Future vending machines

[ninaxmac]

So I was reading an article on yahoo about a vending machine that makes pizza in 3 minutes and I was just thinking of how cool (or not) it would be if MAC or other makeup brands began to sell products in vending machines. I mean how easy would it be to just walk up to a machine once you run out of you foundation and just pay and go, so SIMPLE. Apple has already done it selling ipod and I think it's pretty interesting, but what are your thoughts. Maybe im just weird though haha

 

[ImMACnificent]

Actually, there is some brand (forget the name) that does sell make up in vending machines, at least at my mall. They have Lauren from The Hills as their spokesperson or whatever.

I personally would never buy make up from a vending machine. UNLESS it was MAC. But still, I prefer to be able to test it and not just see it through a glass

 

[Khalia25]

That's a NICE idea! I grew up in Japan, and a person could get all kinds of random stuff from vending machines. It was mostly food items, but there was a huge variety. Oh, and you could get magazines out of vending machines, also. (and beer...LOL)

 

[anita22]

A few years ago, they trialled this weird vending concept in a city I used to live in. As you were walking along the main street, you came to this glass and metal wall built into the side of one of the buildings on the street. It was basically in front of a bus stop and next to a bunch of retail stores. Dozens of glass "boxes" were built into the wall, containing hot food and salads. You put your money into these built-in slots, and the box opened and you could take out the food. The weirdest thing was, a lot of the wall was glass, so you could look through it and you could see the kitchen inside and the people preparing the food. Bizarro. I've never seen such a thing anywhere else. Funnily enough, it was in a small town of about 120,000 people (not Tokyo or anything!)

 

[xxManBeaterxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Khalia25 That's a NICE idea! I grew up in Japan, and a person could get all kinds of random stuff from vending machines. It was mostly food items, but there was a huge variety. Oh, and you could get magazines out of vending machines, also. (and beer...LOL)

Beer?!? How will the vending machine know how old you are? Unless there was somebody carding you? *sigh* i'm going to go to japan one of these days!!! I have a bunch of family that lives there and i've never met them before xD

 

[noahlowryfan]

there was a Elizabeth Arden vending machine in a mall where I worked at now but since I don't think that vending machine made any money, they took it down.

 

[kaliraksha]

Plus: Shopping 24/7 assuming there is access.

Con: No one to show you how it works, what it looks like, etc. I don't think it will work for things like makeup well, unless they are prepared to accept more returns.

However, at our airport they have a vending machine for live flowers.

 

[abbyquack]

Interesting topic! I've actually seen these for Proactiv in the mall, that's kind of nice if you don't want to wait for your shipment in the mail, etc.

However, I work for a vending company during the school year, and tbh, vending machines are notorious for not dispensing product accurately, and so I guess if you have very high tech (read: expensive) ones, it may be ok but I'd hesitate leaving anything up to fallible machines such as these. I mean can you imagine if an ipod machine malfunctioned and gave not 1 but 2 ipods to a customer? It's not as cheap to cover as say, a bag of potato chips

Also, I know a lot of companies have worked on trying to set up things like self-check-in at hotels, or self-service machines, like one large hotel in NYC where I once worked, and they usually end up going back to trad'l check in methods b/c ppl don't want to mess with machines, and they feel that by going to a person at the desk, they'll get better service or something.

So to end my rambling, I deffo think vending machines of these sorts are a great sign of progress and I think they may be actually really cool and ultimately a no-brainer, but I think there may be some kinks that need to be worked out first.

 

[kaliraksha]

Hehe yeah, I see the employees at grocery stores trying to push people to do self check out and all these people are like "no, I'm going to wait for you."

I hate self check out in grocery stores if I have a ton of fruit and veggies because I have to look up all the product numbers.

There should be a grocery store that only has self checkout and clearly shows the advantages of it by having lower prices... there I would shop. If I have to look up all my products and bag my own groceries I want to see where I'm benefiting financially, not where the grocery store is.

 

[k.a.t]

^ lol that's a good idea about the lower prices.

I personally love self-check thingies at grocery stores just coz I like to push the buttons and scan the stuff

lol I'm such a child

I like the idea of make up in vending machines just because it sounds so much easier a process..but like how would you know if the products in there were safe? as in..not 'off' or anything =S