Facts of the Matter: Vending Machines
HOLY WATER may have been the first item dispensed from a vending machine. A Greek mathematician reportedly designed the first machine in 215 B.C. Since then, vending machine products have diversified.
IN 1926, cigarette vending machines were invented in the United States. More than 80 years later, a U.S. law banned them, except in adult-only establishments and in places where minors must be accompanied by an adult. That put thousands of machines out of commission. A 2004 study showed that Germany had 726,000 cigarette vending machines, or one for every 113 residents – likely the most per capita in the world that year.
SOME VENDING MACHINES accept currency other than money. Coca-Cola installed one at the National University of Singapore emblazoned with a “Hug me” logo – it gave out free drinks when people embraced the machine. In Korea, another Coke machine dispensed free beverages based on dancing ability – sensors detected how well a person’s dance moves matched choreography displayed on a screen. At the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, a Coke machine installed at Christmastime gave out beverages when people sang holiday carols.
FROM 1978 to 1995, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission reported 37 deaths and 113 injuries due to people shaking vending machines, trying to get free items or money. Manufacturers agreed to add warning labels, such as “Never rock or tilt. Machine can fall over and cause serious injury or death.”
U.S. VENDING MACHINES are expected to generate about $7.4 billion in income this year, and nearly $2 billion will come from schools. By late 2014, U.S. schools won’t be allowed to sell candy, cookies, or soda in vending machines.
THREE VENDING MACHINES around Los Angeles – including one in Hollywood – sell caviar. These “automated boutiques,” as the company calls them, dispense several kinds of caviar, including a 400-gram tin of beluga for about $1,600. In the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, a few vending machines dispense gold bars, based on gold prices that are updated every minute.
IN ITALY, vending machines can make a pizza from scratch in about three minutes. According to the Brussels-based European Vending Association, Italy had the most vending machines in Europe in 2009 – more than 614,000.
TODAY, Europe has about 3.7 million vending machines. The United States has about five million. So does Japan, the spiritual home of vending machines. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the country has one machine for every 23 people, including some that dispense cans of whiskey (using a smart ID card to prove drinking age), live horned beetles (1,500 were sold in one month), and tomatoes (intended for Tokyo marathon runners to reenergize). Some Japanese vending machines use technology to guess customers’ gender and age – and then recommend beverages for them. – S.A. Swanson