January 17th 2014
Why has the most obvious solution to
reducing the DWI numbers been
overlooked?
A current study on the Bar Breathalyzer industry.
David Kreitzer
General Manager – Custom Control Systems, Inc.
[email protected]
Tom Schaeppi
Marketing Consultant
[email protected]
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A very logical and overlooked opportunity to make a difference.
There are many organizations that actively work towards decreasing drinking and driving across the
country, and even more organizations and corporations that support their efforts through donations and
sponsorships. These overall efforts can be categorized into two areas: Marketing and Tools.
Responsible drinking and driving marketing can be seen everywhere from billboards to television. The
marketing campaigns educate the public on the dangers associated with drinking and driving; loss of life,
family, loved ones, and jobs; and criminal penalties. While these are important messages that clearly reach
a majority of the public, drinking and driving continues to be a destructive social problem that we haven’t
resolved purely through marketing education.
Tools to combat drinking and driving include sober cabs, cab vouchers, bar staff training and other
methods that not only reach the intoxicated person in the bar before they leave, but help them make a
responsible decision and get home safely. These programs have become more innovative in trying to make
responsible decisions more attractive to the consumers. For example, a person may decide it’s worth the
risk to drive so they can get their car home. Today there are services that will provide a sober driver to
make sure both the car and person make it home safely. The tools have gained broad support from
beverage companies and other corporations sponsoring programs to help make it easier for an intoxicated
person to make a responsible decision when leaving the bar.
Ignition Interlock systems for vehicles is another method of deterring drinking and driving, if the driver
blows over a 0.07 BAC the vehicle will not start. Where many states have mandated the use of ignition
interlock systems for individuals convicted of driving with a BAC over the legal limit. Where this
significantly helps reduce the likelihood of repeat offenders driving impaired in their own vehicle, it
doesn’t help the vast majority of the public whom have not been convicted of a drinking and driving
related offense.
A vast majority of the public has never taken a breathalyzer test, and will not do so unless they are
subjected to a side of the road test. In surveys conducted by Custom Control Systems, Inc. of first time
DUI offenders in MN, 60% of the respondents felt that they were sober enough to drive and were under
the legal limit when they left the bar. 68% of the respondents said they would not have driven had they
known they were over the limit. Intoxicated bar patrons simply don’t have the means to make an informed
decision before leaving the establishment, often times assuming they are below the legal limit. The most
logical scenario to address this problem would seem to be to develop an accurate and dependable in-bar,
self-test breathalyzer.
Why hasn’t it Happened Yet?
Breathalyzer kiosks in bars aren’t a new concept, and their poor reputation stems from decades of inferior
technology that provided unreliable results and thus became a short lived novelty. To understand why
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breathalyzer kiosks haven’t been successful in bars, you first need to take into consideration how coinoperated equipment finds its way into the bars in the first place.
Virtually every bar in the United States has an exclusive agreement with a local Amusement Vendor.
Amusement Vendors own and operate everything from ATMs to pool tables, and share revenue with the
bar. Many of the existing vending companies are family business that have been operating for
generations, and have had poor experiences with breathalyzer kiosks in the past. Vending Companies
purchased the best available Breathalyzer technology, and due to space limitations in the bar, unreliable
test results and a lack of consumer interest, bar owners no longer wanted the Breathalyzer kiosks and
they became useless inventory in the vending company’s warehouse.
Vending companies and bar owners discuss what types of equipment are a good fit for the establishment
based on available space, demographics and what types of machines consumers are likely to use.
Ultimately, vending companies and bar owners collaborate to generate revenue and keep bar customers
entertained. Because bars are in the business of serving customers and a majority of the bars are not
interested in the capital and maintenance required to own amusement-vending equipment directly, most
bar owners seek partnerships in which they can lease space in the bar to vending companies for a portion
of the vending equipment revenue.
