By their actions, alcoholic beverage retailers can either significantly lower or greatly increase the quantity of beverage alcohol available to underage drinkers. Responsible retailers, therefore, have a critical role to play in the fight against underage drinking.

Responsible retailers meet that challenge by establishing and enforcing clear policies prohibiting illegal sales. They ensure that all employees are familiar with those policies and are sufficiently trained to carry them out. Their sales and service staff know that they are expected to recognize and avoid illegal sales. Their managers understand that they are to support staff sales/service refusal decisions so long as any error is on the side of caution.

A number of resources, many of them free or available at modest cost, are available to retailers to help them meet their responsibilities. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), the state agency responsible for regulating the alcoholic beverage industry in Texas, offers free training opportunities for retailers and their employees, as well as free point of sales materials (posters, buttons, etc.) that are intended to discourage attempted purchases by underage buyers.

Participation in the TABC's Seller/Server Certification Program, which is taught primarily by independent third-party providers, can provide retailers a conditional shield from the administrative consequences of certain illegal acts committed by their employees, including sales made to minor, to intoxicated persons, and in the case of private clubs, to non-members. While participation in this particular program is not free, it is moderately priced, with the cost averaging $15 - $35 per sales/service staff member.

Other resources available to alcoholic beverage retailers include:

Sample Alcohol Service Policy
The Texas Restaurant Association has prepared a sample alcohol service policy as a guide to establishments in Texas. The sample policy is designed to help restaurant staff members avoid serving alcohol to minors or intoxicated people.

Point of Sale
The Century Council offers retailers a broad selection of materials to let kids know loud and clear that if they're looking to buy alcohol, they're in the wrong place. The Council has distributed more than 6 million pieces to more than 100,000 retail outlets across the nation.

FACE Project
The FACE Project is a non-profit national media, training and advocacy organization that focuses on alcohol issues. FACE’s "We Can Tell" program is designed to unite alcohol retailers, parents, law enforcement, youth and community groups in a joint effort to limit alcohol sales to youth. "We Can Tell" also identifies simple, realistic steps that retailers can take to promote the legal, safe and responsible sale of alcohol. FACE offers a variety of signage and other materials to support this program.