Last updated: May 14, 2020
The explosive growth of online shopping and home delivery has been great for consumers who can have just about anything delivered right to their door, instead of spending valuable time driving to the mall or post office. But all that added convenience has raised privacy concerns, especially in households where a child or teen might be the only one home when a sensitive delivery comes to the door.
Shippers are responsible for ensuring that everything possible is done to make sure that shipments reach the right hands. The delivery of cannabis, pharmaceuticals and alcohol is strictly regulated and there are serious consequences to businesses if these shipments fall into the wrong hands. For instance, in Ontario, selling cannabis to an underaged person can result in criminal charges that range from a fine to 14 years in prison. It’s up to the sender to make certain that the contents, packaging and labeling of cannabis shipments follow all applicable legislation and regulations.
Even products that can be legally sold to children and teens sometimes should be delivered only to an adult –– for example, expensive or fragile items, or Christmas or birthday gifts (which may be for the kids themselves). In these situations, requiring an adult signature makes good sense, even if it’s not legally required. It’s important to give consumers a choice, so they feel they have some control over the delivery. Bottom line: you want their delivery experience to be a positive one.
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Here’s how Adult Signature Required (ASR) works:
- Anyone signing for a package with an ASR label must present valid government-issued photo ID with proof of age at the time of delivery. Proof of age requirements are based on the location of the delivery: the signer must be 18 years of age in Alberta, 21 years of age in Quebec and 19 years of age everywhere else in Canada.
- If valid ID with proof of age is not presented, the shipment will be held for pickup at shipping centres or shipping agents.
- Packages with an ASR label will not be left unattended and will override any signature not required services.
- To respect customers’ privacy, ASR deliveries are shipped in discrete standard packaging.
- Tracking information for ASR can be accessed online or by phone.
Delivering responsibly requires a delivery service that gets your products into the right hands.
Like you, we want to ensure that sensitive deliveries only get into the hands of adults. With COVID-19 changing the way delivery works, many courier providers have changed their protocols and are limiting person-to-person contact. This means you may not be able to receive those sensitive packages at your door and might need to go pick them up instead. In the era of coronavirus, even a visit to your local post office may seem daunting. Instead, some courier providers are making different adjustments – allowing for Adult Signature Required service to continue with social distance measures in place. With doorstep delivery exploding during the pandemic, this much is clear: delivery to the right person at the right time is still at the forefront of customers’ needs.