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Shop Till It Drops
Ando Japando writes "There's an article on NYTimes.com about a new vending machine in the US. Unlike the typical machine, this one is 18 ft wide and takes up 200 square ft. Of course, the convenience stores are not sure if this machine is a boon or a boo, but many people like it because it doesn't take up a lot of space. It'd be really cool to see these all over the place. Others complain about the lack of human interaction and perceive it as dehumanizing. That may be true, but at least it's not a live bait vending machine."
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but something very much like it is quite common in Japan. The last time I was there, there was a beast of a machine that sold everything from fast food to condoms in the lobby.
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
I want my Big Gulp and my hot dog with onions with as little (sub)human interaction as possible. They should just retrofit existing convenience stores with androids that know how to make change and get more Coors Light suitcases out of the back and point out the aisle with the barbecue chips.
i buy stuff on the internet all the time. if it doesn't come or arrives broken, i am basically screwed and have to deal with RMAs and trying to get my money back.
if everything came out of a machine, if my merchandise doesn't come or arrives broken, i can kick the shit out of the machine. MUCH BETTER.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
...not sure if this machine is a boon or a boo"
A boon or a boo? WTF? Stop trying to be so clever with these idiotic catchphrases that sound extremely gay.
Removing human interaction is the trend, and it's going to keep happening. Two national chains that I know of off the top of my head : Sheetz & Wawa have both removed human interaction from the ordering process for food - you interact with a touch screen, and the order is printed for the human to process. For now - phase 1 - the human is still visible, and exists.
Look at grocery checkout lines - I'm sure you've all seen the image recognition lines that photograph and weigh your items and let you check them out yourselves.
I'm pretty sure we're going to tell our kids about the days you had to talk to people to buy things at the store.
I was in Sheetz once, and a man walked in and tried to order a sandwich. He was pressing buttons for quite some time and growing visibly more distressed, until after a while he looked over the counter and said "Can't I just talk to somebody?".
It became apparent to me after some reflection that the gentleman was illiterate.
All I know is, if that thing fails to drop my diapers, tipping it is going to be a bitch.
I'm just guessing, but that's probably the first time we've slashdotted a site pertaining to 'live bait.' That link was absolutely and totally random...
But the riaa.org hack is a LOT funnier, pity they've already figured it out.
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
I don't find it dehumanizing. I find it GREAT! Now I can buy the 75 pack of enemas and the forbidden magazines without that weird guy behind the counter looking at me like I'm a freak.
on the horizon... I hear they are planning a vending machine for body parts to be installed in large hospitals. Just insert your credit card and punch buttons to receive a lovely, hardly used replacement liver!
Sounds like this would be great in airports and other locations where there are lots of people of different cultures and languages, and often in a bit of culture shock. I love to find this machine when I have just landed in a country where I know little of the language and am too tiered to communicate using body language.
If you read a speed reading book, does it take you less time to read the second half?
what happens if products that expire, like eggs and milk, don't get "changed out" in time? What recourse do you have?
This machine is right down the street from and I have to say it is really cool. There are no 24 hour stores on that street or really anywhere within 5 blocks of there. It's also right in the middle of a bar neighborhood, so it'll help out with people and there late night afterbar munchies. I really just hope no one goes and starts vandalizing it
before i even checked out the article i was going to say that i'd seen one of these in adams morgan a block from the bfs' - i hadn't realized it was the only one in the US.
i haven't actually had the nerve to go up and use it yet, but it's a great idea considering there aren't any 24-hour convenience stores in the immediate vicinity.
I saw a program about Japan which featured a porn vending machine which was out on the street. Aside from the usual magazines and condoms, you could also buy a sex cup - a paper cup containing spongy jelly that you had intercourse with. Will the wonders of technology ever cease?
Imagine a grandma accidentially punching in the number for condoms, instead of her skin cream. No returns... very bad for customer relations.
I imagine they can save a couple bucks an hour on labor, but at what cost? You lose some business because it can't service you to all your whims. if something you buy is obviously defective, oh well. buy another one. That doesn't cut it with Real People. And how much does one of these cost? If it's, say, $200k (i'm guessing, wildly), plus service when it breaks down, plus electricity costs, plus someone who stocks the machine, is it really worth it to save the 50 thousand or so a year (365 days, 6 an hour, 24 hours a day)? Small regualr candybar/chip/pop machines cost up to 10 thousand up front, are produced by the masses and are already very accepted by society.
I'm really not seeing this thing becoming the all-answer to our problems, though it may have a niche market.
I'd put Mt. Dew, Maxim, spare computer parts, twinkies, golf balls, and of course supplies for when...
Like others have said, vending machines have been huge in Japan for a while now. I doubt, though, that the US will go in the same direction since we have plenty of people that are willing to work in a store that sells the same items. Right now it appears as though the cost of operation is too high compared to your classical convenient store.
And you'll need someone to keep the vending machines stocked anyway, especially when there is a snowstorm coming and everyone rushes the store for bread and milk (anyone from the Southern US knows what I'm talking about). Also, will the vending machine have to be over 21 to sell alcohol?
A computer is a valuable tool, so use it and stop whining.
now thats even more dehumanizing.
freak.
Most interaction with convenience store clerks is sub-human anyway. "Six fifty" and "Thanks" are usually the only words spoken, even when spoken to.
If they came up with a vending machine that had decent SDRAM and video card prices, I'm there...
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
If you`ve ever tried talking to the mongtard's who work in 7-11 (and..well, just about everywhere) you`ll understand why removing 'human' (barely!) interaction can only be a good thing. You`ll be served quicker, get the correct change and be otherwise unblemished by the common peasantry.
Keeps the bait out of the dairy case.
Supra et Ultra
Did anyone ever read A Stainless Steal Rat is Born? It's been a long time since I read it, but in the book the main character spends a good bit of time in an automated fastfood restaurant hiding from the police. It was really easy for him to steal food there since it had a built in test button that served up sandwiches to the back room, and since there were no employees noone was there to stop him (except the restocking guy, who came once a week).
The restaurant itself was really cool, a person would put in their order, and the automated system would have everything cooked and ready to go before the customer even got their money out to pay. Much better than McDonalds, which in some places can be slower than a sit down restaurant because the employees are so slow.
The machine's name is Shop 2000! I wonder how long it will take for the number 2000 to stop being associated with all things futuristic? 2010? 3000?
Knowing some people who worked at convienence stores, I would rather get my food from a machine than go to a store with some teenage punk working there who pissed all over some food or something because he got bored at 2AM.
The things those people do to the food (Just because they're bored mind you) is beyond most people's imagination. I'll take the machine thank you.
Not to mention in the end this lowers prices. So there's another good reason.
It sounds like there is something like a tape juke box system in there. They are hugely expensive to buy not to mention maintain. And this is verses paying somebody minimum wage. Also, of course, the RoboShop needs to be stocked by a human so why not have him/her tend store.
Yeah you're cleaver but do you have an action shot of the live bait machine? I do.
