Vending machines buck economic

slump by eyeing the future

These are tough economic times…even for machines.

The vending machine industry has tanked along with the rest of the economy. Many school districts have banned vending machines, citing them as a source of unhealthy snacks. As a result, the vending machine industry is making changes, trying to gear their machines toward a younger, more diverse demographic.

This new breed of vending machine will still take coins or cash, but it also accepts credit cards, debit cards, and payment by smartphone. It looks more like a giant iPad than a traditional vending machine. Touch screens will replace banks of buttons labeled with letters and numbers (no more M&Ms in E7).

Some of these new and improved vending machines were unveiled recently at a New York trade show. Innovative new vending concepts include social vending, smart vending, and talking machines.

PepsiCo has a prototype with an interactive touch-screen. Users can “gift” a beverage to a friend by entering the friend’s mobile number. You can even personalize it with a short video. Want to buy the world a Coke? Now you can! (Well, a Pepsi at least.)

Kraft is testing a touch-screen machine that lets you see close-up images of the package so you can read details such as ingredients and nutritional facts. It also lets folks buy multiple snacks at a time. The largest vending machine maker, Crane, has a machine that lets consumers buy snacks and drinks from several different machines but only pay once with a debit card, stored-value card, or smartphone.

Leonard Kang, a University of Chicago grad, has created the Ramen Noodle Station, which makes fresh, customized Ramen noodles in three minutes, while the VendEver Cotton Candy Factory, dispenses fresh cotton candy on a stick in less than a minute.

The variety of products available in vending machines is nothing short of amazing. If you look around you can still find classic vending machine products: candy, snacks, soft drinks, newspapers, cigarettes and condoms. But now Redbox machines allow you to rent DVDs. Many fishing piers have live bait vending machines nearby. Forget your iPod while traveling? No worries, just look for the Best Buy automated retail kiosk at the airport. It’s a vending machine that sells electronics, like digital cameras, Bluetooth headsets, noise-canceling headphones, and iPods.

Other off-beat items for sale in vending machines include medical marijuana, “gold to go” in Frankfurt, Germany, live lobsters, eggs, swimsuits, church candles, socks, shoes, ties, pizza, flowers, sushi, and umbrellas. The Japanese have some of the most bizarre vending machines on earth. Used women’s undergarments. Pet roaches. Beer, sake, and Buddhist prayer bead-rolls.

We have a few vending machines at work. They’re the old fashioned kind with metal spirals that twist and drop your selection into a trough. But the machine is stubborn. Sometimes you put your money in, the spiral turns, but your bag of chips doesn’t fall. That’s when you have to get physical with the machine, push and shove until it releases your chips.

My boss hates when people rock the vending machines.

“It’s dangerous, and you’re going to damage the machine!” he hollers. “If you don’t get what you ordered, put a note on the machine, and the guy will get it for you when he restocks on Friday.”

Makes sense, but I don’t want to wait until Friday to get my tortilla chips. I’ve got the munchies now, man!

My boss may find an ally in these new, high-tech vending machines, though. Most come equipped with internal cameras to prevent vandalism.

Looks like my days of raging against the vending machine might be numbered.