An online system to order liquor at a premium outlet of Bevco at Kadavanthra here has not succeeded in reducing crowding.
The trial run was rolled out in the district along with select outlets across the State on Tuesday, after crowding at liquor outlets came in for criticism from the High Court.
The system allows customers to order liquor and pay in advance through a portal and then collect the bottles from the outlet by producing an SMS reference number.
‘Two queues now’
“If anything, this has only created two queues at the outlet, one for the online customers and the other for those who turn up directly. The online system has evoked such response that two of the available six staff had to be assigned exclusively for that, adding to the overall burden,” said a Bevco employee.
A system that still requires customers to come to the outlet to collect liquor seems to be of little use. The reduction of staff at the outlet has not helped either. Earlier, there were six security employees, four of whom used to help with the operations inside the outlet. Now, just two security staff are deployed outside the outlet. “In effect, the outlet is left with just four employees if two are assigned to cater to online customers. They share tasks such as visiting banks, excise office, Bevco warehouse, among others,” said the employee.
Also, new printers and related paraphernalia with which the staff are yet to be familiar have added to the employees’ burden during the rush Onam season. A swiping machine that cannot be used for card transactions exceeding ₹10 lakh has led to frequent squabbles with customers. “Customers fume when asked to pay in cash at the last minute. It also leads to crowding at the nearby ATM kiosk,” said Bevco sources.
