HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A pilot test of two wine vending kiosks at suburban Harrisburg supermarkets has gone better than expected, the head of Pennsylvania's state liquor agency said Tuesday, adding that 98 more machines would likely be approved in two or three weeks.
Sales at the two sites have been 20 to 30 percent higher than anticipated, a total of more than 3,300 bottles since June 21, Liquor Control Board chief executive Joe Conti said.
"The things we were most worried about, the technology, is working rather well," Conti said.
The main issues that have arisen are a need to improve a door seal and figure out how to deal with power surges and outages from passing thunderstorms, he said.
The test period has suggested that kiosks located well inside stores will produce better sales, but for practical reasons some supermarkets will have to put them at entrances, he said.
The agency is also considering suggestions about whether to change the selection of available bottles to include more Pennsylvania wines. The choices will vary across the state to reflect local tastes.
An earlier plan to begin installation of the 500-bottle machines in western Pennsylvania, then move east, has been changed, Conti said. Instead, they will be installed one grocery chain at a time, and all of them should be up and running in three to six months.
"We definitely have to 'accept' the machines at some point, and we're nearing that point," Conti said. "That will drive everything."
The machines, the first such wine kiosks in the country, require consumers to swipe their driver's license, look into a camera and blow into an alcohol sensor device before purchasing. A board employee in Harrisburg matches the IDs with the camera images and ensures the buyers are not intoxicated.
The Independent State Store Union, an organization that represents hundreds of the agency's store managers, has sued to block the kiosks, saying they violate state law and could prompt layoffs by cutting into sales at existing stores.
The PLCB has responded that the kiosks are themselves wine stores.
On Thursday, a Commonwealth Court judge turned down the managers' request for a preliminary injunction.
Judge Patricia A. McCullough noted that witness David Wanamaker, the union's vice president, could not say if the kiosks outside Harrisburg had affected sales at nearby state liquor stores and could only recall one employee furlough in 35 years.
"Indeed, the issue of whether or not a wine kiosk qualifies as a store under the (Liquor) Code is the ultimate issue in the underlying litigation and ISSU's complaint which will be decided later by this court," she wrote.
Conti said about 20 people have been hired as a result of the new program, and more could be added.
"Each transaction occurring at a wine kiosk will be overseen by a PLCB employee," agency lawyers wrote in a June 16 court filing. "This human operator will conduct the traditional duties of a store clerk, such as checking patron identification and facilitating the transaction. Further, PLCB employees will perform product replenishment at the kiosks."
The company that has contracted with the PLCB to design, build and implement the kiosks, Simple Brands LP, wrote in a court document that installation could not occur between Nov. 1 and Feb. 1 because of heavy sales volumes at state liquor stores. But Conti said the agency has changed its position and will permit them to continue installation into the holiday season if needed.
