Many people enjoy having a few drinks at a bar. As more bars are offering curbside alcohol (aka to go drinks), it's interesting to think about how this changes things compared to the traditional bar concept.
Some benefits of curbside pick up
If you're a light to moderate drinker and you're healthy, you can probably drink alcohol with little negative effect as long as you do so responsibly. Some people claim possible health benefits of consuming small amounts of alcohol. These may include reducing the risk of developing heart disease, ischemic stroke, and possibly even diabetes. By getting the drink in a sealed to go cup and bringing it home to drink, people should also be less likely to participate in drunk driving. Keeping the roads safer is a huge benefit of the curbside pick up concept! Of course this only holds true if people drink the alcohol at home then stay there as opposed to returning to the bar for more. People may also spend less money on curbside pick up since they won't be buying rounds for others or making poor decisions/losing money at the bar (note: avoid drunk online shopping at home to make this hold true).
The downside of curbside pick up
People go to bars for many reasons. They go to connect, relax, wind down after a long week of work, have fun, meet people, watch people, watch sports, have a change in scenery, catch up with friends, listen to music, play games, and to simply be around others. Yes, lots of people drink alcohol while they're there, but sometimes that's not even the main reason for a bar visit. Although alcohol helps some people cope with life, it is a depressant that needs to be handled with care. When you take away the socialization you get from the bar and instead just grab the alcohol to bring it home, people are visiting bars for only the alcohol. Many people can drink socially and never have a problem handling it responsibly, but some people could start turning to alcohol instead of the social aspects of the bar as their coping mechanism. Americans die every year because of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and many more are admitted into hospitals, psychiatric facilities, jails, and prison. Alcohol use places people at risk for things like divorce, unemployment, bankruptcy, and physical and emotional problems such as depression. Drinking alone at home could possibly become more depressing than relaxing.
Be smart about alcohol consumption wherever you drink
As long as you won’t be getting behind the wheel, it’s probably fine to enjoy that cocktail or beer whether you're at the bar or at home. But if you or someone you know has trouble keeping the alcohol intake at a healthy level, it’s time to get help. Smart Start of Alabama offers tools to help with voluntary and mandated alcohol monitoring. We are here to help.
