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Consumerism

Glad it wasn’t me

Glad it wasn’t me that this happened to. One can understand the frustration which gets people taking flying kicks at the machine, trying to rock it on its base to get the purchase out.

Drink stuck in machine

By Daniel Bowen

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.

13 replies on “Glad it wasn’t me”

This has happened to me when attempting to buy a packet of chips. The chips got stuck, so I ended up buying a second pack to get the first one unjammed and luckily i got both of them (yep I was starving).

Meanwhile Daniel, when are you going to do something about those disgusting potato cake vendors at Flinders Street. I can practically feel the cholesterol building up in my arteries just from the smell of the things which seems to permeate the entire length of the platform. It’s almost worse than cigarettes (but not quite).

It baffles me that they can design a machine that sells for about $20,000 and it still doesn’t have enough sensors and operational procedures in it to ensure that it can deliver its product. And it won’t even sense that it hasn’t delivered a product and then give an automatic refund.

Oh my god, the potato cakes as Flinders St are to die for! I’ve had many a late night indulgence on them… (True, I felt like a bucket of grease afterwards)

Surely the idea is that if you have to ring up to get a refund, then most people won’t bother so the vendor gets to keep your money. Though if that’s really how they think then it will surely backfire in the long run since people who have had bad experiences with the vending machines will avoid them at all costs. So you’d think they’d be better off in the long run if they fixed the machines. Then again I suppose they’re really vying for people who are so desperately hungry/thirsty, that they’ll pay any price and take any risk.

The old way of dispensing mars bars was with that spiral thing. One time the spiral did not complete a full turn and the mars bar was left hanging…no amount of rocking would dislodge it. I had to* put in more money to get it to finish its revolution. And then only got one mars bar in return…grrrr. But that bottle getting stuck is some sort of gravity freak of nature.

*’had to’ cos a craving for chocolate can make you do silly things.

In the US they have a vending machine that uses a vacuum hose to drop down into a freezer and suck onto your choice of popcicle or ice cream bar and then drop it into a chute to be picked up complete with a vacuum cleaner “vrrooommm” sound. Quite comical.

In my university dormitory 22 years ago some people would be able to reach way up (their entire arm) into the soda vending machine and yank out (steal) a free can of soda with the catch being the can of soda was punctured in the process and needed to be quickly controlled as it would spray all over.

I noticed that the vending machines on the train platforms here in Melbourne are well armoured against theft and tipping over.

The potato cakes very likely do not contain any cholesterol if they are fried in vegetable oil. They are tasty once in a while. Potato cakes, sausage rolls, chico rolls, dim sims, meat pies, those battered hot dog things (are they called savs?), and good fish and chips are all Australian treats that do not exist in the USA.

Speaking of that ice-cream vending machine – when I was in the US years back I was horrified when my ice-cream slid a little during the transport, caused an air-gap in the suction, and the suction to no longer be sufficient and my ice-cream to fall off the sucker hose.

But then I was amazed when the arm returned back to the correct ice-cream shute, reached down, sucked up a replacement ice-cream, and successfully delivered it for me.

If only our vending machines in Australia could be bothered making a second attempt or refund if the product isn’t successfully delivered…

Apparently the new vending machine at my work has sensors that ensures that the chips etc. are vended.

Bottled Water? Melbourne has the world’s best water – and yet, we’re flushing our toilets with it whilst buying some random New Zealand substance.

Vending machines, like ticketing machines, rarely sympathise with consumers. It sends me round the bend.

We have no vending machines at my work.
My work has gone green and thinks they use too much electricity.
Not much fun when you’ve got the 3pm munchies.

I agree about the awful stench of stale deep frying oil at Flinders St station. It is the first thing I notice when I go down the escalator. Yuck!

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