Early advancements in vending industry

The initial step taken by Thomas Adams Tutti Frutti gum vending machine set a trend in United States. Today automatic merchandising has become widely popular in marketing and selling goods. This profit generating industry keeps introducing an array of technological changes in order to keep a pace with high competition. Here we will discuss some of the early advancements made in the vending industry:

First, sound and audio recordings were added to promote the use of machines. A machine might thank customers for their purchases, or recite a slogan for the product being vended.

Second, would be vending machines ability to make a correct change for customers. This feature became increasingly important as the customers need not carry the exact amount to get a product from vending machine.

Third feature would be increasing capacity of the machine. This feature helped to increase a machine’s efficiency while decreasing the amount of visits that a vending operator has had to make to refill the machines.

Fourth advancement in vending machines has to be refrigeration and heating systems which were not developed until late 1950s. Prior to electric cooling, large blocks of ice were used in order to keep the drinks cool. This method was largely ineffective because the ice melted before the end of the day, leaving Luke warm beverages or spoiled milk. With Temperature control units, goods sold were fresh and safe for consumption which added to the reliability of vending machines.

One of the earlier advancements includes anti-slug technology, which used complex processes that measured, weighed, checked and bounced coins. With this technology illegal purchases were controlled and made vending more effective.

Above advancements is just a small portion of a big revolution in the industry. Today vending machines have become reliable source of shopping. The technological advances keep up the curiosity of the business men and attract consumers to use the machines.