The occasional resurgence of bar breathalyzers in small pockets around the country has not been
generated by vending companies. A majority of the installations have been from business opportunity or
entrepreneurial individuals or bars buying breathalyzers directly. Today, one can find multiple companies
in the U.S. selling bar breathalyzers ranging in price from hundreds to low thousands of dollars. Many of
these companies rebrand equipment purchased from overseas and offer little if any support and training
to their customers.
This most often results in one of these scenarios:
1. The business opportunity individual is unable to find any bars interested either because of a poor
prior experience, liability concerns or they recognize they have an existing exclusive agreement
with a vending company;
2. The bar’s vending company enforces their exclusive agreement and the bar breathalyzer is
removed from the premise;
3. The technology and or maintenance is poor resulting in unreliable test results that drive
customers away;
Or, the business opportunity individual becomes disinterested with their investment due to low revenue,
reduces the amount of maintenance visits and ultimately the bar breathalyzer is removed.
Technology
There are three primary technologies used to identify a person’s blood alcohol content (BAC) using a
breath test: semi-conductor, fuel cell and spectrophotometer. The semi-conductor is the lowest quality
testing method and is most commonly found in lower quality consumer hand held breathalyzers. The fuel
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cell is the preferred method for the law enforcement hand held testing units that are used in the side of
the road tests and for ignition interlock systems. The spectrophotometer is often times used at the police
station and is the test used for criminal prosecution of drinking and driving over the legal limit.
For the most part, bar breathalyzers available on the market today use a fuel cell technology. The fuel cell
is a very reliable method to test for BAC, however, the use and design and thus the long-term reliable
operation of a bar breathalyzer is different from a law enforcement hand held design. A fuel cell that is
properly maintained could last up to 3,000 test cycles, however, failing to regularly check and calibrate
the fuel cell will eventually result in unreliable test results.
Invention and solution
Until recently, there were no bar breathalyzer manufacturers that fully understood the problems stated
above and the unique distribution model for amusement vendor equipment in the bar industry. Custom
Control Systems, Inc. (CCSI) which is the manufacture of the IntoxBox and is based in Roseville, Minnesota,
was formed to address the objections and issues raised over the years with the ultimate goal of setting a
new standard of accuracy and quality for bar breathalyzer kiosks.
The goal of CCSI is to provide an accurate breathalyzer kiosk that works consistently and reliably. One of
the contributing factors to fuel cells prematurely losing their calibration and consumers receiving
inaccurate test results is due to residual alcohol in the fuel cell test sample chamber. If an intoxicated
consumer blows into a bar breathalyzer kiosk, the breathalyzer kiosk is relying on the next person’s blow
to not only purge the residual alcohol away from the fuel cell but to also provide a new sample for their
test. This could result in the second person receiving a higher test result due to some residual alcohol in
the testing chamber; thus giving the customer inaccurate information. The IntoxBox addressed this issue
by designing a door that opens after each test and dehumidifies and evacuates any residual alcohol with
a small fan ensuring that the fuel cell testing chamber is always free from any alcohol after each test.
The door has a second function of allowing any liquids dispensed into the breathalyzer to drop out of
the testing chamber significantly reducing the possibility of the fuel cell being damaged or losing its
sensitivity.
Program not a Product
CCSI recognized that in order to achieve universal acceptance, the integrity of the brand is essential. As a
result, CCSI is dedicated to ensure kiosk maintenance and calibrations are performed on a regular basis
once an IntoxBox had been sold. CCSI sells the IntoxBox for placement in a bar or restaurant to existing
Amusement Vending Distributors, who in turn sells the IntoxBox to existing Amusement Vending
Operators. This decision was made for two strategic reasons: the Amusement Vending Operators already
have exclusive agreements with bars and they have skilled technicians that visit every bar on a monthly
basis. Because the decision was made to only sell into the existing vending company industry, CCSI is the
only breathalyzer kiosk manufacture that doesn’t sell to entrepreneurial individuals ensuring IntoxBox
operators are established companies with skilled employees.
