MECHANICSBURG, Pa. -- Grocery shoppers in the Pittsburgh area may soon be greeted with signs like the one hanging in a Harrisburg-area Wegmans grocery store that reads "Buy wine while you're here."

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board began a pilot program of wine-vending kiosks inside two Harrisburg-area supermarkets on Wednesday.

If all goes well, similar kiosks may start popping up in Western Pennsylvania in August, said PLCB spokeswoman Stacey Witalec.

Ms. Witalec said the kiosk system isn't just a first for Pennsylvania, but "the first of its kind anywhere."

The kiosks have four coolers with 53 different wines. Attached to each kiosk is a small check-out booth for making a purchase.

"So far, so good. It's been a good day," said Nancy Lubnow, a liquor control board employee helping customers on the kiosks' opening day. Ms. Lubnow said she saw about 45 customers the first seven hours she worked at the kiosk.

To verify that customers are of legal drinking age, they must first scan their driver's license by inserting it into a slot on the kiosk. A PLCB official working at an office in Harrisburg will then verify via a camera that the customer is the same person pictured on the license.

A Breathalyzer ensures a customer has a blood alcohol level below 0.02. (The legal limit in Pennsylvania is 0.08.) It is guarded by a metal screen a few inches in diameter, and a customer blows toward it from up to a foot away.

"I think it's a great convenience," said John Gerschefski, a retired military veteran from Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County. "I don't know if I'd come here to get wine, but if I'm here I'll buy it."

The kiosks are scheduled to be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday.

Currently, prices are the same at the kiosks and in state-owned stores, but the PLCB said a small convenience fee may eventually be charged at the kiosks.

The program began only two days after state Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, unveiled legislation to privatize the wholesale and retail operation of the liquor control board. Mr. Turzai's plan would allow grocery stores to purchase liquor licenses through an auction of 750 licenses. He said he expects the auction to bring in about $2 billion for the state.

Nathan Benefield, a spokesman for the Commonwealth Foundation, which hosted Mr. Turzai's speech on Monday, said the kiosks demonstrate the lengths the PLCB is willing to go to avoid privatizing.

"It's a very complicated process to make themselves more customer friendly without allowing for more competition," he said.

Ms. Lubnow, who normally works as a clerk at a state liquor store near Harrisburg, said she believes the kiosks are simply an improvement on an already adept system.

Her advice?

"Leave it alone. It works fine just the way it is."

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