You name it, and somewhere there’s a place where you can buy it right out of a machine! Let’s take a look at some of the weirder vending machines you can stick your money into.
Medical marijuana can be purchased from a vending machine in California. Yes, you have to have a prescription. In order to use the machines, you have to have an ID card, and you’ll be fingerprinted and photographed by a security guard at the machine site. See a video report here.
Nathan's Famous hot dogs in Coney Island is the site of the annual July 4th hot dog eating contest. Soon, New Yorkers will be able to get the famous dogs from a vending machine! They’ll be kosher, as the machines are run by Kosher Vending Industries, which already makes kosher pizza and other items available by machine. Only selected Nathan’s locations currently sell dogs with rabbinical oversight.
The Atlanta airport is home to a Zoom Shop machine that sells iPod Minis and Shuffles, along with batteries and digital cameras. There are similar machines at other airports. Have your credit card ready, this probably doesn’t take quarters! (image credit: sbisson)
The Hey Buddy! company makes vending machines that sell dog supplies, such as dog food, leashes, flea collars, chew toys, treats, waste bag holders and refills, and purified water. Check for a location near you.
Fishermen get up and go earlier than bait shop owners prefer, so the idea of a live bait vending machine makes sense, even if it seems weird. In 1993, fisherman Joe Meyer converted an old sandwich machine to a bait machine and sold it to a shop owner, who now has 30 machines and sells 10,000 night crawlers every week! Bait machines are refrigerated, and the bait is sealed in plastic bags with an oxygen tablet added.
They don’t expect you to buy food for crows; this machine is for the crows to use! The point of the experiment is to create a device that will train crows to pick up change dropped on the ground and exchange it for peanuts, using this specially-designed vending machine. See a video here.
Japan is vending machine heaven. You can get pretty much anything you like from vending machines. Sometimes a row of vending machines will replace an entire store! There are vending machines that sell pornography, bread in a can, and even fresh eggs. There are reports of fetish items still for sale in Japanese vending machines, if you know where to look.
Cigarette machines are only seen in antique stores in America these days, but they are still used in Japan, where the legal age to buy tobacco is twenty. New technology is being developed to keep underage smokers from using the machines. New machines require a “taspo” (tobacco passport) card, an ID issued by the Tobacco Institute of Japan. Manufacturer Fujitaka has another machine in development that uses face-recognition software to “see” how old the buyer is. The face recognition is around 90% accurate in judging a person’s age. It has yet to be approved for public use.
No, you don’t get to go for free everywhere. Some places still have coin-operated toilets. In Japan, you can use the facilities, but you’ll have to pay for the paper, at least in some public areas. But you might get lucky: Japanese businesses often hand out free samples as part of their advertising budget, since the individual packets have advertising printed on them.
This machine in Osaka is not exactly a vending machine -it’s a claw game! You pay your money and test your skills at catching a live lobster, which is also the prize. Have fun carrying it home!
Vending machines are so popular in Japan that they’ve been made into a popular toy, which in turn was the inspiration for these life size Coke Bots!
Medical Marijuana
Medical marijuana can be purchased from a vending machine in California. Yes, you have to have a prescription. In order to use the machines, you have to have an ID card, and you’ll be fingerprinted and photographed by a security guard at the machine site. See a video report here.
Nathan’s Hot Dogs
Nathan's Famous hot dogs in Coney Island is the site of the annual July 4th hot dog eating contest. Soon, New Yorkers will be able to get the famous dogs from a vending machine! They’ll be kosher, as the machines are run by Kosher Vending Industries, which already makes kosher pizza and other items available by machine. Only selected Nathan’s locations currently sell dogs with rabbinical oversight.
iPods
The Atlanta airport is home to a Zoom Shop machine that sells iPod Minis and Shuffles, along with batteries and digital cameras. There are similar machines at other airports. Have your credit card ready, this probably doesn’t take quarters! (image credit: sbisson)
Pet Supplies
The Hey Buddy! company makes vending machines that sell dog supplies, such as dog food, leashes, flea collars, chew toys, treats, waste bag holders and refills, and purified water. Check for a location near you.
Live Bait
Fishermen get up and go earlier than bait shop owners prefer, so the idea of a live bait vending machine makes sense, even if it seems weird. In 1993, fisherman Joe Meyer converted an old sandwich machine to a bait machine and sold it to a shop owner, who now has 30 machines and sells 10,000 night crawlers every week! Bait machines are refrigerated, and the bait is sealed in plastic bags with an oxygen tablet added.
