A question to ponder...similar to questions like "Why are we here?" and "Do I really have a soul?"

[Commander PK]

I have a question tonight for you, that I was forced to ponder over again this evening. A question I have already pondered many times before, without finding the answer.

Consider this:

The technological advances of mankind over the last hundred years or so are mind-boggling. We have invented machines that move on the ground, under the water, and in the air. Man has walked on the moon. We have put devices in orbit around the planet, which help us communicate with each other.

Computers, once so big they couldn’t fit in your living room, have evolved into devices that can be held in your hands, and carried in your pocket. Just in my lifetime, we have watched the quantum leap improvement in video game technology from Pong, to the most sophisticated console and computer games. Technology has advanced at a startling rate.

Just take a look back at all we have accomplished in such a short period of time…

and consider during almost all of that time, vending machines of some type have been in existence.

So why, WHY OH GOD?! Have they not figured out a way to stop those ****ing machines from eating your dollar! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Tonight, I put a dollar in a coke machine. The machine did not indicate it was sold out, until after I pressed my selection. Then I press the release button to get my money back, and I get back a quarter. I just paid Coke .75 cents for nothing.

This happens to me often. I know that it happens to you also.

All the things man can do, but he still cannot figure out how to make a vending machine, 100 year old technology, work like it is supposed to.

/rant

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

I think they're much better than they were when I was growing up (90s). I still have issues from time to time but they accept dollars in much worse condition then in the past. I can't remember the last time I've had to smooth a dollar out on some edge.

You are right though. It's crazy to think about the little things that haven't been fixed by the technological boom. I guess it's all about what makes money. (And for real, eating a dollar probably makes them much more money than finding a way to eliminate that mistake.)

[Commander PK]

This thread is to an extent of course, tounge in cheek. However, vending machines that do not work correctly are beyond irritating.

The main reason for this. If you go to a store, and buy something defective, you can simply take it back. If you buy a hamburger to specifications, and those specifications aren't met, you can go right back in and have them fix the problem.

If a vending machine robs you, you have to jump through hoops to get your money back. Hoops that make it not even worth fighting the battle. Which the vendor is no doubt counting on.

Vending machines are souless devils, that suck the life out of human beings.

[Conn]

I've always (somewhat jokingly) said that vending machines are programmed to steal one out of every 50 dollars, or something like that. Its free money for the vending machine company, because almost NO ONE is going to go through the process necessary to get back a single dollar or two. I start to believe it more every year

[polywog999]

When I used to operate vending machines back in the 90's, I would always gladly give people their money back. Machines that "steal" money are extremely bad for business- and whats a dollar?

Edit: No one has a soul. Instead, we have sawdust.

[THEREALTOR1]

I wonder how many scam artists have put soda machines out there right now, that were actually put out empty, with no intention of ever selling a single soda. I mean if you walk up to a vending machine you expect to get a soda, but if you don't, you typically don't follow up with anyone, you just say **** it, and go on. Are there "vending machine police" that actually go around and make sure that the machines are actually being filled with sodas? The guy that owns the machine could just come back to it every couple of weeks, pull the money from it, and go on his way, and never put a single soda in the thing.

[LD0506]

I wonder how many scam artists have put soda machines out there right now, that were actually put out empty, with no intention of ever selling a single soda. I mean if you walk up to a vending machine you expect to get a soda, but if you don't, you typically don't follow up with anyone, you just say **** it, and go on. Are there "vending machine police" that actually go around and make sure that the machines are actually being filled with sodas? The guy that owns the machine could just come back to it every couple of weeks, pull the money from it, and go on his way, and never put a single soda in the thing.

This ^^

The machines are working exactly the way they are supposed to from the perspective of the guys getting your $$.

[Botched]

Haha nice thread. Vending machines are better than they used to be, but still unreliable. I wish they'd get away from the revolving coil for snack vending machines. Watching those things uncoil is nerve-wracking.

[Kosher Ham]

The coils are indeed worse, nothing more irritating than standing in front of the snack machine and it get caught in the coil, or worse on another snack while falling. Then you have to either buy another bag to get the one you wanted, or shake the machine often in futility.

I like the soda machines where you can actually see the soda in the machine. Those typically work just fine.

Good thread. haha. I have soul. Maybe not a soul, but I love soul food, and music.

[Burgold]

Nice rant. On a philosophical note... what a rich and blessed life one can have that one can devote so much energy and thought into the loss of one dollar and the evil of vending machines. I think these are good barometers. When the little wrongs have the power to create outrage then most is right with life.

(At least that's what I tell myself as I'm cursing and throwing stuff during a Redskins' loss)

[Mr. Sinister]

The vending machine at my high school was the worst.

Around the time that I graduated, the cost of a soda was around $1.25, and we had the kind that came in bottles. Every now and then, the machine would mess up and give me the wrong drink, so instead of a Dr. Pepper, I'd get a pink lemonade, or a Dasani. :doh:

Also, like other posters have said, the refund button didn't always work properly, so you'd get stuck with a bottle of water, or nothing at all.

[Corcaigh]

Obscure fact you may not know:

Everyone's favorite rap metal band, Rage Against The Machine, named themselves after they paid a dollar for a snack, but it got stuck in the coils.

