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Technology ArticleAll Types of Vending Machines A vending machine is a machine that provides various snacks, beverages and other products to consumers. The idea is to vend products without a cashier. Items sold via vending machines vary by country and region. In many countries, vending machines generally serve the purpose of selling snacks and beverages, but are also common in busy locations to sell other items such as newspapers. Some countries sell alcoholic beverages such as beer through vending machines, while other countries do not allow this (usually because of dram shop laws). A number vending machine is also used at many outlets, where a customer has to press a button on the machine and a number is printed on a slip of paper and the customer has to wait until his number is called by the service provider. Cigarettes were commonly sold in the United States through these machines, but this practice is increasingly rare due to concerns about underaged buyers. Sometimes a pass has to be inserted in the machine to prove one's age. In some countries like Germany and Japan, by contrast, cigarette machines are still common. Vending machines were used at airports from the 1950s well into the 1970s to sell life insurance policies covering death in the event that the buyer's flight crashed. Such policies were quite profitable, because the risk of any given flight crashing was (and remains) very low, but this practice gradually disappeared due to the tendency of American courts to strictly construe such policies against their sellers, such as Mutual of Omaha. Wikipedia Disclaimer Above information is from wikipedia and is freely distributed under the GNU license Also See: All Articles |