Facebook Places #fail?

So you rush to meet your friends at your favorite coffee hangout and you feverishly look for your favorite mobile appendage so you can click on Facebook and check in with Facebook Places to tell them where you are so they can meet you at the table in the corner. 

Right?

Wait, you're not doing that?

Apparently you're not alone. An interesting article article from a business site out of San Francisco details all the reasons why younger folks are not using FB Places in big numbers.

And they are not alone.  In a very unscientific survey of friends and co-workers most can count on less than one hand the number of their friends who are checking in using places.

Most cite the issues detailed in the article, lack of availability, favoring other geo-location sites like Foursquare, and the more than perceived continuing nagging privacy issues that continue to dog Facebook all across the board.

So, while Facebook continues to roll the service out around the world (this week it launches in the UK), the initial reaction here that began with great excitement, seems to have cooled to a yawn. 

I'm wondering if the launch of this service has finally put the social media darling in its place (s)?

Let me know if you and you friends are using Places.  Why? Why not?