Liquor Stores Reduce Risk Using Biometric Technology

Biometric technology is becoming increasingly more common in government and private sectors. It's even been used effectively in schools. But liquor stores? Yep. One innovative Colorado liquor store retailer turned to biometric technology to solve a particular challenge.

Sales of alcohol and tobacco can be a lucrative business but there are laws that must be followed. In particular, laws forbidding the sale of alcohol and tobacco to minors. The penalties for failing to follow these laws can be stiff including large fines, suspension, and even revocation of the liquor license which effectively puts one out of business.

It's easy to see that taking the time to properly identify the age of customers is crucial to staying in business without paying fines and penalties. This isn't always as easy as it sounds due to employee indiscretion, fake IDs, and periods of heavy activity. No customer wants to wait in a long, slow-moving line to complete a simple transaction. Potential customers are likely to reach a point where they'll just buy their liquor from another retailer resulting in lost sales. There had to be a solution.

Biometric technology turned out to be that solution. Biometric systems have been used in school cafeterias to keep the lines moving so why not use them in a liquor store to keep the lines moving? It was really just another case of taking a proven tactic used in one situation and applying it to another. Liquor stores have done this before. For example, the drive-thru window was invented by the fast-food industry but these days you'll find them in everything from dry cleaners to pharmacies and yes, even drive thru liquor stores.

At the request of a Colorado liquor store owner, FSS Biometric Solutions developed the FSS Of-Age Id Biometric Age Verification system for liquor stores. In a short one-minute process, customers can register by providing their driver's license number, date of birth, license expiration date, and a finger for biometric scanning. The information is verified by the liquor store clerk one time and it's now entered into the system. Nearly 3,000 customers were quickly registered in the system.

After a relatively painless registration, these customers only need to place their finger on the fingerprint scanner and within a second one of three lights will illuminate: red indicates the customer isn't in the system and must show ID; yellow indicates the customer is over 18 but not yet 21 and can only buy tobacco; green indicates the customer is over 21 and eligible to purchase both liquor and tobacco.

This system drastically increases the speed of the check out process making customers happy...and happy customers are likely to be repeat customers. In addition to the increase in check out speed, the system reduces the chances of receiving fines for selling to minors. It's good for both the customer and the merchant.

The system can be adjusted for the age requirements of any state. And with the potential fines for selling alcohol to minors at thousands of dollars or more and the risk of losing a liquor license for repeated violations, the return on investment for this biometric technology system is immediate.