Vending machine technology has gone through a lot of changes and improvement over time. Nowadays, people live in a fast paced world. Consumers are always in a hurry and have always wanted for a convenient access to the things they need. With this need comes the emergence of vending machines and these days, the vending industry is on of the fastest growing industries in the world.

Basically, a vending machine is a machine that dispenses products after customer deposit cash. A vending machine is designed to dispose products without a cashier. Vending machines have currency detectors which determine if the cash inserted is enough to pay for the desired product.

Vending machines are usually placed in entrances and exits of any establishments sometimes it is placed near restrooms and fountains. Products that they usually market are alcoholic beverages and cigarettes, newspaper vending machines are also available, candy, soda snacks, Cards – Calling, capsule, car wash, CD DVD, Coffee, cold food, Cranes Dispensers, dollar bill changers, Hershey Nugget, Impulse Games Soap Laundry, medical and stamps vending machines.

Vending machines are intended for large storage. The machine is also protected from thefts. Vending machines always have a phone number printed in the front door of the machine that users can call for service.

There are various types of vending machines Bulky candy and gumball vending machine is a vending machine that sells candy bars. This machine sells a handful of candy, bouncy ball, capsules with small toy inside or sometimes jewelry. Full line vending is one type of vending machines. This machine sells a wide variety of products candies, cookies, chips, fresh fruit, milk, cold food, coffee, bottles and/or cans of soda, and frozen products like ice cream and even sells coffee, snack, cold food and glass-front bottle machines. There’s a machine that is called Specialized Vending. This machine sells toilet facilities. This is usually placed in ladies restrooms door. This machine is loaded with pads or tampon, medicines and condoms.

With the Newspaper vending machines, the consumer can unlock the container and make off with all of the newspapers inside after paying for one. This vending machine is not that secure unless the buyer is honest enough to get just one newspaper.

Nowadays vending machines are not for foods and snacks only. They now sell iPod’s accessories, call cards, digital cameras and cameras for phones. Vending machine that sells modern electronic products has already become typical in other countries. These kinds of vending machines are usually placed in airports, grocery stores and shopping malls. These vending machines also accept credit cards as payment for the product you want to buy.

Vending machines are not created perfectly. There were some noted malfunctions like coin jam, coin blocking the detectors and products are not fully released. Vending machine manufacturers have seen these malfunctions and have further desired to make these machines better. In the last ten years, big improvements in the vending technology have been observed by the consumers making the machine a more effective way for fast and quick purchases.

Telemetry is one of the latest vending innovations. Telemetry is the start of affordable wireless technology making cashless payments more authenticated. Most vending machines honor exact change only and according to surveys, 50 % of consumers is stopped from using the vending machines because of the exact change only policy. With telemetry, machines are enabled to make sales even if the consumer doesn’t have the exact change. This is done through the bill changer. With telemetry, it is also now possible to transmit inventory and sales data to an assigned truck parked nearby the machine. This gives the signal to the driver or a staff in charge to take products to the vending machine for restocking.

One of the vending machines malfunctions noted is when the machine fails to release the products. In order to prevent this from happening, new vending machines especially those snack vending machines that sells light weight items such as chips and chocolates, are now installed with spirals that hold the items containing lasers. These are placed near the access door. The laser is designed to automatically detect the products that fall and when products are not detected after a specified time or minutes, the spiral automatically turns at maximum of three turns. If after three turns, the product fails to fall, the machine instructs the customer to either make another selection or refund his money.

Vending machines are one of the useful products of technology. The ease and convenience it brings to the consumers is really one great wonder in world moving in a fast pace. If a person feels hungry or perhaps needs anything in the middle of the night, he doesn't need to wait until the morning to get it. All he needs to do is drop by one of the vending machines nearby and get what he wants.