Kiosks

Check this out:

http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/plcb/cwp/view.asp?a=133 4&q=559289

The PLCB's objective is to establish an automated, secure kiosk or similar-type vending machine capable of dispensing bottled wines to consumers. The PLCB expects that the proposed wine kiosk network will be placed in locations designated by the PLCB, including but not limited to, supermarket locations, etc. Each wine kiosk will offer a minimum of five hundred (500) bottles representing a selection of approximately ten (10) to fifteen (15) different wines for purchase by adult consumers deemed fit by the kiosks biometric or other reading and the PLCB personnel in the customer service support center. The PLCB expects that the wine kiosks will have safeguards to prevent access and/or purchases by minors or intoxicated persons.

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Said "safeguards to prevent access and/or purchases by minors or intoxicated persons" will be interesting. Likewise it will be interesting to see how those opposed to direct shipping and using the argument that junior could buy wine on the net will react.

Are you serious? I can't get wine delivered to my house but I can grab my change jar, put in 60 quarters and get a bottle of wine from a vending machine!? Wow! Will it come equipped with a breathalizer to determine if you're a little tipsy and retina scanner to know who you really are. This blows my mind.

Mark

You beat me to it. This is simple insanity. As ecola mentioned above, about getting wine delivered, but what about hardworking Pennsylvanians? Wouldn't it be better to have a human man these "kiosks"???? Wouldn't a human know what his or her customers want in an inventory or might be able to answer questions customers might have without selling said liquor to minors? But apparently a machine with a remote monitoring system can to this better?

ARRRGHHH!!!

PLCB behaves like my former employer (who I left to successfully compete with in 1994). Told for the 1000th time that their services were too costly, the company replied that the problem was not high prices but that 'the perception of value was too low' This lead to numerous new products and changes, all of which did nothing to address the cost issue, but did allow them to turn a $180MM business into $120MM inside two years.

The response to CS program was an enormous increase in PA wine sales. Perhaps the reverse might actually get PLCB's attention? Please forgive the 'let's take over the dean's office' sound of this, but does anyone else think we could use the six degrees of separation to launch a statewide boycott of wine purchases for one week to express displeasure with this kind of crap? I'm not advocating abstinence, just taking a few out of the cellar instead of buying. If Dave Desimone could be persuaded to write it up and someone else from Philly and Scranton areas, who knows? I went to college in 1975 so I missed going to San Francisco with flowers in my hair, and Lincoln Park protests in Chicago and Woodstock...

New info, plus a picture!

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09190/982698-51.stm

What's with the State House passing a measure to STOP these from being implemented? Heaven forbid buying wine should become convenient(!).

Ohhhhhh, just whatI want to do - blow in a tube that who knows who used before. Or maybe they'll come with their own sanitizing wipes?

Another fairly recent article...

URL

If anyone has an opportunity to try one out please let us know!

http://www.lcbapps.lcb.state.pa.us/webapp/agency/press/press_detail.asp?press_no=10-1 4&psearch=&offset=0

Great headline, check the vid for breathalyzer in action!

http://foobooz.com/2010/06/weve-seen-the-future-and-it-sucks/

Cool, thanks for posting. The bit about the non-bid contract seems odd. I remember the RFP for the kiosks saying that the LCB wasn't going to pay anything for them, and thinking, who would build it? So it sounds like the vendor makes their money from advertising?? Seems hard to believe...

The backing $$$$ came from Rendell supporters and
plcb board members probably. And the company that is building them does not even have a phone number or web page. Crooked as a politician???

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/w orldnews/article-1293104/U-S-trials-wine-vending-machine--complete-CCTV-breathalyser. html?ITO=1490

Another article.

Admin - I've tried 10 times to make the link work without success. Need a lesson...

Link lesson:

Since the upgrade last fall ("PAWineTalk V2") all you should have to do is type the full link including the http:// and it should do the rest.

Like this:
http://www.pawinetalk.com

Okay, so no need to use the "button" above the input field.
Thanks.

The only time you need to use the button now is if you want the target to be different than the text of the link itself. Like this.

I accomplished that by first typing the text "Like this" and then highlighted it. With it highlighted, I clicked on the link button, and in the popup window I typed my full URL (with "http://") of where I wanted the link to go.

Funny cartoon in the Post-Gazette yesterday

http://blogs.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/opinion/rob-rogers-cartoons/20089-lcb-k iosk

dwinfield
I dont believe Ive ever had an LCB employee answer a question about wine adequately...
Even after 200k to train them to say hello they wont get that right in my town. Private businesses are making a killing off the machines (wonder whos cousin owns the company) and the LCB gets to dump wines that they have been boneheaded enough to buy when nobody wants them. Win-win for everyone but the consumer...its the way of PA.

Coming to Western PA!

www.post-gazette.com/pg/10223/1079061-454.stm

"Simple Brands LLC, based in Conshohocken, near Philadelphia, provides the kiosks to the LCB for no charge. The company profits through advertisements on the machines and a $1 fee that will be added in the near future."

A dollar on what, each bottle sold?

Probably - like an ATM charge...

I found most interesting the part about the LCB employee union sueing over the kiosks.

They will be in Pittsburgh soon fellows. You will see what a waste they truely are.

In the Pittsburgh-area starting today...

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/25532446/detail.html

New articles in the post-gazette today. This one is on the front page and is pretty damning:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10332/1106676-454.stm
What blew me away was this quote:

"They'll call and they'll ask what type of wine goes with seafood," said Mike Fox, a supervisor at the liquor board's bank of computers that monitor the machines.

This guy is actually put out that customers are asking for recommendations. Guess it isn't in his job description.

Then there's the point of view of Rep. Mike Turzai who thinks they're horrible and will be short-lived:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10332/1106422-454.stm

And lastly, the obligatory video:
http://www.post-gazette.com/multimedia/?ClipID=5324614

Ah yes, Mrs. Bigred and I had a few chuckles about this article over our Sunday morning coffee. What a debacle. This whole initiative sounds like something contrived by a PLCB official's nephew in a backroom of the Harrisburg office.

Mark, I liked the comment you highlighted, but also found amusing: "The kiosks are open the same hours as the state stores". Guess no late night purchases until the Board springs for 2nd shift coverage at the computer bank in the capital.

Actually regarding hours of operation that's not on the PLCB, by law they can't be open longer. Also no Kiosks are open on Sundays because the law only allows a finite number of stores to be open on Sundays and a Kiosk counts as a store. These Kiosks are the result of an agency that's handcuffed by the legislature and trying to get creative. The problem is not the Kiosks it's our antiquated laws.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2010/12/21/plcb-shuts-down-wine-kiosks.htm l

Who could have seen this coming? I hope the state files this under the 'cut your losses' category. I don't see the new guv allowing this lovely idea to go any further unless he's got a cousin at Simple Brands or some such thing.

http://www.lcbapps.lcb.state.pa.us/webapp/agency/press/press_detail.asp?press_no=10-3 6&psearch=&offset=0

Could this be any more of a disaster?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11155/1151426-455.stm

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