The Rise of the Vending Machine

Vending machines have come a long way since the first one was invented way back in the first century. The machine invented by the Greek, Hero of Alexandria, dispensed a set measure of holy water when a coin was dropped through a slot that fell onto a pan. The increased weight of the pan pulled a lever that opened the water valve. The pan continued to tilt until the coin fell off, when a counter-weight was used to bring the lever back up which in turn turned off the holy water supply.

By definition a vending machine is a closed system that dispenses items for retrieval after the customer has inserted currency or credit.

Nowadays of course vending machines are very sophisticated and an enormous variety of products are available from them. You can vend anything from delicious hot panninis, refreshing cold drinks, hot beverages, confectionery, toys, jewelry or even fresh maggots!

The early hot drinks vending machines used powdered ingredients that simply added hot water to make the beverages. The invention of the brewing chamber enabled real tea and freshly brewed coffee to be available. Modern vending machines can now produce delicious hot beverages that can rival the quality found in the coffee shop.

Cold drink can and bottle vendors have improved in design too. The earlier models were simply a refrigerator with a class front and a simple gravity fed delivery system. When vended the cold bottle is dropped down to a collecting chamber near the floor shaking up the contents. The unlucky customer must first experience back ache retrieving the product before opening the drink only to find it fizzing up uncontrollably due to its method of delivery!

The latest models dispending chilled bottles and cans now use the x-y delivery system. The product is carefully picked up and smoothly carried to a collection port which is conveniently located at about waist height. The bottle is not disturbed, so no excessive fizzing and no need to stoop down to collect it.

To avoid the need for refunds which can be a costly procedure many machines now have a failsafe delivery system. If a product is not vended after a number of attempts, the machine displays a message to the customer requesting they make an alternative choice or a refund is given. Dishonest non delivery claims are all but eliminated saving on admin charges.

Payment methods have also improved considerably. Most machines will now give the correct change, accept tokens and offer many cashless and credit card payment options. A company in the US has even devised a system where payment is accepted via SMS text message! The customer texts their selection and receives back a numeric code to enter on the machine number pad. A charge is made to the mobile cell company for the particular product selected.

Innovation in the vending industry will continue to improve the choice and quality of the delivered product, together with security and payment methods.


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