In Hot Springs, Arkansas (yes, home to the Bubba goes to Washington movement) near a marina on Lake Ouchita (sp?) called Mountain Harbor, there is indeed one of these beauties (or there was 5 years ago) providing live bait for all...and yes I had to take a snapshot. It's quite a sight. I had more fun with that than the skiing. =)
Unlike the typical machine, this one is 18 ft wide and takes up 200 square ft. [...] many people like it because it doesn't take up a lot of space.
Sorry, but 200 square feet seems like it takes up a lot more space than a "typical machine."
...you've ever slashdotted yer live bait website ;-)
LOL!
It takes up 200 square ft. Instead of a 2500 square ft shop. But stocks only 10th of the products.
Doesn't seem much more dense to me..
This machine is about a half-block from my house. It's amazing to see the faces on people as the pass by the "store." Everyone is just itching to buy something, I think more to see all the machinery at work than because they need anything.
One of the benefits of its success around the US might be the reintroduction of dollar coins. I'm not sure how it gives change now, but I hope it doesn't drop up to $5 in quarters like our metro ticket vending machines.
"Whoever made this is a genius. A guy in the store can make a mistake or give you a hard time, but not the machine. I definitely prefer the machine to a person."
Just wait until this fellow puts in five dollars only to see it disappear without a trace, or until that packet of Pop-Tarts gets stuck halfway off its little rack and won't drop however much he kicks the machine. He'll start looking for someone to whine to about getting his money back.
Ah, well, I shouldn't complain. I work for a company which thinks that providing us with a couple of tables, a Coke machine and one of those automat machines which dispenses packaged Danish and five-dollar sandwiches satisfies their obligation to provide us with a cafeteria.
hyacinthus.
I have to agree with the critics on this one. This might be a good idea in a few select locations (high crime, etc...) but for the most part it's too dehumanizing for american culture.
Besides, of the "four C's" mentioned in the article (cigarettes, cold drinks, candy, and coffee) three of them already have dedicated vending machines, and the fourth did for a long time until they became illegal (at least in CA). There's still a place for convenience stores.
Even at 2:30am in the morning, when I stop in for a coffee and some sort of warm snack in the middle of a road trip, the small amount of human interaction I receive there is important.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
.. but why not? Humans basically suck anyway...
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
But what's to stop someone determined from throwing a cinder block through the glass panel? Maybe it's really strong Plexiglass or something, but I'm sure a really determined person can get right through it. It'd be very obvious that you were robbing it (people chucking cinder blocks through windows don't tend to go unnoticed...), but I think it would be definitely possible. I'd actually be more worried about theft from this than I would from a store.
________________________________________________
suwain_2
Dell, no... Compaq, definitely not.... Gateway, there it is; B-2 [punches B-2 into vending machine]. [Metal coil uncoils and pc tower drops **clunk**] [open flap and pull out computer]. ... [doesn't uncoil and gets stuck in machine] [now you start shaking it]... [monitor starts to fall]... **clunk** **crash**. Not another broken screen.
Now i just need a monitor.... C-7
Jonahweb.com has stuff.
I worked at a Sheetz for almost two years (it was decent money). I had to work both the register and in MTO (made to order, the food part). Most people actually love the machines, especially if they have kids. It talks to you (which gets old real quick if you have to work there) and you can punch in for a special order if you need to talk to someone. Or you can always shout. But there's pictures on all of the icons too, so the man you're talking about probably wasn't just illiterate, but possibly half-blind and lonely as well. The only problem is the machines have touch screens that eventually wear out, and it can be difficult to push the buttons once that happens. The flat screens have a slot for a credit card on the side, and are the same exact machines you see the employees using at the register (room for future expansion maybe?).
Essentially, it's the equivalent of removing waiters from restaurants. You can automate order taking, but you'll never replace the chef.
login: generic99
password: generic
Someone probably beat you to it, and its in the queue to be published later today. Chill out.
Will there also be a vending machine that sells vending machines?
Just wait until this fellow puts in five dollars only to see it disappear without a trace, or until that packet of Pop-Tarts gets stuck halfway off its little rack and won't drop however much he kicks the machine. He'll start looking for someone to whine to about getting his money back.
If that were a problem, payphones would never have taken off, nor indeed any other sorts of vending machines. There's probably a label on the front giving a number to call if there are any real problems. Route this number to a depot and one maintenance man's territory is simply a function of how frequently the machine fails.
I recently realised that in the states "video/dvd renting vending machines" aren't the big thing. I just don't understand why.
In Spain, France, Italy... most of Europe really... you find these cool little machines, about twice the size of a coke vending machine, where you can rent over 500 vhs or dvds any time of the day. Most of them don't require a membership card (which a f'ing annoying anyway), just a credit card. If you return the video within a few hours you pay much less. If you don't return it, they just charge your credit card. Simple and fair. No hazzle.
But yeah... why aren't these machines the bomb in the States, where vending machines are so normal? Any thoughts?
-Kraft
Live and let live
"It's pretty cool," Mr. Roman said. "Whoever made this is a genius. A guy in the store can make a mistake or give you a hard time, but not the machine. I definitely prefer the machine to a person."
At least I can complain to the guy in the store. It is much better than calling some 800 number and waiting several weeks.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
Could anyone find any place with more pictures of it/it working? The article was quite limited in that area.
that is the problem with this site is that by the time they post news it is "old" news.
Dude, we have a live bait vending machine right outside the local sporting goods store...it's cool as hell. Once in a while my son and I go fishing....there's nothing cooler than picking up some donuts then stopping by the Bait Machine for a carton o' worms.
7x24 worms. I like.
I saw these thing pop up in major metropolitan areas in Germany over 10 years ago. Funny how the beer and wine shelves were always empty at 4am on a Saturday morning.
I am all for these actually. Everything is priced right. You don't have to repeat yourself to someone who's native language isn't your own.
I would love to see a supermarket setup like this. Just drive up after the order you submitted online is complete, insert your ID card and out comes your goods. Already bagged and good to go.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear to be bright. Until you hear them speak.
Dehumanizing is a good thing, here is the human experience: "Can I use your bathroom." noisclose "Sorry, I didn't hear you" no-is-close "I still can't understand what you are saying." IT'S LOCKED!!!!!!!! "Ahh. Okay, I get it now! Yeesh."
This thing screams japan.
.. ANYTHING.
.. i was greeted by the teenage teller pocketing all the pennies from the penny cup.]
.. but I was in a strange area that I had never been to before. I wan't to know what the excuse of the folks who WORKED on the street and still didn't know it was.
.. imagine if you could pay it a buck and get printed directions ..
.. it probally would get them from map quest :(
200 ft is much less than another 2500 foot store hawking t-shirts and boardwalk crap in Ocean City, MD [where i think these things would clean up!]
Rather than have 100 shops that all sell suntan oil, 70';s iron on decal t-shirts, and assorted crap, put a dozen of these babys in, free up all that space, and put more restraunts, or hell
what i don't understand is folks complaining about how dehumanizing these are.
