Not to be snarky or anything, but your post did say:
*
In Ohio (at least near Youngstown) you can’t buy non-alcoholic beer or wine on Sundays. It has to do with it being labeled **“beer” *or “wine”.
And I’ve yet to see any evidence of anything in the USA labeled "non-alcoholic beer’.
Yes, that’s what I mean. I’d be surprised to see ginger beer with the specific label "non-alcoholic beer’ on it. It may say “non-alcoholic” but I’d be willing to bet it doesn’t say “non-alcoholic beer”
You can buy non-alcoholic beer in the supermarket here; it’s next to the Sparkling Grape Juice and the Ginger Beers and other Soft Drinks.
AFAIK it’s not considered Alcoholic and can be purchased by anyone, but I’ve never seen anyone buy it or drink it FWIW; it stands out as one of the few products I don’t think I ever had to refill when I worked in Nightfill.
Sorry, I didn’t explain the situation in very good detail. I have no problem with folks not overriding register prompts; you don’t mess with those, and I’d rather a cashier and manager keep their jobs than lose them over something trivial. (I have seen this kind of thing happen with unrated DVDs that happen to be completely innocent; I’ve been carded for buying a VeggieTales DVD).
In my maple syrup and sparkling cider incidents, the items were coded correctly and the register didn’t prompt for ID. The cashier calls management over anyway (again no problem, I’d rather a cashier be vigilant to protect their job), and then management denies the sale, even when they are made aware that the item is a normal food item. “I know it’s just maple syrup, but we can’t sell this on Sundays.”
It seems to me then, if a beverage is labeled as 0.5%, in Illinois, at least, it is correct to refuse sale of it to someone who is under 21, even if it’s labeled as “non-alcoholic.” The key words for legal sale to someone underage would be “less than 0.5%.” As in 0.4%, or 0.45%, but not 0.5%.