Skip to main content

Are You Guilty of Drunk Shopping Online? You’re Not Alone.

man computer online shopping
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Have you ever gone out for a night on the town, then woke up the next morning wondering why there are four Amazon Prime boxes sitting at your front door? Well, you’re not alone. According to a recent report commissioned by Finder.com, you are one of the 68 million Americans who purchases something online while intoxicated.

So, with 68 million people (about half of the people in the U.S. who say they drink alcohol regularly), how much do you think that equates to? A couple hundred thousand? A million? 68 million? If those were your guesses, you’ve underestimated the purchasing power of a drunk person.

In total, drunk purchases in the U.S. last year equaled $30.43 billion. Yes, billion. If the total amount were spent on pizzas alone, that would come out to 3,430,000,000 pizzas — not including garlic knots, wings, or Cinnastix, which let’s be real, who doesn’t get the Cinnastix when drunk?

one beer later bottle cap
Image used with permission by copyright holder

While pizza isn’t the sole investment, food does rank first; 60.83 percent of all purchases were edible. The second-highest category is clothes/shoes (25.09%), followed by gambling (24.91%). Some of the other categories that make up the remainder are concert tickets and prostitution (you can figure out how that works online on your own, if you’re really that curious).

The drunk-purchase total averages out to $447.57 per person, which is up from last year, when drunk shoppers spent a mere $206 per person. Broken down further, the study found that men tend to spend more per purchase ($564.51) than women ($282.65).

In terms of buying patterns by age, those spending the largest amount of money per drunk purchase probably won’t shock you. Generation X dished out the most dough on average, tallying a whopping $738.87 per purchase. (Must be nice to not have to think about being saddled with overwhelming amounts of student loans when drunk.) Compare that to a Millennial’s average purchase, which is only $206.11.

While Gen X’ers spend more on average, fewer (51.17 percent) admitted to drunk-buying than Millennials (61.07 percent). Baby Boomers come in at a mere 31.29 percent, but that could very well be because Jitterbugs don’t come with the Amazon app.

What we’re trying to say with all of this is next time you are drunk and the thought of going into your Amazon wish list and just getting it all comes to mind, remember: a lot of Americans are doing the exact same thing.

Don’t have a wish list, but want to buy some stuff next time you’re drunk? Might we suggest some boozy beach gear or these fun beer accessories? Heck, why wait until you’re drunk? Why not just go get that stuff now? Your wallet probably won’t thank you, but your sense of adventure and accomplishment in life sure will.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
You’re being duped: The ‘healthy’ food items that are actually terrible for you
It's time to unmask the foods that have been masquerading as healthy
A close-up of granola bars on wooden board.

Look, no one here has any issue with the occasional carb bender or sugar coma. There's no need to eat all healthy food all the time. We all love a good steak that's been cooked in a sacrilegious amount of butter. Or a flaky, sticky, creamy dessert that makes us almost forget the meal that prefaced it. Give us buttery mashed potatoes, syrupy candies, and fried-to-perfection crispy goodness any day of the week. We welcome them with open arms.

What we do have an issue with, though, are the foods trying to deceive. To manipulate. To masquerade and cheat the buyer into thinking what they're actually eating is healthy. This is just plain insulting, and we will not stand for it. Because we all know that balance is the key to a healthy lifestyle.

Read more
You’re drinking rum all wrong – why you need to treat it more like wine
Chances are good that you're not giving rum drinks the resect they deserve
A set of Plantation rums from around the world.

Even if you take rum seriously, as you should, you're probably doing it wrong. The spirit has long been served in shot form or buried in candy-sweet rum drinks. Enough is enough, as good rum deserves better.

If you're wondering how to drink rum, it's simple, a good rum is a lot like good wine. It can be complex, sip-worthy stuff, wildly reflective of the region it was produced in. It's easy to write rum off as a tropical drink and little more, but it's simply not true. The flavor spectrum of the spirit is vast, thanks to variations in production from country to country. A rum may be distilled from a certain type of sugarcane, using one type of still and aged a certain way in the West Indies, while one from the Dominican Republic, might be made a completely different way.

Read more
The CDC just released its list of top superfoods, and we bet you’re not eating most of them
Admit it: you don't even think about buying most of these foods
Fresh Watercress bundle

Navigating the modern maze of "healthier" options can feel like navigating a jungle while blindfolded. But here's the beacon of clarity you've been waiting for. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the science-driven heavyweight of health knowledge, has just unleashed its latest weapon in the battle for better nutrition – a list of superfoods providing valuable insight into the quest to determine which foods are healthiest.

We all know the drill – fruits and veggies are good for you, but which ones are the real superheroes? The CDC has crunched the numbers, dialed in on nutrient density, and separated the contenders from the pretenders. It's time to leave the confusion behind and dive deep into the world of superfoods that are more than talk; they're packed with health benefits.

Read more