Published: August 18, 2010
Kiosk vs. Doorstep
By Lesley Lopez
Now I'm not sure how many of you out there follow news about Wine in the world. But for those who don't know there are now Wine vending machines in Pennsylvania. When I first read this, I wondered why would wine need to be sold in vending machines?
Being from California, I'm not often affected by alcohol laws. But last summer I spent some of my summer on the East Coast and ran into the problems of liquor only being sold in particular areas. In California, we can walk into almost any place of business and buy bottles of liquor, the drug store, the supermarket, or the little Mexican restaurant on the corner. In Maryland, I spent an afternoon (over three hours) walking around in search of a liquor store and wandering in and out of beer and wine shops. It was like a different surreal world, compared to my west coast home. So taking these experiences into account, I realized that Pennsylvania might be setting up vending machines because of their laws.

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From all my reading on the subject the vending machines work easily enough. A customer swipes their driver's license, confirm their identity by looking at a camera and then breathe into a breathalyzer. It's really not even that strange, when you think about the fact that you can now buy everything from gum to ipods and cell phones from vending machines. But it did make me think, wouldn't it be easier and more pleasing to just order wine from Coastal Wine Clubs? Then you could choose a type of wine, and be surprised and better yet the wine comes directly to your doorstep. No need to swipe your license, or prove your identity and sobriety. Its almost the same type of concept, I don't know many people who go to the market and know exactly what wine they are going to buy. Usually it's whatever wine catches your eyes, gets purchased, but with something like the Coastal Wine Clubs you are getting the best of what certain types of wines have to offer.
Either way the new vending machines might be something soon coming to a supermarket near you. But remember there are other options, many roads lead to a good glass of wine with dinner.
Cheers,
Lesley Lopez
(NewsBlaze readers use coupon code Blaze to get 10% off your next bacon order)
Rocco owns and runs a Bacon of the Month Club called The Bacon Freak Bacon is Meat Candy Club as well as a Wine Club called the Coastal Vineyard Wine Club