Crow Food
They don’t expect you to buy food for crows; this machine is for the crows to use! The point of the experiment is to create a device that will train crows to pick up change dropped on the ground and exchange it for peanuts, using this specially-designed vending machine. See a video here.
Pornography, Beer, and Eggs
Japan is vending machine heaven. You can get pretty much anything you like from vending machines. Sometimes a row of vending machines will replace an entire store! There are vending machines that sell pornography, bread in a can, and even fresh eggs. There are reports of fetish items still for sale in Japanese vending machines, if you know where to look.
Cigarette for Adults Only
Cigarette machines are only seen in antique stores in America these days, but they are still used in Japan, where the legal age to buy tobacco is twenty. New technology is being developed to keep underage smokers from using the machines. New machines require a “taspo” (tobacco passport) card, an ID issued by the Tobacco Institute of Japan. Manufacturer Fujitaka has another machine in development that uses face-recognition software to “see” how old the buyer is. The face recognition is around 90% accurate in judging a person’s age. It has yet to be approved for public use.
Toilet Paper
No, you don’t get to go for free everywhere. Some places still have coin-operated toilets. In Japan, you can use the facilities, but you’ll have to pay for the paper, at least in some public areas. But you might get lucky: Japanese businesses often hand out free samples as part of their advertising budget, since the individual packets have advertising printed on them.
Live Lobster Claw Game
This machine in Osaka is not exactly a vending machine -it’s a claw game! You pay your money and test your skills at catching a live lobster, which is also the prize. Have fun carrying it home!
Coke
Vending machines are so popular in Japan that they’ve been made into a popular toy, which in turn was the inspiration for these life size Coke Bots!
pic: http://www.lidovky.cz/foto.asp?r=ln_ekonomika&styl=zoom&foto1=SVO19b7f3_ek5pivo.jpg
It's clean, but everything gets hosed down after each use... and being a girl, and there being no seat on the extremely high stool... my ass got completely wet. That's not bad though... the freaking toilet paper only allowed you like 4 sheets of that sandpaper crap that doesn't soak of anything. AWFUL.
We learned our lesson after that. Did what everyone else did, located the closest McDonalds and used their toilets.. even though those weren't any better...but at least they were free.
http://www.artomat.org
"Art-o-mat machines are retired cigarette vending machines that have been converted to vend art. There are 82 active machines in various locations throughout the country."
http://flickr.com/photos/cyberobin/981014135/in/set-72157601168297997/
Sadly, the marijuana vending machine was removed by force by the DEA in April. They just can't let us enjoy a good thing. *sigh*
I still see them around but now only at clubs and bars where you have to be at least 18 or 21 to get in anyway
also, i'm pretty sure youtube has a vid of the lobster claw game in action
In Pals, nothern spain there is a medieval curch with a candle vending machine, so the priest can be resting at home (in spanish)
http://www.nopuedocreer.com/quelohayaninventado/5908/maquina-expendedora-cirios-pals-girona/
The crow vending machine is truly awesome.
In my neighborhood in Rome there are 3 gorgeous cigarette vending machines, and that's only counting the once I know of. None of those require anything more than a few Euros! (no IDs, nothing) I have upped my cigarette intake by a 100%! God bless those crazy Romans, they honestly don't give a rat's culo when it comes to these things.
Other terrible practices they have done away with a)Paying for public transport b)Driving Sober.
Brings tears of joy to my eyes, just thinking about it.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1738258
Well that's not true is it.
They're in almost every pub I've been in (I live in England) and from what I've heard they're not too rare in America either - I haven't got first hand experience of that though.
And you just put your money in, no cards needed, if you're in the pub it's just taken for granted that you're 18. And it used to be 16 but the age is just going up for everything now which is ridiculous and if the drinking age goes up to 21 I will be the first to protest, even if it will only affect me for a few months.
Anyway I'm rambling and digressing. So yeah, cigarette machines shouldn't be on the "strange and wonderful vending machines" list.
this was extraordinarily frightening, given the fairly long journey through brightly-lit hallways to get to the cafeteria, and the ancient machine's inability to accept anything except quarters, and the loud crashing jangle the change machine next to the cig machine made.
ahh, memories. glad it didnt have age-verification. it even gave you free captain's keg-printed matchbooks if you pressed the button hard enough, even though the captain's keg closed twenty years earlier.
http://www.klix.com/klix/en-gb
I am wish to invite your company to form Joint venture to sell and promote your machine in my country and others .
we now have an art-o-mat® in atlanta. just, it is not posted on our site yet.
the venue is wonderoot.
http://www.wonderroot.org/
thanks!