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One of the common concerns raised by beverage companies, responsible drinking associations, vending
companies and bars is the accuracy of breathalyzer kiosks and the frequency of calibration checks. It is
critical for parties to know that every IntoxBox is being operated and maintained to the same standard,
and regardless of where the consumer is geographically located they can have the confidence in the name
IntoxBox, that it will give them a score they can trust is accurate. When an Amusement Vending Operator
purchases an IntoxBox, they are agreeing to a license to operate the IntoxBox subject to submitting regular
maintenance and calibration reports to CCSI. CCSI has the ability and contractual right to remotely disable
any kiosks that have not been calibrated within a specified period, typically within 60-days of the previous
calibration.
Building confidence among consumers is key to getting a larger portion of the population aware the
technology exists and is readily available at the establishment. CCSI provides IntoxBox customers with far
more comprehensive training, marketing support and customer service than other breathalyzer kiosk
manufactures. In addition to providing training materials for the vending operators, CCSI also provides a
Training Box for the bars at which IntoxBox is installed, giving the bar management information and Point
of Sale materials to increase usage and confidence in the accuracy of the IntoxBox results.
Responsible Advertising
The IntoxBox also provides a new advertising platform enabling companies to display a message on the
IntoxBox screen inside a drinking establishment and outside of the bathroom. From small companies
interested in specific locations to large companies looking for impressions where ever alcohol is sold, the
IntoxBox is a socially responsible platform with a 19-inch color touch screen capable of displaying picture
or video advertisements. This is also a great opportunity to reinforce responsible drinking and driving
messages, and that there are options to get consumers home safely. CCSI currently is partnered with and
displays advertisements for Minnesotans for Safe Driving and Drink Drive Intelligently; a MN based
designated driver program which also gets a customer’s car home safely.
CCSI has the ability to remotely access the entire network of IntoxBox kiosks to manage two types of
advertising: the advertising content that is displayed while the kiosk is not in use and the direct impression
advertisements displayed while the kiosk is being used.
When the IntoxBox is not in use, the screen displays a loop of 16 9-second advertisements: 1
advertisement for the establishment, 6 advertisements for an attract loop to draw customers to the
IntoxBox and 9 advertisements that are sold to 3rd party advertising customers.
When the IntoxBox is being used, there are 2 direct impression advertisements displayed at different
times during the test: once while the fuel cell is heating up and a second while the computer is analyzing
the sample. The direct impression advertisement has a captive audience of at least one person, and in
social settings, an engaged group of customers gathered around the IntoxBox.
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It’s time to look at Bar Breathalyzer Kiosks again!
We know from surveys conducted by CCSI that a majority of the public wouldn’t risk driving if they knew
they were over the legal limit. It’s becoming socially “uncool” to have a drinking and driving related
incident, and people don’t want to risk their lives or finances if they can avoid it. Where educational
marketing and even some of the tools available today have helped, the vast majority of the public still
walks towards their car not knowing what their BAC is. It’s like driving without a speedometer and hoping
to not get a speeding ticket. The IntoxBox can help bridge the information gap between wanting to make
a responsible decision and finding a safe way home by giving consumers an opportunity to make a more
educated decision.
People aren’t going to stop drinking, and they will continue to be faced with the decision of whether or
not to drive. The IntoxBox is setting the standard for how bar breathalyzers should be manufactured,
distributed and maintained in the US. Groups such as Minnesotans for Safe Driving and the Minnesota
Licensed Beverage Association have endorsed the IntoxBox because they see the potential in how the
IntoxBox can reduce drinking and driving.
The above data shows that it is time for more industry stake holders to once again evaluate the benefits
of bar breathalyzer kiosks and help educate the public that a new reliable tool exists to help accomplish
the overall goal of reducing DWI's and ultimately saving lives.
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