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World's Strangest Vending Machines
Yahoo ^ | 10/2/10 | Katrina Brown Hunt

Posted on 10/03/2010 5:14:49 PM PDT by DemforBush

For travelers, a vending machine can be a welcome sight. Perhaps it’s just for a quick snack when the rest of the airport is closed. Or, overseas, an easy transaction without any language hurdles. But these days, the vending machine is diversifying. Now travelers can find all sorts of things inside these contraptions—items that range from the practical to the absurd...

(Excerpt) Read more at travel.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: coinop; vending
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I actually don't find most of these machines strange so much as pretty darn clever! It never would have occurred to me to have a vending machine that rents bicycles.

BTW, here's a link to a slideshow for all 26 featured vending machines.

I'm thinking about stealing that one that serves up Pilsner Urquell, btw. :-)

1 posted on 10/03/2010 5:14:55 PM PDT by DemforBush
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To: DemforBush
I liked the beer vending machines and hot coffee in a can machines in Japan.

Another interesting thing was the retail vending trucks that would cruise the neighborhood like an old style ice cream truck.

The beer guy played German beer hall music. I often had to suppress my glee as I ran out the door with a fist full of yen.

I didn't have nearly the same enthusiasm about the Yam guy.

2 posted on 10/03/2010 5:23:41 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: DemforBush
I like the Lobster Claw...


"He goes to a better place!"

3 posted on 10/03/2010 5:24:56 PM PDT by rlmorel (The voice of tyranny starts out smooth.)
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To: DemforBush

In West Seattle, there is a bike shop with a vending machine outside so customers can shop for tubes, patches, tools, gloves, etc after hours.


4 posted on 10/03/2010 5:27:36 PM PDT by irishtenor (Tag lines, they are not what they used to be...)
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To: USNBandit

I missed the hot coffee in a can when I was in Japan, but those beer vending machines were often my best friend.

LOL about the Yam guy, btw. :-)


5 posted on 10/03/2010 5:27:43 PM PDT by DemforBush (You might think that, *I* could not possibly comment.)
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To: rlmorel

Yep, the lobster machine was the best. it’s a game and a vending machine! The people that aren’t good at it subsidize the prices of the people that are good at it.

LOVE IT!


6 posted on 10/03/2010 5:30:40 PM PDT by mamelukesabre (Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum (If you want peace prepare for war))
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To: DemforBush

While in Malaysia or Indonesia can I get some Squid with that Kebob; and if in the Netherlands does the Porn Package have a coloring book./s

Although, if you do find a vending machine which dispenses Boddingtons on the pull, I’ll take one; would go nicely in the clubroom.


7 posted on 10/03/2010 5:32:07 PM PDT by ntmxx (I am not so sure about their misdirection!)
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To: DemforBush
I've lost that tiny grain of respect I had for the French. A $2 per liter wine dispenser (bring your own plastic jug)? Do they make the rose like gas stations make mid-grade gasoline by mixing the two other varieties stored there?

And I had a hard time understanding this from Pennsylvania:

To offer convenience to shoppers, the Keystone State is now selling wine through state-run vending machines located at a few Giant and Wegmans supermarkets. First you must scan your ID and blow into a Breathalyzer. A state employee—watching remotely through a camera—checks your test results and identification, then approves the transaction. Or doesn't.

So you have to go to a state store (or now a state run kiosk) to even get wine? Even in the Nanny State of Ohio we can get our own beer and wine at the grocery (liquor licenses are more limited).
8 posted on 10/03/2010 5:41:31 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Grblb blabt unt mipt speeb!! Oot piffoo blaboo...)
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To: DemforBush

9 posted on 10/03/2010 5:48:30 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (after your fifteen minutes are up you get a lifetime of ignominy.)
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To: DemforBush; USNBandit

We had beer vending machines in FDC AIT (specialty school Army), many years ago, a quarter for a can of Pabst or Schlitz.


10 posted on 10/03/2010 5:51:32 PM PDT by ansel12 ([fear of Islam.] Once you are paralyzed by fear of Mohammedanism...you have lost the battle.)
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To: ansel12

My favorite was the beer bottle vending machines in the barracks in the Philippines...cold San Miguel for 25 cents!


11 posted on 10/03/2010 5:54:37 PM PDT by shorty_harris
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To: the invisib1e hand

Hahahahaa, “engrish” is just the best, isn’t it?

I once saw a restaurant in Taegu, South Korea advertising a special “Flesh meat buffet” on its sign.

YUM-YUM! ;)


12 posted on 10/03/2010 5:56:15 PM PDT by DemforBush (You might think that, *I* could not possibly comment.)
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To: DemforBush

In a community a bit north of here in a more rural area there is a bait vending machine. You put your dollar in and get a box of live crickets.


13 posted on 10/03/2010 5:59:27 PM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's "Economics In One Lesson.")
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To: DemforBush

14 posted on 10/03/2010 6:01:18 PM PDT by Roscoe Karns
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To: KarlInOhio
So you have to go to a state store (or now a state run kiosk) to even get wine?

It was that way in 1967 when I lived there and I understand that it's still the same, the state has a monopoly on the package liquor industry.

15 posted on 10/03/2010 6:06:09 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Nobody reads tag lines.)
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To: DemforBush
Hahahahaa, “engrish” is just the best, isn’t it?

It's laugh city. I haven't been able to quit it since posting that.

16 posted on 10/03/2010 6:10:19 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (after your fifteen minutes are up you get a lifetime of ignominy.)
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To: the invisib1e hand

The Atlanta Airport has a Best Buy vending machine... Sells ipods, phones, video games... even a laptop computer. Pretty bizarre.


17 posted on 10/03/2010 6:47:30 PM PDT by SomeCallMeTim
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To: DemforBush

If you had asked me 20 years ago what I thought about a vending machine dispensing movies I would have thought that was strange, who would want to rent movies from a box. Now, together with Netflix, it has slayed the Blockbuster giant.


18 posted on 10/03/2010 7:07:47 PM PDT by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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To: the invisib1e hand
That's funny! But a better English translation would read:

As toilet is not furnished with tissue, guests should purchase from this machine.

19 posted on 10/03/2010 7:30:05 PM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Roscoe Karns

That is MO, isn’t it?


20 posted on 10/03/2010 7:34:04 PM PDT by B4Ranch (Conflict is inevitable; Combat is an option. Train for the fight.)
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