There are many different types of vending machines, or automated retail as it is also known. There are vending machines with snacks, soft drinks, gum, toys, coffee/tea, sweets and also hot soup found almost everywhere we look. Vending machines arose in the year 251 a. C. when a Greek mathematician invented a machine that could sell holy water in Egyptian temples.
Many years later the first coin-operated vending machines that dispensed postcards were invented in the early 1880s in London, England. Years later, Richard Carlisle, an English teacher, invented a vending machine that could dispense books.
Vending machines have come a long way since then. In 1888, the Thomas Adams Gum Company introduced the vending machine to the United States and sold Tutti-Fruiti gum. Later, in 1907, the first round candy coated gum was introduced which every child loves.
Over the years there was a vending machine for just about everything; cigars, stamps, postcards, cigarettes, soft drinks, even snacks. We still use some of these vending machines today. In the early 1920s, vending machines began offering soft drinks in glasses for the first time. That’s where coffee/tea/hot cocoa vending machines also originated. We still use the soda vending machines that allow us to put our sodas in glasses. You can find them at any convenience store or fast food restaurant.
Some famous vending machines are the Pepsi-Cola and Coca-Cola machines. We still use them today, but not in cups, they come in a bottle or cans. Snack machines are also very popular these days, especially in hospitals, universities, bus stations, and airports. We like convenience, choice, and low prices. Vending machines offer all of this and have been offering it for hundreds of years; which means the vending machines must be doing something right.