How is the 'inhumanity' of this machine a factor? Does the bored teenager/non english speaker/insaine freak behind the counter at a 7-11 REALLY provide you with a pleasant and memorable transaction? [Last time I walked into a 7-11
Or what about when I walk into a gas station and can't find a single person there who can speak the native tounge of the area. (english.)
No joke, maybe im just getting old, or maybe its different in New England or something, but when I was a kid - i remember being able to stop at a gas station and ask directions.
Last week I was looking for a Dr.'s office in Towson MD. I stopped at a gas station and asked them where [X street was]. They had no idea.
[or I gathered they had no idea, as they kept shouting 'no english, IDUNNO' at me.
I gave up asking the attendants, and called the dr.'s office from the phone outside the gas station. The receptionist answered the phone, and when I told her where I was - she answered cryptically "Turn around."
I did, and she was waving at me from inside the office across the street.
Ok - bad on me for not realizing I *wasn't* lost
of course, these machines don't have a map module yet . but GAWSH
then again
--Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
In issue 33, June 1957, Mad Magazine has an article called "Vending Machines of the Future." Including are such oversize machines as the Auto-Vend, which dispensed new cars for only 10,000 half dollars and the wife-o-mat, which seems like a great deal at only 20 half dollars.
Finally, there is the vend-o-vend, which is the ultimate in future vending machines which dispenses a vending machine. This will in turn dispense a vending machine and so on. The final vending machine will dispense a dime for the first vending machine and the whole mess starts again...
I work 2 blocks down the street from the damn thing... The prices are outrageous... but... if you need diapers, condoms, or candy at 3am its a godsend. On another note, Adams Morgan consists mostly of low income housing and bars... and if some teen(s) in that housing or even the drunk fratties that frequent the area are willing to buy condoms from that thing instead of not at all, then the world is a better place because of it.
i didnt know you had to practice that sort of thing. same as doctors.. dont 'practice' just be good at it. j/k love you guys (girls)
And I disagree with the the editor guy who said "I'm concerned about the people this is going to put out of work," Don't look at people as something that needs to be kept occupied. Think of all the more usefull things people can be freed up for when machines handle simple repetitive taskes. After all, is it a bad thing that there are soda vending machines instead of some guy spending his day standing at a vending stand selling the sodas? Is it bad that traffic lights have taken the place of a policeman standing in the intersection directing traffic? What about the poor scribes who are out of work now that we have copying machines? These people are all freed up to do something more usefull, and hopefully more interesting. This sort of progress is good.
Others complain about the lack of human interaction and perceive it as dehumanizing.
If you have to count on going to the convenience store for your human interaction you've already been dehumanized.
As touched on in the article, vending machine rule in Japan. We probably won't be getting the beer machines here, even though a machine is probably better at checking IDs.
A toy store in the Ginza area has a giant vending area outside where there's Barbies and such going up to $100. Giftwrap is also included.
Near where my Mom lived there was an egg vending machine. Best I could figure it was stocked by farmers just outside town. I thought it was a great idea. A very inexpensive storefront for the egg farmer. I wouldn't see that as dehumanizing, but rather a way for the farmer to sell his eggs direct in an affordable manner.
a vending machine is dehumanising? are they trying to imply that working in a convenience store is not dehumanising? i suggest they go try it.
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
At least not until they make one that dispenses the latest neighborhood gossip with each purchase, gives credit to regular customers, and sells dime bags under the counter.
Here is a description of the catsule hotels
Re: Your .sig
The phrase should be "I never apologize. I'm sorry but that's just the way I am"
I hate those automated checkout machines at the grocery store...maybe it goes back to the UI class I had in college, but those machines don't "afford" usability, as my professor might say. It doesn't make sense to me to keep trying to scan things til the machine gets it right, then rotate the little baggy carousel, fill the next bag, and so on; particularly if I have a very large cart load, so there isn't enough space on the carousel.
:)
Maybe, despite my course work in CS, the fact that I can build a pc and write code, the fact that I figured out my microwave, stereo system, and telephone, maybe I'm just dumb
What is your Slash Rating?
"You can track sales remotely by dialing the machine's computer to find out exactly what's left of each item," she said. "If the machine stops or has a problem, it will call your pager and e-mail you."
Now where did I put that wardialer of mine?!
oh, never mind that we have a 24-7 Giant supermarket (a clean one, too!) and a 24-7 Home depot (word of warning: don't buy new closet materials at 11:30pm on a Saturday, there is 1 check out line and 4,000,000 people on it) in gaithersburg/rockville,
I'm totally there!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
It seems reasonably popular (if only for the novelty value) and the prices are similiar to 24-hour convenience stores. It has had a few teething problems though, as I regularly see "out of order" signs. I've even seen a rather angry man boot it a few times for taking his money.
Does anyone else remember the Internet Coke Machines, that you could finger and it would tell you how much of what kind of coke it had, and how cold it was (based on how long it had been in the machine).
Combine the two concepts (the Vendotron and the Net Accessible inventory) and you have a winner.
Sure, finger would need to be replaced with a web interface, but that can all be scripted...
- Serge Wroclawski
You also save a bundle on real estate - probably more than you would ever save on the personnel.
I like the idea. Sometimes I'm just not sociable, and I just want to get my stuff and get home without having to interact with anybody. Some people have it far worse; a social phobia can make going to a store a nightmare for them. This is a great, low-pressure way of doing small shopping without having to flash a false smile at some inane, equally fake, greeting from a cashier, or be looked at as a jerk because you could not give exact change.
/Janne
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
dialing, that is. If voicemail passwords are any indication, the remote access pword shouldn't be too hard.
"You can track sales remotely by dialing the machine's computer to find out exactly what's left of each item,"
Someones going to have a ton of fun with this feature.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
All those poor convenience store clerks. They spent thousands of dollars on their education, spent years practicing their profession, and now they're being put out of work by a box. Unfair! Strike! Boycott!
We've had these for years now, here in Belgian. Even the place my parents live (a small town on the countryside) has a few of these. There are especially popular when you don't have much time, or during the night, when while hacking on that big project at 3 AM, you realise you are hungry and are out of Dorito's and Coke...
Yeah, the California "starbucks" act has made automated coffee vending machines illegal.
Seattle is next!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
"but many people like it because it doesn't take up a lot of space."
what?
People complaining about the dehumanizing are technofobes, imho.
These things are perfect when you need something when the "human" stores are closed (don't tell me all the shops you know are open 24/7). Or when you wake up on a holiday and realise you ran out of bread/butter/milk/whatever and all shops are closed... come'on we all experienced it at least once!
It contains one tenth of a normal store, so will it put the normal stores out of business??? Sure... just like television made the newspapers disappear, and internet killed television...
Beware of Programmers who carry screwdrivers. -- Leonard Brandwein
The NYT article didn't include a picture, but this page on the Shop 2000 web site does.
Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
Given my experience with getting directions from gas stations in DC at night,
I'll take the machine! Especially if it SELLS A MAP of the district!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I was in South Carolina a couple og weeks ago, and they had the live bait vending machine at a local mini-mart. I wonder if 7-11 plans on cashing in on the new trend. Nothing like getting your sunday paper with a bowl of night crawlers
I'll be impressed when the US finally has machines that I can purchase and pay for items with my cellphone.
