Wal-Mart ends deal to install wine machines in Pa.-11August26
By MARC LEVY
(AP)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is pulling out of a deal to install 23 state-controlled wine vending machines in its Pennsylvania stores, the latest setback to a program once touted as a way to add customer convenience to the state’s tangled liquor laws.
An Aug. 15 letter from Wal-Mart to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board said it is terminating the agreement but didn’t say why.
A company statement released Wednesday blamed “mechanical concerns” among the 10-foot-high machines, which can hold hundreds of bottles.
“Wal-Mart will continue to work with PLCB officials to look at ways to modernize the state’s liquor and wine distribution system and provide Pennsylvanians with a convenient shopping experience,” the Bentonville, Ark.-based company said.
However, a lawyer for the contractor, Simple Brands LLC, said mechanical problems affect less than 0.5 percent of transactions. Before software changes, the machines, at their worst, had problems with less than 1 percent of transactions, lawyer Alan Fellheimer said Wednesday.
“They never installed them, so I don’t know what they base that on,” Fellheimer said.
Installation of the machines in grocery stores around the state began last summer, and 21 continue to operate, according to the liquor board.
The move comes amid a financial dispute between the liquor board and Simple Brands that threatens to end the program. In addition, Gov. Tom Corbett and Republican state lawmakers who want to end state control over wine and liquor sales cite the machines as a prime example of why the business should be handed over to privately operated stores.
If sales are privatized, liquor store licenses could be available to big store operators like Wal-Mart and Costco as well as supermarkets.
Liquor board CEO Joe Conti said agency officials and Wal-Mart are discussing other partnerships, such as a store-within-a-store concept.
About three months ago, Wegmans Food Markets Inc. pulled out of an agreement with the liquor board to sell wine through the machines at 10 of the company’s Pennsylvania stores, citing problems with the machines and too many complaints from customers, who, it said, found the choices too limited and wanted more personalized service.
The machines keep the bottles at room temperature and allow a customer to choose a wine on a touch-screen display. The customer must swipe an ID, blow into an alcohol sensor and look into a surveillance camera that is remotely monitored by a state employee in Harrisburg who approves the sale after verifying the buyer isn’t drunk and matches the photo ID.
Fellheimer said the machines are complex, but that’s the way the liquor board wanted it.
“It’s not an easy task and the machines do it well,” Fellheimer said. “Were there a couple bumps in the road along the way? Sure, but they’ve all been resolved.”
Source: http://www.timesleader.com/news/ap?articleID=7542727
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