I think it’s safe to say almost everyone reading this has purchased something from a vending machine at least once in their life. Maybe it was a newspaper, a canned drink, or a candy bar. Whatever it was, the machine dispensed a specific product once you’d paid the posted price.
Holy Water
The very first vending machine—at least the first record of one—is found in first-century Rome and was invented by Hero of Alexandria, an engineer and mathematician. The buyer dropped in a coin and received a measured amount of holy water.
- DYK Hero invented his holy-water-dispensing machine to keep people from taking more water than they paid for when in the Egyptian temples?
Fast forward to 1615 England. English taverns began selling snuff (tobacco) in coin-operated vending machines. Drop in a coin and the spring-loaded lid of the box opened, allowing the buyer to take out a pinch of snuff.
- DYK these snuff vending machines were called “honor boxes” because patrons had to be trusted as to the amount of snuff they took?
Post Cards
Modern vending machines first showed up in the early 1880s in English train stations and post offices. They originally only sold postcards, but due to their popularity, envelopes and notepaper were soon added.
- DYK inventor Percival Everitt chose to sell postcards in his vending machine because they were the newest craze in Europe? A picture postcard could be kept as a memento or sent home with a message when you were visiting abroad.
- DYK the picture postcard was invented in Austria around 1869? Its size and cost were standardized in 1874, making it the perfect product for selling in a vending machine.
- DYK Percival Everitt didn’t stop with his postcard vending machine. In 1887, he established a company that primarily installed and maintained vending machines. The company started with 1,500 machines around London, but soon branched out to other cities, selling quinine, chocolate, chewing gum, cigarettes, matches, and perfume. By 1901 his company was worth 1.5 million English pounds!
Around the World
Vending machines are now a staple around the world, but Japan is the country most in love with them.
- DYK Japan has a ratio of one vending machine for every 23 people? They got their first vending machine in the late 1800s.
- DYK the USA finally got in on the vending machine craze in 1888? They put gum-selling machines on New York City train platforms.
Products
While vending machines still sell what we think of as “normal” vending machine products, other goods now being dispensed may surprise you. How many of the following items have you purchased from a vending machine recently?
- Stamps
- Tickets (lottery, trains, subways, etc.)
- Cigarettes
- Condoms
- Marijuana
- Toilet Paper
- Pornography
- Books
- Short Stories
- Stamps
- Photos (photo booths)
- Artwork
- Electronics (smartphones, SIM cards, etc.)
- Automobiles
- Clothes
- Movies
- Life Insurance
- Prizes
- Food (candy bars, chips, donuts, etc.)
- Drinks (fresh squeezed orange juice, coffee, etc.)
- DYK you can buy French fries from a vending machine? Other machines sell ice cream, hamburgers, or pizza. In Beverly Hills, one specialized vending machine even dispenses frozen caviar!
- DYK there’s a vending machine that sells live fishing bait? No need to wait for the bait shop to open when you can buy live worms or crickets anytime at the local bait vending machine.
While more and more products are being sold in vending machines, one product’s sales are falling.
- DYK sales of single-sale newspapers sold in newspaper vending machines dropped from 46% in 1996 to 20% in 2014? Today, who knows how many newspaper vending machines even remain?
Popularity
The popularity of vending machines continues to increase, as has the diversity of products sold. They’re convenient and don’t cost a lot to opearte, especially as they move away from cash to debit and credit cards and mobile payments (payments made through a cell phone). So if you’re looking for a new business venture, maybe you should investigate vending machines.