In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!
I am certain any company with any sense will have a 1-800 number on such a machine that you can call if you have problems, either with the machine or with the merchandise.
My biggest concern is that it better not have a single customer interface, because that's a major bottleneck. I'm not going to want to stand in line behind some dillhole who can't work a wristwatch, let alone a big-ass vending machine.
I do not have a signature
We have these standing in Belgium for years and years...
They're great at the middle of the night (if the local Pakistani is out of his shop:)
Well, I used to look at technology in the opposite way: US, Europe, Japan, and wonder if this new way of progress through the world is a new trend.
maybe it isn't: http://www.engrish.com
"The public needs to get used to these kinds of stores, but I think it's inevitable that they will."
I thought the rule was the market responded to the consumer, that was supposed to be what was so great about a market econonmy. Obviously that is not always the case. Here is an example of the market dictating to the consumer.
By the way, who are these people who have to buy a DVD at 2am?
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Eh. Nah. There's no one at the machine to run back to crabbing that you didnt get what you wanted. I bet 99% of people will cool off and just forget about it by the time they feel like calling the company up and going through a process. The bigger things get, the worse customer service gets. I mean, why bother? If you're a little company, sure, begging for that last 10% of the scraps is what gets you ahead, but eventually its old hat, you have all the money you really need.. and you have your local monopoly... so who cares? Let em try and find something else to eat! I completely respect the path of least resistance. Thats why I say, if you're too dumb to use the vending machine in the first place, well... go hungry! It's a self solving problem, cause if too many dumb people die off, we'll have to start thinking about good customer service again!
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
We had a similar thing almost 10 years ago in the Netherlands. No-one bought anything from the machine. Within 6 months the damn thing was gone. There were all kinds of issues with it, vandalism, malfunctioning equipment, products passed vending date etc.
I can see the convenience of such a machine but i can't say i like them. Aside from no human interaction there are more things about it that doesn't appeal to me. First of all is that the product range is limited, for some reason alot of products are more expensive then normal store offered ones. And you can't easily get a refund if some product isn't good or past it's vending date.
I'm amazed that there is so much interest in live bait vending machines. Take a look at the counter at the bottom of the page. Who would have guessed there would be so much traffic for a web site in that industry.
Looks like I've found my next career move, since IT is down. From the looks of that single page, I'd have to guess that live bait vending must be a multi-billion dollar industry.
Who knew?
It's a machine. It's bound to break. It's bound to get jammed.
"Honey, will you run to the store and pick up some eggs?"
"I can't, the 7-11's broken again"
The capsule hotels are for real. It exists to fill a market niche.
Subways in Japan are (reasonably) cheap. Taxis by contrast cost a nut. The subway closes down at midnight. If you get caught out after the last subway leaves, and you're living in the 'burbs, you're looking at dropping a Benjamin or two in order to get back home.
So what's a party guy to do other than sleep it off in the gutter?
Answer: the capsule hotel.
In a park around my house in the summer time... they have this french fry vending machine which cooks your fries on the spot... can you imagine eating fries made by some greasy machine which has been sitting out in the open for days ? disgusting!
a woman walks into a bar. she asks the bartender for a sexual innuendo.
so the bartender gives it to her.
MORTAR COMBAT!
When I was in Cannes last year they had one of those things every few Kilometers. Very handy and not terribly expensive. You got the basics, and all it really was, was a 7/11 in France. Nothing really was open after 11 there so if you wanted a Yugo at 12am then you could go and get on there for about 7 francs. They sold bread and sandwiches and stuff but I never dipped into them.
I remember seeing this same thing years ago on a replay of a newsreel from the 50's, they had done a whole grocery store like this. I gotta see if I can find it (prior art ;)
...more than a few people are feeding it their cash and credit cards.
Oh, great. Now I not only have to worry about people stealing my credit card numbers off the Internet or out of the dumpster receipts, I'll be able to stay up nights wondering if someone's stolen the computer out of a vending machine that memorized it.
What happens when the entire low-wage, service industry switches over to automated kiosks and such? Not everyone can be a software developer or mechanical engineer or [insert high-paying, college education required job here].
What are all of the [insert whatever stereotype you prefer] going to do for work when all the low-wage, QuickieMart/GasStation Attendant, etc jobs are gone? Like it or not, this isn't Star Trek, where everyone is highly educated and unemployment is non-existent. Something to consider.
There is no "human" interaction at convenience stores now. Close encounters with alien life maybe...
News for the CFD community http://www.cfdreview.com
There's something similar here in Utrecht, the Netherlands to the above mentioned machine only the one we have is about 12 feet wide. Its maintained by the supermarket next to it (Albert Heijn), and is especially popular on sundays, when all supermarkets are closed (stupid, yes I know) and people forgot to buy food on saturday for sunday... or they're just craving for some potato chips. They sell everything from sandwiches, drinks, candy, magazines, condoms, bread.
:-)
You punch in a code in the machine, and a basket goes towards the place the product is in. The machine then shoves the product by way of some sort of internal conveyor belt into the basket. The basket then places it into a receptacle in the wall which opens up and you can take your product.
Very useful, although it does seem prone to breaking down. There are times when it isn't working. And of course the long lines on sunday are a little discouraging at times...
Cheers,
Costyn.
The Official Steve Ballmer Webpage
Losing 25 cents in a pay phone isn't too bad, but $10 or more would piss you off.
When you mentioned the MAD magazine article, the writer and artist of that article most likely remembered the Automat restaurant near Times Square that served food dispensed from vending machines. Little did they know that modern technology has taken what that article mentioned into near-reality.
These Have been around for years in other countries. There is one in the Hauptbanhof (main station) in Zurich. No one there really seems to give it a second thought. It only comes to mind if you need something at 3am, when most shops (in that city) are long closed up. In the US, considering the abundance of 24 hour kwik-e-markts, its probably just a target for vandalism.
http://www.shop2000online.com/features.htm says that it's "Windows NT based"
http://www.shop2000online.com/ourproducts.htm says that it has "Real-time access via modem"
Google search for Windows NT DUN exploit turns up 787 results.
I wonder how up-to-date they would keep these things with service packs...
If you want human interaction, you can always thank the person who just made your sandwich.
kinda neat to see the slashdot effect in action with that little web counter at the bottom of the live bait page: http://www.agthompson.com/livebait.htm
http://www.shop2000 online.com/
...do you shake this thing if it eats your quarters without giving you your snack? Use a forklift?
Others complain about the lack of human interaction and perceive it as dehumanizing. I only go to gas stations that have credit card pumps just to avoid this 'human interaction', as I am sure a lot of others do also. Sorry, but talking to the convenience store clerk is not the highlight of my day.
well, if i understand (feet ?? hey, meters !!!), it's something like this. it's a European company that started at first in Belgium and France, and it's very very common here.
You also have tons of automatic dispensers (machines for coffee, sodas, sandwiches) of much smaller size everywhere, but i think it should exist in the US. However i'm surprised that such shops didn't exist before.
