Category Archives: Vending Machine News

Inventive Vending Machines Popping Up Across the Country

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Nowadays, it’s not uncommon to see vending machines selling things other than food and drinks.

This trend can be seen in larger cities across the United States with Tampa Bay, FL and Portland, OR being no exception. Each of these cities are home to successful vending machine companies that sell everything from hand-made jewelry to used books and even Dolly Parton pins.

Although we all love the convenience of being able to grab a snack or a drink out of a state-of-the-art vending machine, this is a fun twist that only continues to grow in popularity.

Woman standing at a vending machine looking at the options

Tampa Bay, FL vending company offering hand-made jewelry

One of the more interesting vending machine companies we’ve seen recently is Lucid Vending. With vending machines throughout Tampa Bay and the St. Petersburg areas of Florida, they offer locals everything from gourmet dog treats to hand-made jewelry made from recycled materials. The jewelry is made by one of the co-founders of the company!

Their business began by refurbishing older vending machines from the 1980s and 90s and they continue to grow their brand with further selections that include art prints, greeting cards and even smaller musical instruments.

Mystery bags at vending machines in Portland, OR

Similarly, Magic Box PDX is a vending machine company in Portland, OR that offers an eclectic assortment of goods that includes everything from used books, vintage magazines, crystal growing kits and their popular “mystery bags”. Another of their more popular items that have been flying out of their machines are their Dolly Parton pins.  

With 13 vending machines and showing no signs of slowing down, we look forward to seeing the continued growth of this vending machine company.

While we certainly love these unique vending machines, our team at Orsino Vending understands the need for traditional vending machines as well.

That is why we offer vending machines, and all of the drinks and snacks to fill them, to companies throughout Englewood, New Jersey and the surrounding areas. Whether you operate an office building, car dealership, recreation center, warehouse or anything in between, we will be happy to handle all your vending machine needs. Give us a call at (201) 871-9286 to learn more.

Sock Spot Vending Machine Arrives in San Francisco

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Sock DrawerIf you think vending machines are just for food and drinks, think again! A unique vending machine operated by novelty sock company The Sock Spot has recently arrived in San Francisco.

This innovative touchscreen, cashless vending machine is now selling over 40 types of novelty socks at the Westfield San Francisco Centre shopping mall. Designs include socks featuring portraits of former President Obama, Albert Einstein and characters from The Lion King.

The Sock Spot also has a successful e-commerce site. According to CEO Ben Williams, the company’s expansion into physical retail with a vending machine is an “evolution” that allows it to “expand the reach of our brand, deliver a unique, online-esque experience to brick-and-mortar, and use our wealth of digital knowledge to specialize the assortment.”

Unlike the candy machines of yore, there’s no need to hoard quarters for this vending machine. The Sock Spot takes mobile payments and credit cards, but not cash.

The Sock Spot partnered with Digital Media Vending International (DMVI) to launch the initial vending machine. Additional units are in currently the works.

DMVI offers interactive kiosks, electronic lockers and digital signage in addition to custom vending machines. The company has also designed custom vending machines for major brands including Estee Lauder, PG Tips tea and FujiFilm.

For all your food and beverage vending needs, you can count on the dedicated team at Orsino Vending. We’ve been proudly serving customers throughout New Jersey for over 20 years, offering nutritious snacks, beverages and more to a variety of commercial clients. We’ll even set up a vending machine at your location for free! Call us today at 201-871-928 to learn more.

A Mom in Alaska Created Her Own Vending Machine for Baby Products

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Changing a DiaperAs any parent knows, traveling with kids can be stressful, especially when you’re underprepared.

That’s exactly what happened to Alaska mom Jasmin Smith, who found herself without a diaper for one of her twins at an Anchorage mall. After creating a makeshift replacement out of a pair of underwear and paper towels, she came up with a better solution—and a business opportunity.

Smith created Baby Vend, a vending machine that can be a life-saver for traveling parents. The machine sells diapers, along with a variety of other supplies that parents might carry in their diaper bags, such as changing pads, pacifiers, sippy cups and changes of clothing in case of an accident. Baby Vend also carries items for breastfeeding mothers, including nursing pads and lactation cookies.

The first Baby Vend machine was recently installed at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and Smith plans to install more around the city.

The entrepreneur has bigger plans as well, and hopes to take Baby Vend national someday. She recently attended a casting call for the business-focused reality show “Shark Tank.”

“I eventually want Baby Vend to be anywhere a parent is that travels or has family outings,” she says.

We may not sell baby products, but you can count on Orsino Vending for all of your snack and beverage needs. We’ve been proudly serving the residents of New Jersey for over 20 years, and will even set up a vending machine at your location for free. Give us a call at (201) 871-9286 or contact us online to learn more.

