Wine Vending Machines Debut in Pa.

by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Jul 9th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Photo: Bradley C. Bower / AP Photo

Even though it has some of the toughest liquor laws in the country, Pennsylvania is trying to get creative.

The state, which has strict control over the sale of beer, wine and spirits, has set up wine vending machines, the Associated Press reported. The "kiosks" are being tested in two grocery stores and may make an appearance in as many as 100 others around the state if they're a success.

With the swipe of a driver's license, a snap of the camera and after you blow into a breath sensor, you can purchase wine from the machines.

And customers seem to like them, the AP reported.

"This is just convenient one-stop shopping," Darby Golec, told the AP outside a Harrisburg grocery store. "It'll be nice to have it all in one area."

The vending machines are an attempt to make it easier for Pennsylvania residents to buy booze. Until now, individuals could buy wine and liquor for home consumption only in state-owned stores. Private beer distributors can sell cases and kegs, and smaller stores can sell up to two six-packs per customer, AP reported.

The kiosks are an attempt to modernize the state's liquor sales procedures as they bring consumers "an added level of convenience in today's busy society," liquor board Chairman Patrick Stapleton said in a statement.

Some, however, question the new wine kiosks.

"The process is cumbersome and assumes the worst in Pennsylvania's wine consumers -- that we are a bunch of conniving underage drunks," Keith Wallace, president and founder of The Wine School of Philadelphia, wrote in an email to the AP. "(Liquor board) members are clearly detached from reality if they think these machines offer any value to the consumer."

Exit surveys, however, show that customers find the machines easy to use.

The vending machines are made by Simple Brands. They're about the size of four large refrigerators and have an ATM-like device at one end with a touch-screen. Customers use the screen to choose a wine, swipe their IDs, blow into the alcohol sensor and look at a surveillance camera, the AP reported.

The sale is approved by a remote employee.

Filed Under: New Products, Gadgets
Tags: pennsylvania, simple brands, vending machines, wine, wine vending machines

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-11-2010 @10:44AM Melissa Snyder said... I'll gladly jump through their hoops to avoid having to make a separate trip to the state store for a bottle of wine.
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7-11-2010 @3:07PM DerekLutz said... Pennsylvania alcohol laws are the most bizarre of any state I've lived in and that includes South Carolin where the once only sold liquor in bars via airplane bottles. If you want to buy beer in PA, you have to buy it by the case from a beer distributor. The only places to get six packs is a bar where it's vastly overpriced. Wine and liquor in state stores only. And they're closed on Sundays.
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7-12-2010 @7:30PM cathy said... Take your picture, check your breath; What? no blood sample? That is just crazyness to buy a bottle of wine. http://newsy1.wordpress.com
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7-15-2010 @8:17PM Alicia said... I really hope they don't bring these to New York State, because this sounds like way too much hassle when you can just stop at the liquor store on the way home and grab a bottle. granted, NYS is also talking about going the Vermont route and selling wine AND beer in grocery stores, so you really need visit a specialty store for hard liquor.
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7-20-2010 @9:45AM Reese said... There is nothing wrong with purchasing wine from a vending machine. The question is more the process. I would not blow through a straw in a vending machine and then I have to be in the mercy of a guy looking at you thru a camera and he, and he makes judgment for you to see that you are who you are to have some wine. Ridiculous, I can see these machines in a BYOB restaurant and I have to swipe my license to show I am over 21 and...it can read my thumb print to make sure that the ID that was JUST swiped matches the person in front of it....much more practical.
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7-20-2010 @9:44AM Reese said... There is nothing wrong with purchasing wine from a vending machine. The question is more the process. I would not blow through a straw in a vending machine and then I have to be in the mercy of a guy looking at you thru a camera and he, and he makes judgment for you to see that you are who you are to have some wine. Ridiculous, I can see these machines in a BYOB restaurant and I have to swipe my license to show I am over 21 and...it can read my thumb print to make sure that the ID that was JUST swiped matches the person in front of it....much more practical.
Reply