I remembered the name and looked it up on the web. Here's the URL: http://www.yatoopartoo.com/.
Here's a good close-up of the machine.
And here's the window.
I'd love to see one of these at London Waterloo station.
- Peter.
live bait might not be such a bad alternative.
- Bill
The key problem appears to be how to handle failures. It's one thing to fill out a little envelope and get some change back if it rips you off for a Coke.
But do you think that if it robs someone of $50 they won't drive their car into it? They'll definitely need a phone on it and then you'll be stuck talking to Ahmed anyway
"Hey man it ripped me off for $25!"
"Is no work?, sorry nothing to do buhbye."
...is to have the vending machine goes online. u order online, it tells u the location of the closest vending machine and package ur order. u go to the vending machine, enter the code (or whatever) and pick the package up and go home.
The Mads already invented that on MST3K. Dr. Forester put TV's Frank's Liver in one for demo purposes.
Don't remember which movie they were doing though. I think it was a Joel Episode...
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
I think that at this point, a credit card is the *standard* way of paying for gas. It's faster, easier, and more convenient. Slide card in, start pump, and a minute or two later, take receipt and go.
Mobil goes even further with SpeedPass, which authenticates even faster than a CC.
One of the things I HATE about living in NJ - There are labor laws that *REQUIRE* gas to be pumped by an attendant.
Guess what - At the Hess station near where I live, the attendant takes your credit card, and just slides it into the pump. Something I could just as easily do myself...
I hear that supposedly in some places in Europe mobile phones have enough market penetration that they can be used as a form of payment. (I believe similar to calling a 1-900 number... You can dial a number to pay for, for example, a booth at a golf driving range.) I could be WAY off on this though.
And don't forget EZ-Pass, automatic highway toll payment.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
they're very nice,
except they had a problem here in belgium because kids were getting alco-pops(lemonade flavoured alcohol) during their lunchbreaks..
Oooh, open source jokes.
A woman walks into a pub and asks the barman for a sexual innuendo. He slips her one.
...some of the profits of that machine needs to go to paying an income to an unemployed person. Then someday, the majority of people will be free of the slavery of work, supported by the robots! Bring on the unemployment! Free humanity!
Going a step further, the truth is in the end we as a society get what we want. I see a parallel here to the Wal-Mart phenomenon, people screaming and crying because we lost "Main Street America" and all the quaint little shops ran by friendly old people, now run out of business by the huge, cold, evil product-dispensing Wal-Mart juggernaut.
Why did it happen? With evil corporate tricks? Smoke and mirrors? No; it was because people like it better this way. We like getting everything we need in one place, getting it quick, getting it cheap. Those little mom and pop shopkeepers screwed me over far more often than Wal-Mart ever could. You think Old Man Funkle from down the street had Wal-Mart's "return anything for any reason for a refund" policy? Hell no. He smiled at us as we came into his little shop, place smelling like cigar smoke, and he gouged the hell out of us. His selection sucked, it took forever to get checked out...
We have moved on. We need toothpaste, diapers, aspirin. We don't see getting those necessities as some wonderful opportunity to make new friends. If we could snap our fingers and make that stuff magically appear in our cabinets, we'd do it.
With the machine, we've taken the next step. There is no line (or at least less of one), there is none of that annoyance we get with humanity. When I want a conversation I'll talk to a friend. When I want a box of kleenex, I'll go to the Kleenex machine. If something has been lost, it is solely because we chose to lose it.
Phallic Symbols in LOTR
We have an Exxon near our office building where the person behind the counter will continue a conversation with a fellow employee throughout your transaction. In fact, she can do the whole thing without saying one word to you, and without making eye contact once.
Give me the vending machine over her, anyday. With the human, it could be indifference in general, it could be that my deodorant stopped working, it could be that my clothes aren't hip. At least I know that it doesn't care because it's a machine.
I used to work there when I was in college, and I would have loved to have an automated system for taking sandwich orders. I'm sure it's just there for efficiency, not to replace humans. It's not much fun when you have five people at the sandwich counter at lunch tripping over each other to take orders then go back and make the sandwich.
Anyway they are NOT a national chain, as the original poster stated. They only exist in a handful of mid-atlantic states. Since I now live in the Boston area, they are one of the things I miss.
This reminds me of the vending machines described in Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series.
Especially in "A Rat is Born" where Jim and the Bishop live in a automised fast food porcuswine vending machine indefinately.
It's not a troll, it's a fairly clever sarcastic comeback.
I am so sick and tired of the fucking clerks at the stores around here. They forget to give you a quarter, or a dollar here and there, and most people just walk away oblivious to it. It really, really pisses me off. They don't take money from me.
I use a credit card at a gas station or in a way the clerk can't see my number as much as possible. Practically all of them are thieves, even the ones I know and get along with.
human interaction is the last thing I want when buying things - I go to bars for human interaction, at a store, I just want to get my stuff and get out, as quickly as possible. the less semi-literate abrasive humans stand between me and my purchase, the better.
sic transit gloria mundi
Again, web sites get hacked all the time. Why does it "matter"? Who cares?
Hmmmmmm...live bait.
Point to note:- No, the machines don't accept dollar bills. Instead, they accept a cashcard for payment. I have a cashcard, but no, I never purchase anything from there. It's always more fun explaining how a cashcard works to that dumb hot babe at the counter... ("Hey, your queue is growing longer; tell you what, I'll pay now in cash. May be we could meet on Saturday night and I'll show you how I buy drinks with this? ")
More than mere navel gazing.
-- Tristero
I've seen a number of people here claim that North American culture "demands" the rental store experience. Something about wandering around with friends endlessly, buying snacks, holding the boxes, etc. Well, I disagree. What do you think the growing acceptance of high-channel-count satellite/cable and pay-per-view are attributed to? More people each year are interested in "browsing" a selection of movies from the couch and opting out of the video rental store experience altogether. The leading edge of this is for the high-volume, popular, mainstream movies, but that's largely a distribution/bandwidth issue. Sure, the rental store is romantic for some, but people are ultimately price- and convenience-sensitive. Given a decent selection and price point (either monthly or per-watch), and you can see people clearly avoiding that "culture". As more interesting methods of "browsing" pay-per-view or perhaps even P2P movie sharing show up, I predict the rental culture will happily shrink. Afterall, it's -maybe- a 20 year old trend. Not like pubs or cafes or something that ingrained.
If vending machines hit the convenience and/or cost button, they'll tear some people away. Mybe for the novelty alone. Heck, even the internet video rental scene claims a growing susbscriber base over the last few years. But sit-on-the-couch-and-rent-with-your-remote is pretty compelling given a large selection (bandwidth) and convenient UI (software/hardware). And yes, you can still include your friends in that browse/argue/eat/rent "culture" at home.
VendaGoat!s /promo/venda goatpage.html
http://www.dublinproductions.com/page
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
http://www.mrnick.binary9.net/riaa/storymain.htm
that is .. almost looks like a prank
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
How about allowing this gizmo to offer pre-ordering via the web? Go to the machine's web site, see the machine's inventory. Purchase your products on a credit card. The products get set aside into a separate compartment for you. You go to the machine, insert your credit card (same one you used to purchase), the products are released to you, and you are charged for them.