MTA Will Convert Empty Newsstands Into Vending Machines

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New York City SubwayIn Japan, vending machines are remarkably popular. The country has the highest density of vending machine with more than 5 million machines across the country. You can kill time waiting for a train by getting everything from a shot of sake to bananas and fish soup from a vending machine. Vending is so ingrained with Japan’s subway culture that just this year a vending machine made from a recycled subway car was rolled out in the Tameike Sanno Subway Station.

Perhaps inspired by their Tokyo Metro counterparts, the New York City Transit Authority is now in the process of converting empty newsstands into vending machines.

Currently, around 40-percent of the MTA’s 326 retail spaces stand empty. These spaces used to house newsstands that sold everything from newspapers to snacks and toiletries. In recent years, however, the decline in purchases at the stands has left many of them closed.

In response to the shuttered stores, the MTA has been prototyping a number of new ideas. Recently, an underground market called the Turnstyle Project that offers food vendors, retail space and popup shops opened at Columbus Circle. The market also hosted popup stores at other empty locations in the system. Now, the MTA will deploy vending machines in some stations as well.

The new vending machines will start rolling out later this year. Although a spot of sake might make waiting for A-train more interesting, there are currently no plans for vending alcoholic beverages. Instead, the vending machines will sell food, drinks and a few personal necessities like toiletries.

The project is still in the planning stages of development, so there has been no announcement regarding which stations will be targeted first. The MTA has said they will not displace any current newsstand vendors or place vending machines in competition with them. The rollout is expected to begin this summer, just in time for commuters and tourists to be thankful for a cold drink at the press of a button.

Vending Machine Dispenses Free Books to Children in Buffalo, NY

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Child Reading a BookThese days, vending machines are capable of doing more than just keeping workplaces stocked with convenient, nutritious food options. From cars to clothing, you can find vending machines that dispense a wide variety of other products as well.

In Buffalo, New York, for example, one public elementary school is even using a vending machine to promote literacy among its young students.

At the Arthur O. Eve School of Distinction #61, students are receiving golden tokens that given them access to free books from a new vending machine that offers age-appropriate literature for children in Pre-K through 4th grade. Rather than giving out books as rewards for good behavior or attendance, every student at the school will have an opportunity to choose a book from the vending machine based on a monthly rotation. The students are then encouraged to take these books home and use them to start their very own libraries.

The book vending machine was funded by the Community Action Organization of Western New York, which purchased the machine for $2,000 and provided an additional $1,000 to fill it with books. Another local nonprofit organization called The Teacher’s Desk has offered to keep the machine stocked with books in the future.

“One of the biggest issues we have in this district is literacy,” said Buffalo School Board member Sharon Belton-Cottman in a recent interview. “If our children can read, they can survive.”

Thanks to the efforts of the dedicated educators in Buffalo, this vending machine will be providing treasured reading material to the students at PS 61 for years to come.

The London Underground is Getting Laundry Vending Machines

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Dry CleaningDry cleaning your professional attire is a great way to prolong the lifespan of some of your nicest clothing, but taking weekly trips to the cleaners can be a huge hassle. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a simpler way to dry clean your clothes without being forced to add one more thing to your to-do list?

In London, many commuters can now drop off their dry cleaning on their way to work thanks to a local company called VClean Life.

This startup recently introduced vending machines called VDrop machines that are designed to make dry cleaning easy for busy professionals who can’t always make it to the cleaners. Now, commuters can deposit their clothing in one of the machines—which are conveniently located in London Underground stations throughout the city—and have them dry cleaned, folded and ready to be picked up in just 24 hours.

To start using VClean Life’s unique new service, all people have to do is sign up for it online and receive a QR code from the company. Using this code, customers can drop clothes off at any VDrop machine in the city. Then, the clothing will be picked up, transported to a facility owned by VClean Life, dry cleaned and returned to the same machine in under a day. Despite the added convenience, the service expected to cost a fraction of the price of working with a traditional dry-cleaning company.

At Orsino Vending, we’re always excited to see what companies like VClean Life are doing with vending machines these days. We’re also working hard to provide companies with everything they need to incorporate vending machines into their own businesses. Call us at (201) 871-9286 to get started today!

Coca-Cola Promotes Recycling With Reverse Vending Machines

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Reverse Vending MachineCold bottles of Coca-Cola have been vending machine staples for decades, and now the company is using “reverse vending machines” to encourage their customers to recycle every bottle of Coke they buy. Earlier this month, Coca-Cola deployed its reverse vending machines at the 50th anniversary Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle. Each time an attendee returned a bottle or can to one of the machines, it would automatically contribute the $.05 deposit as a donation to Special Olympics Washington. In other places where Coca-Cola has installed its reverse vending machines, customers can receive gifts such as Coke-branded t-shirts, bags and hats made from recycled plastic when they deposit their used bottles and cans.