[Mr. Sinister]

Obscure fact you may not know:

Everyone's favorite rap metal band, Rage Against The Machine, named themselves after they paid a dollar for a snack, but it got stuck in the coils.

I heart RATM

[greenspandan]

it seems like there has to be a better way to dispense brittle snacks than dropping them from a great height. and yeah, those freakin coils seem to malfunction 50% of the time. what a terribly designed machine.

[Pick6]

The machines that take bank cards are nice. I just don't see them many places.

[SWFLSkins]

Machines are taking over I tell ya. And look at the message in blue, ave a nice........right, and I am sure someone tipped this machine when they also fell victim to the vending machine conspiracy.

[Chachie]

I was at an exxon station a while back a decided to use their car vac. I put in 75 cents and the vac didn't start. "Sorry. The machine isn't ours. I cannot reimburse you."

What the hell is up with that?

[Stew]

As I read this thread I think of the vending machine story I have, from when I worked for the County Govt as an office admin assistant in a County bus terminal. We had a vending machine in our outdoor lobby, and bc we were on County land, we also had a homeless shelter directly behind the bus station. So this vending machine had DC commuters using it every morning before the buses would go to DC and after work when the commuters would come home. They would also be used by local bus riders going to work, daycare, etc. Ok, so what I withessed was much like watching the evolution of primates discovering tools. It was nothing short of amazing to watch. At first a few homeless would panhandle in front of the machine for change, almost intimimidating the commuters, so the terminal made a complaint to the security company and these guys would get run off from the vending machines. Then what they would do, would be to crumple up a piece of paper and stick it up into the change return. When a customer would purchase something, they would get their snack or drink, and the change would fall like normal, only to be caught by the piece of paper in the change return. The customer would think the machine is broken and move on. The homeless guy comes by after the morning rush, and sticks his middle finger up in the change return, jiggling the paper stuck in the return, releasing four or five dollars in change that had been caught all morning. Repeat the process in the evening after all the commuters get off the bus, and head back to their vehicles. So we had the security company start checking the returns for paper, and we kept the change to return to customers who complained.

Well, after this little hussle game went on for a bit, the homeless got tired of getting their change snatched from them... the change they had been snatching from commuters, so they evolved. They began peeing in the return of the vending machines. When a commuter would come up, they would put their money in, and when they would reach for their snack the food is in a puddle of homeless urine. So it would either get thrown out or left there. The homeless guy would come and retrieve the discarded item, and take it to the bathroom, washing off the wrapper and he would then have his snack. Even if there were no puddle of urine, the smell from the evaporated urine was enough to deter commuters from putting their hand down there.

We then decided to remove the vending machines due to vandalism.

[Botched]

^ Wow. That is disgusting.

And as far as that picture at the top of the page, I don't know how that can be called a fail. I'd say that's a huge pile of win.

[Stew]

Public vending machines = :puke:

[Prosperity]

don't worry man, whenever a machine screws you over, some other guy gets a 2 for 1 deal at a later time... the universe retains balance

[SWFLSkins]

^ Wow. That is disgusting.

And as far as that picture at the top of the page, I don't know how that can be called a fail. I'd say that's a huge pile of win.

You can't get your hand in there, I tried and I tried.

[Mr. Sinister]

You can't get your hand in there, I tried and I tried.

That's what she said? ( Sorry, I had to )

[Predicto]

My dad once told me that when he was a kid, he worked in a hot dog stand on the Jersey Shore. It was on the Boardwalk, right by the ocean. Out front of the stand, there was a machine that vended fresh popcorn. It cost a dime. The place you put in the dime was a metal plate that was poorly grounded, so that you would get a small shock, especially if your hands or the dime were damp. Nothing serious, but a bit surprising, Enough to make you drop your dime... right over a big crack in the boardwalk. Several times a day, someone would yelp, stand up, and say "I dropped my dime and it fell down that crack." And Uncle Wes would just shrug his shoulders and turn back to his hot dogs. Not his fault.

Every week or so, a kid in the know (like my dad) could wriggle under the boardwalk and recover a couple dollars worth of dimes. This was a big deal in 1937.

No one ever saw the need to spend the money to fix that vending machine.

[Zguy28]

I have a question tonight for you, that I was forced to ponder over again this evening. A question I have already pondered many times before, without finding the answer.

Consider this:

The technological advances of mankind over the last hundred years or so are mind-boggling. We have invented machines that move on the ground, under the water, and in the air. Man has walked on the moon. We have put devices in orbit around the planet, which help us communicate with each other.

Computers, once so big they couldn’t fit in your living room, have evolved into devices that can be held in your hands, and carried in your pocket. Just in my lifetime, we have watched the quantum leap improvement in video game technology from Pong, to the most sophisticated console and computer games. Technology has advanced at a startling rate.

Just take a look back at all we have accomplished in such a short period of time…

and consider during almost all of that time, vending machines of some type have been in existence.

So why, WHY OH GOD?! Have they not figured out a way to stop those ****ing machines from eating your dollar! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Tonight, I put a dollar in a coke machine. The machine did not indicate it was sold out, until after I pressed my selection. Then I press the release button to get my money back, and I get back a quarter. I just paid Coke .75 cents for nothing.

This happens to me often. I know that it happens to you also.

All the things man can do, but he still cannot figure out how to make a vending machine, 100 year old technology, work like it is supposed to.

/rant

Next tim buy a Pepsi.