If you need to order something that's not in stock, the machine operator could offer some service level for an additional charge to stock it in the next stocking run.
Reduces delivery/distribution costs for the vendors while providing additional convenience for the consumers.
(And why couldn't fast-food places operate like this? Certainly robots can do an equally good job of microwaving and assembling a Big Mac, depositing it into the queue, and then charging your credit card.)
He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington."
my old manager worked for one of these. she would spend all day stocking the thing. it sold t-shirts, mugs, crap like that. each was in a plastic bag and had it's own little cubby. the inside of thte 'store' was just hundreds of these cubbies, with some walking room to stock in the middle. when the customer pushed the button for the item they wanted, a huge vaccuum arm would suck the item up and drop it in a chute. according to her, it apparently worked out great, with the exception of frequent jamming.
Is there actually any need for this device? Is there a shortage of people who will work in these convenience stores? It seems like just another way for the rich to get richer and the poor to get fucked over and out.
Just don't confuse the worms with the donuts. ewwww!
There have been for at least a year pretty sophisticated vending machines in the student areas of the Hass School of Business at Berkeley if you are nearby and want to see one in the flesh. They work off of credit cards and sell things like inkjet printer ink, disposable cameras, and a good assortment of office/school supplies, in a space not much larger than a typical vending machine. I remember playing with one, ordering everything in the machine, and getting a total of about $1500- I didn't complete the purchase...
It's psychosomatic. You need a lobotomy. I'll get a saw.
it says "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"
Slightly disreputable, albeit gregarious
Granted, where I live the machine owner would still need to place it somewhere with some security, as we have a problem with vandals, I saw a spraypainted BMW on Sunday, (What's up with tagging? The uncontested modus of announcing "I'm the least secure person on my block"?) this in a fairly expensive neighborhood (I think it's mostly rich kids who fsck things up, but that's a whole different can of worms) How secure are such monstrosities, which can't defend themselves, in Japan? Seems like Munich would be another place you could put something like this without coming back in 24 hours and finding it defaced and/or robbed.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I don't live there.. but when I was touring around Austria, Germany, Switzerland I saw these things all over the place. Ketchup, Tampons, Beer, Cereal.. they had everything.
Someone mentioned "beer vending machines".. well in most of the above countries, Beer is an option just below Coca-Cola and Sprite on most vending machines anyway.
There's a big one in Cornavin station in Geneva.
use constant PERL_IS_BROKEN => $] >= 5.006;
Hey what about adding a similar vending machine on the side of each Apple store? It would feature small items such as RAM, power supplies, portable hard disks, all sorts of cables, the latest software, etc. I hate it when I need something at 11 PM and all stores are closed. This could save a life, man! Or at least some deadline-bound ass.
Imagine a grandma accidentially punching in the number for condoms, instead of her skin cream
Why on earth would it have numbers? There's probably a touch-screen with pictures instead.
Yeah and those penis massager machines are the best! But you know what 'they' say, having sex with one of those machines is like having sex with everyone the machine has ever had sex with.
BOTTOM LINE: Use a condom.
p.mon
the supermarket's costs are going down because of this (no pimply high-school kid to pay) we'll never see lower prices at the checkout (which also happens to be automated at the 15 items or less lane at the local Shop-Rite). Could anyone in this industry fill me in on whether this is because of slim profit margins or just good-ol' greed?
of this article is ...
"But it's getting very hard to find capable sales staff, and it doesn't make sense for them to spend valuable time selling simple items that don't require their expertise."
Capable sales staff at a convenience store? Their expertise? Since when is working at a convenience store a Professional/technical job? Maybe now...when the thing breaks down.
"When they know what they want, they want to get it without waiting in line and worrying about whether the clerk's had a bad day."
A bad day. I can't TELL if those around me have had a bad day. They can hardly speak a word of English! They know how to do 4 things: how to scan the item, take your money, push that amount on the register, and give you the change that is shown on the screen. God help it if anything fouls that process up.
Remember CBC ... aims for a wide audience, so pr0n is not mentioned.
Which CBC are you talking about?? Would this be the CBC that didn't censor Kid's in the Hall ever? The CBC that has no problem portraying sex durring prime time? The CBC that did a rather graphic expose of pay-per-view hard core porn. Or is this some other CBC that I haven't heard about?
The CBC is one of the most permissive of all the big broadcast networks in North America. Edged out by CITY (in Toronto) and who can forget Blue Nuit on TQS. And before you Euros get all upity: yes CBC is pretty prudish by European standards. Yes, it is sad.
...or at least, that's how it is now.
Actually, I think that it's machines like this that will save our society from itself. Right now, we're used to getting a pack of smokes at 3 am. That's not gonna change. To support that, there's a whole workforce out there sitting behind a counter basically wasting their lives away for $5.50 an hour. I look forward to the day when everyone's job that can be replaced by a machine, is. I expect we'll have a lot more people doing meaningful things that benefit our culture. And with a little luck, everyone will have to work less for the same pay.
c-hack.com |
Actually I jaw a normal vending machine with a nice piece of technology to fix that. It was called "goldeneye", but aside from the bad Bond reference was pretty cool. It used a camera to record the drop. Pretty simple really, it just turns the screw until it drops then stops. They claimed 100% accuracy which is of course imposible, if nothing else the flourescent light will burn out.
I'd do something interesting, but my server can't handle a slashdotting.
Why not add ATM functionality? With the steady flow of cash into the machine, workers wouldn't need to restock the ATM as frequently. Conversely, workers wouldn't need to empty the machine of cash as frequently.
The machine would offer discounts for using the most desireable form of payment. If it's low on $20 bills, it might offer a 1% to 10% discount on purchases depending upon need. If it's low on cash in general, it would offer a discount for people using credit cards and gradually increase the ATM fee. Of course, it would offer discounts on products that are overstocked or about to go bad. After a while, the machine would gather enough data to make accurate predictions about how much discount is needed for a given situation.
All fees and discounts would be prominently displayed so as to be legible from a distance. One of those cheap side-scrolling LED displays would do the trick.
"Saddam Hussein cavorts with terrorists."
I work for a company that is working with vending as its main channel of business.
The utlimate 24/7 365 vending machines that our described in the article are on their way to North America where the consumer can get product consumption at their desired rate of consumption and not limited to time or money(as there are systems that accept wireless transactions).
We are working on some very WEIRD products that might seem normal to Japan or Hong Kong but not here in North America.
BTW...Linux is starting to make serious inroads for the vending business.
They used to have something called an AutoMat. The last one in NYC closed down some years back. It was pretty much the same premise - insert money, remove what you wanted.
I just find it interesting that something that became so unpopular they're bringing it back, albiet in a slightly different form.
Or does the NY Times article read like something straight out of The Onion? I mean, come on- what real person would say, "A guy in the store can make a mistake or give you a hard time, but not the machine"? Yes, it appears that the fine editors of The Onion have obtained a new useful passwords and are now disseminating entertaining tidbits in the straight press.