Coca-Cola is particularly interested in using its reverse vending machines to encourage recycling at music festivals and other outdoor events where large quantities of bottled beverages are consumed. They’ve even suggested offering VIP benefits to fans who use their recycling centers at these events. Coca-Cola North America is currently in the process of deploying reverse vending machines at retail locations in the United States and Canada as well.

This program constitutes just one part of Coca-Cola’s ambitious World Without Waste initiative, which aims to “collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can it sells globally by 2030.” In addition to creating its own recycling centers, the company is also working to develop 100-percent recyclable packaging and reduce the amount of plastic that is used to make its bottles.

Keep an eye out next time you buy a bottle of Coke from a vending machine—there could be another machine waiting to take your bottle back nearby!

Carvana Unveils New Eight-Story Vehicle Vending Machine

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Woman in New CarYou can find just about anything in vending machines these days. Whether you’re looking to grab a quick bite to eat in your office or a new pair of headphones at the airport, you can usually find a vending machine that has just what you need.

Now, people in Charlotte, North Carolina can even buy cars from a vending machine owned and operated by Carvana.

This massive machine is eight stories tall, and it’s capable of holding up to 32 cars at a time. Carvana, which specializes in buying and selling vehicles online, designed the machine to give their customers a convenient new way to purchase cars without having to spend hours in a dealership. All they need to do is find the vehicle they want online, select a payment option, and then choose for it to be delivered to the vending machine for pickup.

Once the car arrives, its new owner can schedule a time to visit the vending machine and activate it with a large commemorative coin. The machine will then spring into action, sending the vehicle down to a delivery bay where it can be picked up by the customer and driven home. All of this is done without the help of any human employees.

Carvana hopes that the vending machine will encourage more people to buy cars online, rather than from traditional brick-and-mortar dealerships. Last year, the company began offering a similar vending machine service in Houston, Texas as well.

Interested in outfitting your workplace with a modern, versatile vending machine? Give us a call today or contact us online to get started!

Charity Uses Vending Machines to Feed and Clothe the Homeless

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Charity Uses Vending Machines to Feed and Clothe the HomelessWinter can be hard on the homeless populations in the U.K., but a charity called Action Hunger is employing a unique new strategy to make life a little easier for the country’s most vulnerable citizens. Recently, the charity announced plans to stock a vending machine in Nottingham, England with necessities like fresh fruit, sandwiches, toothpaste and socks that can be accessed by the city’s homeless population free of charge. Many of the food items are being donated by local supermarkets.

Key cards will be issued to homeless individuals based on their level of need by partner organizations such as counseling centers and shelters. These key cards will grant access to three vending machine items per day.

“We want our low-cost solution to complement other services that are available, as engagement with professionals and local support services is instrumental to breaking the cycle of homelessness,” says the charity’s website.

Action Hunger has only deployed one of its vending machines so far, but the charity already has plans to install more machines in Manchester, London, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle as well. Homelessness has become an increasingly prevalent issue in many cities in recent years, and the founders of Action Hunger hope that their vending machine service, in conjunction with other local charities and government outreach programs, might help to alleviate homeless rates across the globe.

To learn more about Action Hunger and how you can get involved in their efforts to combat homelessness, you can visit the charity’s website here.

High-Tech Vending Machines Are Getting Pretty Smart

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High-Tech Vending Machines Are Getting Pretty SmartThe vending machines you used just a decade or two ago were incredibly basic compared to what is available today. You might put a dollar or two into those machines, select what you wanted to purchase and pick up your change. It was a simple process, but many of today’s vending machines are able to do so much more than the vending machines of yesteryear. Some particularly high-tech options are even able to use features like facial recognition and machine learning to make recommendations based on your specific preferences.

Today’s vending machines are able to provide customers with just about any product you can imagine.

While many older vending machines only offered snacks and beverages, you can purchase everything from frozen yogurt to electronics in modern vending machines. These machines also offer a variety of different payment options. Some machines are able to accept payments wirelessly and sync with your smartphone to help you pick out what you want. Additionally, these vending machines often offer high-definition displays and touchscreens that make the purchasing process even easier.

In the future, vending machines are going to continue to get more and more advanced, according to Venture Beat. Some, like the VICKI smart vending machine, are incorporating social media and fingerprint identification to personalize the experience of using a vending machine. Others, like Coca Cola’s smart digital vending machine, are allowing people to connect to the cloud when making purchases. It’s going to be interesting to see how far vending machine manufacturers can take things in the years to come, especially when you consider just how far they’ve come already.

At Orsino Vending, we strive to offer our customers a variety of modern vending machine options to suit their unique needs. From fresh, healthy options to quick snacks and coffee machines, you can find it all right here. Give us a call or contact us online today to learn more!