Pennsylvania liquor stores begin call-in orders with some confusion
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Hopeful customers of Pennsylvania’s liquor stores were frustrated and confused Monday after hitting several barriers in their attempts to buy alcohol over the phone.
As noon arrived, many customers were greeted by busy signals when they tried to get through on phone lines.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board announced Saturday that select stores would begin making alcohol sales by phone and offering curbside pickup. Monday marked the first day of the new system.
Stern Herd of Shadyside said he had started calling various stores at 9 a.m. He finally drove to the store in the Waterworks shopping plaza, near Aspinwall, to see if he could place a face-to-face order.
“At this point now, I’ve been trying for two hours,” Herd said.
He called a different store in Robinson from the parking lot and got through. He said an employee took his order but told him they couldn’t immediately fill it. The person told him he would be contacted for pickup later in the week.
“It’s a waste of time when you find out you can’t pick your stuff up on the same day,” Herd said. “They didn’t say anything about that on the website.”
The Waterworks location was one of 21 stores in Allegheny County that opened Monday for curbside pick-up. The windows of the store were covered with paper. A sign said the shop will be closed until further notice. A small group of potential customers parked nearby.
The scene was similar in Westmoreland County, where four state stores were to begin taking orders.
A Madison man who declined to provide his name drove to the Youngwood store and stood outside around noon. He said he had been calling the store since 9 a.m. with no luck. Workers could be seen inside.
“It’s very frustrating for them to say they’re going to do something,” he said. “Now something seems to be failing.”
The reopening follows nearly a month of customers relying on the state’s online service to sell alcohol. The site was not built to handle high traffic and the fulfillment centers were unable to match the demand.
In a news release published Monday afternoon, the Liquor Control Board said curbside pickups will be scheduled between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. “within a few days of order placement.”
The release also said that each store has its own unique inventory and will guide customers through the products available. Curbside pickup will be limited to six bottles per order, and credit cards are the only accepted form of payment.
“Each store has a limited capacity, so the busy signal helps moderate (the volume of orders),” said Shawn Kelly, a Liquor Control Board spokesman. “We understand consumers will be frustrated. We’re asking them to be patient.”
Kelly said the Fine Wine & Good Spirits website, while still randomized in how it takes orders, has steadily increased capacity, especially over the weekend. The site fulfilled about 10,000 orders Saturday and Sunday. Online sales since April 1 exceeded all online sales in the 2018-19 fiscal year, Kelly said.
Each store will accept the first 50 to 100 orders placed each day, on a first-come, first-served basis, the news release said. Herd said he expects the delayed service and uncertainty in being able to reach a store will lead customers to “stock up” on their purchases, causing more issues with supply and demand.
Audrey Gui of New Kensington fared better than Herd. After about two hours of calling Monday morning, Gui said she was able to place her order for same-day pickup with the Waterworks store.
The store told her when the order would be ready. She said an employee would deliver the alcohol straight to her car. No customers are allowed in the store.
State officials had warned customers that phone services at liquor stores would be slow, but the wait time only contributed to backlash against the state’s handling of alcohol sales during the pandemic. Many people in their cars said they were frustrated with the entire process.
“It’s a joke,” Herd said of the website. “It doesn’t work.”
Gov. Tom Wolf closed all Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores March 17. Workers have returned to some stores since then to supplement demand from online orders.
Kelly said the challenges with the website and now with the phone system were not unexpected. The board could tell by the sales trends approaching the shutdown that demand was about to skyrocket. At this point, as the state tries to increase its capacity to sell alcohol online and over the phone, Kelly said the board also is looking for ways to increase business out of the brick-and-mortar locations.
“We’re working on plans to safely and smartly reopen,” Kelly said.