*******
"What good is science if no one gets hurt?!" - Professor Chromedome
Pay-at-the-pump gas stations are clearly in the majority now. But in comparison to the convenience of the gas tank fill-up, picking up a quick hit of caffeine is much more complicated. Park the car, go in the store, select the bottle of liquid, get in line, pay a second time. Positively horse-and-buggy.
So...put one of these monster vending machines next to the pump. While gas flows into the tank my already-approved credit card lets me punch up a storm on the vending machine and have it all added to the same transaction. No fuss, no muss, they get more dollars and I get my buzz.
I like these because not everything is open 24 hours! Around here (Sacramento, CA), things have changed:
* Several Taco Bells now close at 1am instead of being open 24/7
* Lyon's (restaurant) closes at midnight
* Wal-Mart isn't open 24/7 anymore
The things that SHOULD be open 24/7, are not.
* DMV and other gov't offices
* Fry's Electronics
* Java City
Trying to build up a machine at night and realizing you need a new CD-ROM drive at 2am really sucks. Personally, I like the idea of a big huge building that houses Fry's, Java City, Round Table Pizza, Wal-Mart, and Albertson's.
Oh well. At least Goldie's porn palace is open 24/7.
If puns were deli meats, this would be the wurst.
"One reason full-line vending machines have not swept the United States to date is that we have had a large population of entrepreneurial immigrants eager to operate convenience stores,"
We must save Apu from the unstoppable march of progress!
~Chazzf
No statement is true, not even this one.
wn practicing -over
Wow! I am impressed. I had no idea that linux had that command. Is there a website somewhere that has all of these nifty tools listed? Some sort of tips and tricks page?
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
Yeah, like you get alot of human interaction from some of these 7-11 workers. Minimum Wage doesnt buy you much in terms of interpersonal relations.
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
A web & pda frontend.
Imagine picking a bunch of products from a web site before you leave work at ten pm. You load the selection into your pda or cellphone, then stop by one of these and have them do some ir comm and get bunch of products out. No numbers to pick (which is hard enough after eight hours of overtime), no hassle with money or lack thereof.
That's one less minute spent away from your beloved computer/wife/hybrid.
Ps: yes, yes. you could spoof orders if the system wasn't properly designed.
With some of the machines I've dealt with, sometimes I'd wish that the other GoldenEye existed so I could use it against them. That'll teach it to take my dollar and not give me anything.
I saw vending machines like this In Berlin and Geneva several years ago.
I live in Minnesota where we have live bait machines in a variety of places, usually outside of bait shops where they offer 24/7 service for fishermen keeping odd hours.
But some of them are in strange locations. A liquor store in the heart of North Minneapolis (nowhere near a decent lake or river) has one.
Yes, I have bought minnows and crawlers from them. Yes, the bait was lively and fresh. They do work.
Now I am stuck here at work and would rather be fishing. Hate when that happens.
Ok, besides Japan-- the country in which it's probably law to own a tetris keychain, sleep in rest coffins and home to a lot of other highly obscure shit --it's news everywhere else. Jeez.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
I wonder how long until we hear a story about some teenage kid trying to tip one of these over.
I Heart Sorting Networks
The creepiest human encounters I have in a typical day is with the checkout person in my big chain food store.
Maybe everyone don't know this, but they have scripted phrases that they are obliged to say to the customers. It's being checked that they follow the scripts, and if you stray too far you're fired. That feels much more dehumanizing to me than any machine. These people have been reduced to robots. And I'm forced to play along to an extent, which makes me a bit robotized as well.
Somebody had to make that food to be all "hot and savory". A machine didn't cook it. It had human cooks. It had humans to clean the place up. It had humans to retrieve the food that had been in rotation for too long. At it's most basic element, I guess you could campare an Automat to any vending machine. Aside from restocking, the unit mentioned here is fully automated. Incidentally, the movie Dark City is the only movie I can reall seeing an Automat in actual usage.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
If you had, you'd realize that these machines are in response to a *lack* of labor available.
That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze
America, why do people cry about what will never be?
Never will the human element be entirely eliminated from the selling--I mean, customer service--trenches.
BOTTOM LINE: It's about options. Today I feel like dealing with people. Today I don't feel like it. Today it's convenient to go to the mall. Today it's not.
You think they'll put out a machine that sells hot grits and Natalie Portman Barbies? Gotta get me one of those.
p.mon
You are a huge nerd!
They've got one of these in at least one of Vienna's underground stations. They're pretty cool, granted, all I bought was a box of Choco-Liebnitz bicuits (mmm choco liebnitz), but cool nonetheless.
Regards
James
Well, no wonder!
Lol.
In response, the community sued the parents for producing a kid so rediculously stupid and then trying to shift the blame so they could get money.
Also, warn your children never to walk up to a boulder on a hill and pull it towards them. But damn, your kids would have to be pretty stupid.
Everyone that's ever worked in a job dealing with the public knows this. After a very short while, even if the genius higher-ups don't make scripts you quickly form your own. Everything becomes automatic and robotic, NOT because you're not required to be friendly and loving and a replacement for a real friend to the endless parade of humanity that funnels past you, BUT IN FACT BECAUSE YOU ARE REQUIRED TO. It's sick. Anytime I hear people bitch about how they are getting good customer service I have to restrain myself from screaming. NOBODY WANTS A REAL PERSON IN SERVICE. They want cheap and effective robots, and if machines can't do it, they'll demand zombie like humans that can.
Hey, how can anyone say this is a truly bad thing? Those same people don't bitch about soda vending machine and those take the human element out of my soda transaction. Some things you just don't care about recieveing a warm smile and personalized attention over. And retail automation isn't the end of the world. It may actually become a pain in the ass when these things break and all you have is an automated line to whine to, but things will equal out as there will still be a demand for human interaction for some services. The more automation, the more people will pay for the premium of that warm smile and sypathetic ear in certain cases. I'll be personally happy when I don't have to wrestle with the language barrier because some dumbass put an employee who can't speak the language in a position where he interacts with people regularly. "I'd like fries with that." "What? No understand..." "FRIES. I WANT FRIES." "Habla no English fries. What you want?" "ARRRAAAHHHRRRG!!!" It's not rasism, just hiring the right person qualified for the job, not because you have a racial quota to fill (which is another story entirely...)
You need a FREE iPod Nano
Like it or go to jail.
...at the time of this posting. But you have to download it to your machine - using it ON majcher dosen't work, of course, as he says.
It diden't work for me when I File > Save Page As...'s under Mozilla, but it worked fine for me when I used wget (wget -k -r http://www.majcher.com/nytview.html) to download the page and call it in my browser. You might want to try that.
Here's a live shot of my friend trying to get something out of it for free.
g
http://www.darwinawards.com/i/art/zeebarf/coke.jp
a bait vending machine has its uses up here in the land of 10,000 lakes.
you don't want to put the "leeches" or "grubworms" buttons right on the bottom where the littlest kids can reach, though.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Japanese people take a lot of trains, and Americans drive a lot (outside of New York City, where 40% of the population commutes to work on subway trains, and another significant fraction walks).
