Lincoln Walmart faces suspension or fine after 16-year-old sold alcohol

Walmart will have to pay a $1,350 fee or suspend alcohol sales at its northeast Lincoln location for nearly a month after a teenaged employee sold liquor there in November.

The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission voted unanimously earlier this month to suspend the Walmart near 84th and Adams streets from selling alcohol for 27 days after investigators found a 16-year-old had completed an alcohol sale there Nov. 18.

Hobie Rupe, the executive director of the commission, said a customer who purchased alcohol at the store’s self-checkout kiosk called Lincoln Police that day after noticing the employee who approved the sale used credentials belonging to a different employee to do so.

Police determined an employee working at the store’s customer service counter had loaned their credentials to a 16-year-old who was monitoring the self-checkout bay alone amid a staffing shortfall, Rupe said.

Even at self checkouts, store employees who sell or approve the sale of alcohol in Nebraska must be at least 19 years old.

Rupe indicated the commission took particular issue with the store’s first-time violation — which Walmart pleaded guilty to — in part because commissioners were upset about the self-created nature of the incident.

“We’ve all been to a Walmart lately,” he said. “There are no cashiers anymore.

“I mean, if you’re gonna default to using these self checkouts, you better make sure they’re policed appropriately.”

Rupe said self checkouts present concerns to regulators, since employees tasked with monitoring numerous transactions at once are less likely to detect whether a customer is intoxicated, for instance.

He said the 27-day suspension that commissioners levied against the retailer is the maximum penalty for a first-time violator. The Walmart at 3400 N. 85th St. has been selling alcohol since October 2008 without a previous violation.

“The severity of the penalty was, I think, a warning shot not only to Walmart but to other places which are utilizing self checkouts to make sure that you’ve got age-appropriate and appropriately trained clerks managing those stations,” Rupe said.

The commission suspended the Walmart location from alcohol sales for 27 days beginning May 22. The commission cannot impose fines, but first-time violators are allowed to pay a sum of $50 per day to avoid serving the suspension.

If Walmart chooses to pay the penalty fee in lieu of suspension — which Rupe predicted it would — the retailer must pay the commission $1,350 by May 15.