You may or may not be following this blog, but one thing needs to be made clear. Vending machine technology is changing.
It used to be that if you wanted to get your hands on a snack or something, you’d go to one machine. If you wanted a drink, you’d go to another machine.
The fact that you can go to a single machine now and get the things that you’re looking for all in one stop is pretty incredible. Of course, you still have to pay for both separately, but the point still stands.
Perhaps the most amazing thing, though, is that the technology is continuing to advance.
The United Artist Theater Circuit, for example, is testing out a new kind of vending machine that actually microwaves the food for you. Obviously, since it’s a movie theater, that means popcorn. But it also means such things as french fries, pizza, even chicken fingers.
You also may have heard of Coca Cola, and how they came up with a machine that raises the price when the temperature is rising. Obviously, we don’t recommend you do that. But they’re still noteworthy for doing things like pursuing customer loyalty programs via vending machine.
Other machines are learning how to communicate with the central databases maintained by the companies. They can tell what’s being vended, how popular the item is, and figure out what needs to be delivered when. In other words, it’s a more efficient system.
These are just some of the ways in which vending machines are becoming more exciting.
