Vending Machine - Specialized Vending

Specialized Vending

In the Western world, some vending machines dispense personal products, typically in public toilet facilities. The machines in ladies' restrooms typically sell pads or tampons. The machines in men's rooms, when they are present, are most commonly for the sale of condoms, though in some locations they may be found dispensing cologne, medicine, small candies, or even pornography. These are often found at toilets used by transient persons in high traffic locations, such as bus stations, shopping centres, airports and service stations.

From the 1950s until well into the 1970s, vending machines were used at American airports to sell life insurance policies covering death, in the event that the buyer's flight crashed. Such policies were quite profitable, because the risk of a plane crash is low. However, this practice gradually disappeared due to the tendency of American courts to strictly construe such policies against their sellers, such as Mutual of Omaha.

Starting with 1994, vending machines approached successfully the basic food commerce specialization and began to compete with the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry. Milk dispensers and egg vending machines networks spreading in European towns accelerated after 2000. The basic food vending machines are usually owned by farmers selling their production directly to consumers, providing fresh food to urban population at low prices, small operational costs and encouraging the distributism.

Another type of vending machine is a Chargebox which is used for charging small mobile devices such as mobile phones and ipods. They are useful for when one runs out of power on such devices in between locations like home and work.

From 2000-2010, specialization of vending machines became more common. Vending extended increasingly into non-traditional areas like electronics, or even artwork. Machines of this new category are generally called Automated Retail kiosks. The trend of specialization and proliferation of vending machines is perhaps most apparent in Japan where vending machines sell products from toilet paper to hot meals and pornography, and there is 1 vending machine per 23 people. Containers of live bait are sold in vending machines in the rural United States.