time to time and it’s somewhat of a unique situation. I have gotten a few requests and a few people bringing beers or bringing in, not full beers, but closed alcohol into the car and here’s how I handle this situation.

Basically, you guys have to remember that if anything happens, if anything goes wrong with alcohol in the car, with your passengers, if they spill, if they are drinking it or you get pulled over, or anything, kind of like a worst case scenario, you’re the one who’s responsible. You’re the one who’s liable. You’re the one who’s driving. You’re the one who’s operating this business really, who’s transporting these passengers. So really, you guys are not their friend in this situation.

Lay down the law — No open containers, and closed containers go in the trunk

Now, I know it can be tough to kind of lay down the law and put the smack down on these passengers. You guys have to keep that in mind. You’re not their friend. You’re not transporting your friends. As friendly as it may be and as friendly as it may seem, this is a business transaction and you need to really treat it accordingly. I always make passengers put alcohol in the trunk.

Now, even if they say, “Hey, it’s not open,” there’s no good situation or no good outcome that can come of your passengers bringing alcohol into the car. Let’s say they tell you, “We’re not going to drink it.” “Okay, if you’re not going to drink it, let’s put it in the trunk.” Now, obviously, the way you approach it and the way you ask them is very important. Now, I’ll say there’s lots of kind of icebreakers that you can do and you can usually say… So what I like to say is, “Hey, if you’re going to bring those beers in the car, I’m going to have to have one,” or, “I’m going to have to drink one while we’re driving.”

That kind of breaks the ice a little bit, and then instead of you going straight to mom or dad style and say, “Hey, you kids, you have to put those beers in the back,” it kind of breaks the ice a little. So use whatever you have to use, as opposed to just going straight for it, hard-knock style and say, “Hey, throw those beers in the back.” Because you’re in a little bit of a precarious situation. These passengers are about to rate you. But at the same time, you have to ensure their safety and you have to ensure the liability aspect.

I don’t see a single scenario or situation where it would make sense for the passengers to have that alcohol in the backseat, and often you’re liable obviously. The laws on whether you can have closed containers or not actually vary from state to state. I believe here in California you can have alcohol in the backseat or the front seat as long as it’s closed, for example. But in certain states, I’m pretty sure that you can’t even have it in the car at all. It has to be in the trunk. So, there’s really no reason they would even need to drink it, and you’re kind of just enabling them. They say, “Hey, well we have this beer sitting here. Let’s crack one open.” But that’s why I ask them nicely, “Put it in the trunk,” crack a joke, do whatever I have to do and basically approach this in a smart way.

How do you handle quick stops and alcohol?

You can see how other drivers are handling it on my Facebook page. Obviously, everything that I tell you guys is kind of how I would handle these situations. I’m not saying you guys necessarily need to do the exact same thing, but take it into consideration. Put your own little twist on it, and try to be prepared for every situation out there on the road.

Feel free to leave a comment below. Ask me any questions that you may have. Shoot me an email. I respond to each and every single email request, so take advantage of that. Then, of course, Like the video, comment, subscribe to the channel and I’ll look forward to hearing from you guys soon. Take care!