A few weeks ago, we saw a Shark Tank episode with a chap who developed a personal breathalyzer / smartphone app. The Atlantic posted an article about personal breathalyzers too. In both cases, there appears to be a low adoption rate for these devices. But the marketing seems to be going about this the wrong way. Most people I’ve encountered either restrict themselves to a drink or two (and only when they’re going to be hanging out for a while after drinking and before driving), don’t care enough to spend money on a personal breathalyzer, or really don’t care and have the state government install something in their vehicle as a part of the court proceedings. None of these make for a ready market of customers. Why not market this product to businesses. Restaurants and bars carry liability insurance, and one of the liabilities is that alcohol is served to someone who subsequently damages themselves / others / property. The server and establishment can then be liable for providing too much alcohol to someone who, literally, asked for it.

It seems, then, that the insurer should be able to provide a lower rate for an establishment with a policy of only serving to persons under a certain blood alcohol level. A real win for the manufacturer would be getting insurance agents engaged to market these to commercial establishments — you use these things, your premiums are reduced. Akin to the automobile insurance apps that monitor your driving habits in exchange for reduced auto premiums.