With a walk/train lifestyle, it makes more sense to buy a few things during the idle minutes at the train station. With a car-driving lifestyle, it makes more sense to visit a big supermarket or a Costco store.
... Anything to do with personal hygeine
a sh
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Cologne/Perfume
Mouthw
Deodorant
Floss
Hand Sanitzer
Handy Wipes
These machines would be perfect for travelers, college students and dirty Phish neo-hippies.
100% Insightful
IT did drop and people are still shopping.
I used to worry about the guy at the porn shop thinking I was a feak for buying the latest copy of "Women of Amish Country" (sexier ankles you have never seen!), but then one day I realized that the slob behind the counter worked there. Who's more the freak?
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
"This guy will start hollering for a human soon... "
And hopefully, you will one day "holler" your way out of the sticks, mister redneck.
Even the dictionary knows you're a hick
> Or what about when I walk into a gas station and can't find a single person there who can speak the native tounge of the area. (english.)
English is not a native tongue of America.
Sadly, your pitiful post is all too true. But I'd rather pay a little extra to be able to walk down the street a block or two and buy something from a small store, and not have to fight traffic for miles and miles to get to Wal-Mart/KMart/CostCo/etc... But the, I don't drive a car and I like to live my life at a slower, more relaxed pace.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
Knowing the USA's liberal gun laws, soon you'll be able to pick-up guns and ammo 24 hours a day.
:)
"I was chasing some 'intruders' down the street when my gun ran out of ammo, lucky for me there was an ammo-vending machine right next to me, so i pop'ed in some quarters and my driving license and got my weapon loaded up, ready to blow some 'intruders' away"
This could actually be useful in an invasion - the enemy probably wouldn't have any American money so they wouldn't be able to use the machines
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
...the little space for "Butterfinger" is still empty!
Sleep is for the Weak
You get Haxx0rs who give themselves a "5 byte discount" by injecting a virus into it to get everything free.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
But I figure some of these services probably operate like a 900 number in the US - Call the number, and your phone bill is charged. In such a case, such as (for example) a booth in a golf driving range.
Get to booth.
SMS a posted number, or call it, and dial/speak your booth number.
Account gets charged, you can now use the booth.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Your argument implies that "we as a society" want two incompatible things. That is, we want the big box stores and the Mom & Pop shops to coexist. Else why would all those people be "screaming and crying" at the loss of "Main Street America"?
So if we accept your premise, it's clear from the above that "we as a society" don't always get what we want, since we wanted the Mom & Pop shops to continue and they didn't.
A more reasonable, though less reassuring, conclusion would be that "we as a society" have to live with the consequences (intended or otherwise) of the economic decisions of the majority, whether we wanted them or not.
And if a consequence was unintended, that means "we as a society" did not choose for it to happen. Choice involves making a conscious decision. If the majority of people who shop at big box stores were unaware that one result of their cumulative preference would be the demise of "Main Street America", then in fact they did not "choose to lose it", they just lost it.
The problem with a 200 square foot vending machine is that when it doesn't give you what you paid for, a kick just isn't adequate...and yet running into it with a monster truck might be overkill.
4Literature - Read, write, and discuss your favor
Or, like in RoboCop II, maybe a shock generator? Or like in South Africa, those anti-car-jacking under-car flamethrowers?
haha.
"obligated."
good one.
haha.
So? Too much of our economy is based on people doing completely unnecessary jobs. I left the bank I worked at in disgust because rather than pay me the $1000 I offered to write a computer program to do my job unatended in perpetua, they'd rather pay a kid $450 a week to do the mind-numbingly repetitive job of a robot. 'Course I should have built the machine to do it and still collected checks playing Freecell...
Most of these people don't realize it but it seems that many of the jobs ordinary people do (like loan processing clerks) exist not out of a need for a human to do a job to complex for a machine but rather out of a percieved need to have people employed. Not sure, but I think my idea of having the government send subsistence checks to useless people (sometimes refered to as "welfare") is unpolular for some reason.
Are they insane? Most grocery and convenience stores up here sell it for = $2.20 / gallon.
-Dan.
When I got married my roomate gave me a sex book for couples that he'd bought from Japan. It was very funny, the illustrations looked like the instructions you'd get from Ikea.
It featured that cup thing, they seemed to think that couples would use this to fool around but still maintain the girls virginity.
that's a fucking joke. do you really believe there is a shortage of labour in america? there is a dire shortage of labour willing to work 24/7 for nothing (as robots are) but there is no shortage of labour.
this is just someone using technology to make them more money -- not necessarily a bad thing but they could have been more honest about the motives for going robotic. the cost savings are both in labour (on a well engineered machine, repairs won't cost too much) and in realestate (200 sq ft costs less than 2500 sq ft).
really, don't buy that bullshit about lack of labour -- U.S. unemployment in july was 6%. and if i recall correctly, the federal unemployment numbers only include people actively looking for jobs, not those who gave up.
P.S. i am looking for a job and having very poor results.
fear is the mind killer
Yeah, and that soda machine really takes away from my person to person relationship too. One day these people will get a clue and realize you just don't need some guy who can barely speak the same language, trying to understand what your trying to purchase. Or make judgement calls on your what you're buying. Or give you an attitude because they work at a convienece store and have been up for the last 12 hours pulling the late shift because freckle-nose bobby decided to skip work that day and the manager won't fire him despite his chronic lateness because he needs the body desprately and it'd take more time to dump him and find somebody else rather than just scold him. Or just the fact you just want a soda and simply don't care who or what gets it to you. Not that it ever happens that way.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
The androids are more friendly than the human counterparts just like the ATMs are.
But how difficult would it be for the booth owner (to continue your example) to get a scanner which can read your phone number and ID code from the air waves and then spoof it later to rip you off? I know there are cell phone scanners which can be used to rip off people for long distance bills, but I havn't heard much of this lately since most phones are digital now.
There was a five minute bit about this on NPR's Talk of the Nation today. They had a reporter on the scene who paid $1.50 for 6 eggs, she also mentioned that it sold 'single diapers' and umbrellas. They also had a short interview with Timothy Sanford, the Editor of 'Vending Times' which was mildly interesting.
The main yet frivolous point of the post was to claim the two meanings of practising/practicing can conflict, as do the two meanings of professional.
This sort of conflict is often used in humourous radio programmes, which alas I don't get to listen to often.
This is like a standing ovation for me. I've been called a lot of things, but this is the first time I've ever been called a "redneck", and I wear it as a badge of honor. Not many second-generation immigrants get to be rednecks, but somehow I managed it--and I've got the can of Pabst Blue Ribbon and the Billy Bob teeth to prove it.
hyacinthus.
Digital cell phones (at least CDMA, and probably TDMA has some encryption too) are pretty secure.
In general, the amount of $$$$ required to possibly spoof a phone is far greater than the amount of financial gain possible from such activities.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I think there'd be a certain amount of consumer resistence to buying beverages from a gas pump!