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A vending machine is a machine that is designed to dispense items such as drinks or sweets. Often, money or another form of payment is required to be inserted into the machine before it will dispense anything. The main use of these machines is that they can dispense things 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and no-one needs to be there to staff it. The only time they need to be attended by their owner is to re-stock, to take out the money or to periodically maintain them. The first reference to a vending machine is by the engineer and mathematician Hero of Alexandria. The machine he wrote of dispensed holy water and it worked when a lever attached to a pan opened a valve when the weight of the payment coin fell on the pan. Water flowed out until a counterweight snapped the lever up and shut off the valve again. The first modern vending machines appeared in the early nineteenth century and they sold postcards. The first food vending machine was made in America by Thomas Adams Gum Company to sell chewing gum to rail commuters in New York. Vending machines are found all over the world selling all sorts of items - from toys to newspapers. Japan is probably the country that has most fully embraced the vending machine and you will find them in all sorts of places. Machines dispensing products that have no need for refrigeration and that have a long shelf life can make a lot of money for the owner. Some products such as sandwiches will need to be kept cold and because the contents are perishable the machines need to be attended more frequently. Vending machines are come into their own in places such as hospitals where people often have no warning that they need to attend and will probably not have any refreshments with them. Also, they may have to stay in the hospital for a long time and it is useful to have food and drink always available. Over the years, the technology on the machines has come a long way. Some machines have been made heavy to make it more difficult to tilt them and steal the products and some will not accept coins that are easily replaced with a similar sized and shaped foreign coin. Some also send reports directly to the company that re-stocks them so that the delivery driver knows what things to bring. Another development is that many machines now take notes and give out change. This is because many people are put off buying anything from a machine that requires exact change. Some companies have developed the idea of cashless vending. A customer sends a text to a designated number and then receives a code which they can then use to get the product. When the product is dispensed, the customer’s phone account is charged. Credit card vending machines are also getting more popular. Vending machines have become a staple part of modern culture and they look set to stay in our convenience world. Vending machines are available from Revive Vending. As well as healthy options such as water coolers and fruit and nut snacks they also offer coffee vending machines.
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