Vending Machine Redux

I want to preface this by saying that I have read up on “that vending machine” from some time ago.

In spite of knowing all about that, I would like to propose that VHS get a vending machine! Here’s why this can be different this time:

  • I already have the vending machine
  • I will not be running the machine for profit.
  • I will lease the vending machine to the space for $1 for as long as the space wants it/deems it useful.
  • I will form a VHS committee to run the vending machine, and participate on said committee. I will encourage and teach others to run it in my absence.

here are some pictures of the vending machine:
https://imgur.com/a/ToQsMj3

it currently is configured to accept loonies, toonies, and quarters. it could have a bill-acceptor or other mechanism added, but those are spendy, so I never bought one. it cost me $300 just to convert this from USD to CAD, way back when I first brought it home.

The downsides to this arrangement are: My vending machine is not a little spirally dispenser thing. it is a 7’ tall 4’ wide behemoth, with a refrigerated interior, and a vending system designed for cylinders.

The upsides are: I/we can retrofit the vending columns to dispense almost anything we can fit into a cylindrical container of between 2-3" diameter and up to 12" long. (containers TBD.) All monies earned can go directly to VHS’ funds, and there can be multiple parties trusted to maintain it, so there’s no weak-link issues with absenteeism which i believe to have been largely responsible for the decline in utility of the last vending machine.

Since this vending machine is, to me, a sunk cost, I’m not looking to have it earn its keep. I am no longer able to store the machine where it currently is, and I need to put it somewhere else. If VHS agrees that I can put it in the space, that’s what I get out of the deal, and the rest is gravy. I only want it to be “leased” so that I can claim it back if the space ever needs it gone for any reason. (or hopefully never, the space itself is ever gone…)

I have discussed this crazy idea with both @winegummo and @rob_mackenzie in the past, and they both suggested that I bring this idea forward for the wider membership to evaluate.

also, I wasn’t sure where to start this topic, so if it should be moved, mods please feel free to do the needful.

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Eh, personally I think we should pass on this.

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If we limit it to items with a minimum shelf-life of three years, and have a serious think about what would go into it (spit-balling ideas here… t-shirts, build-kits, welding consumables, #2 Robertson driver bits, cans of flat-black spray paint, 1 lb packages of rainbow glitter… you know, useful stuff.) I’d be OK with it.

Do you have a place in mind for it?

Here’s a thought: people could design 3d printed toys, or decorative laser cut items, or screen-printed t-shirts and put them in cylinders in the vending machine, as a way to generate more revenue for the space.

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A quick poll.

Should VHS get another vending machine?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Maybe - Needs More Discussion
0 voters

I was thinking that the mini-wall by the lockers would be a pretty good place for it - not in the way, and it has an AC outlet nearby. before the cleanup, there was just a whiteboard there, and worst case, I could imagine attaching the whiteboard to the vending machine. :slight_smile:

Just curious what the energy consumption is of this particular vending machine is and how much it costs to run for 1 year?

A quick google for a refrigerated vending →

"People forget that these machines run 24/7, even when there’s no one around. Vending machines use 7-14 kWh a day, with an average cost of $300-350 to operate annually,” explains Mark Dunne, an energy efficiency project manager for Van Meter Inc., an electrical solutions provider. "

Thank you Gavitron for your generous offer. We have learned our lesson from last time around and Gavitron has already avoided many of the possible pitfalls. VHS manage and stocks it directs, controlling the revenue directly. We also have a clear agreement on where the money goes and Gavitron is generously donating all income to the space. All of this is good.

Here is the possible pitfalls. While in theory it can dispense anything that can fit inside a cylinder, we are limited by amount of selection and the coinage the machine accepts. Cause anything selection will take up an entire button, and there are only 10 button in total, so we can sale only 10 different type of things. So while we all have imagine how it would be handy to get a bit that you need from the vending machine, unless the machine is devoted entirely to selling bits, we probably wont get the selection to make this use case actually useful.

Second problem is the fact that it only accepts coins, which put a soft upper limit on how expensive things items can be. For example, no one is going to have $20 worth of coins on hand to buy a VHS T-shirt.

These 2 limitation eliminates a lot of use cases. We can’t vend project kits, unless there is a kit so popular and regularly used that it justifies an entire column which I can’t think of any. Also, we can’t vend bits, as we are not going through a specific bit at a fast enough rate as a shop to justify an entire column. I think one thing we have to watch out for is filling the vending machine with cool thing that no one will actually realistically buy.

The vending machine is configured to dispense 1 thing, snacks. Soda and potato chips. Something that costs around 2 dollars that is consumed regularly enough by a wide variety of people and justifies an impulse buy.

There is 3 other things I think might might fit the bill,

  1. Masking tape. (it is used to label all sorts of shit and the last batch i bought got used up pretty fast, not sure masking tape rolls can fit, but would be interesting)
  2. Super glue in small tubes. (it is hard to keep opened superglue good and sometime you just need a little bit to connect 2 things together. Might be cheap enough for an impulse buy)
  3. Pencil and Sharpie Set. (combined together to take up less columns, we do run out of pencils around the shop sometimes until one person generously donated a whole bunch. I can imagine spending a buck or 2 on a pencil and sharpie set when i need it to keep working)

There is nothing else i can think of that is widely consumable and low cost enough to justify putting inside a venting machine. Even those i listed are edge cases and might not work at all. Pretty much we would be getting just a pop and snack machine. And it is going to take up a fair bit of space.

That might be good enough, I sometime walk down to the corner shop for a bag of chips and a drink when the mood is right. but we need to think realistically about what this thing can actually sale.

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My 2c: this has been a dream in every hacker space I have been part of before. In my experience, popular items that “flew off the shelves” were: space T-shirts/swag, Arduino starter kits, common consumables (filament etc), beer/mate. Most of these would fit in a cylinder shape (and cylinders could be repurposed easily) although we shouldn’t run the refrigerator for shirts and tools, obviously.

@Gavitron How hard would it be to rewire the payment signal? I’m thinking we could stick a QR code behind each button and hook it up to PayPal/crypto/whatever for cashless payments.

@Majicj re: electricity consumption, I have no sample data on consumption, as I have not left mine running for long enough periods to track, but we could do some simple calculations based on manufacturer wattage and hydro rates.
this model supports turning the refrigerator and lights off on a timed schedule, and I purchased the necessary SSR, but I never installed it. this should probably be the first upgrade, so that we can minimize the cost of leaving it running.

@lionello the coin acceptor and machine speak the MDB protocol to each other. afaik, it’s a multi-device serial bus, with a well defined interface spec. And it’s old enough that there’s a considerable amount of info in the wild now. For example, these guys sell a raspberry pi hat to speak MDB: https://cnkiosk.aliexpress.com/store/1262793 so realistically, building something like that is well within the capabilities of the hackspace.

While that is super generous of Gav to offer (thanks dude) here’s my 2 cents based on history.

The space had a vending machine only 2 years ago with all those things in it - projects, consumables, tshirts, batteries, candy/food, etc. People didn’t buy stuff, candy/food expired and the machine became a bit of a hassle for the owner and the space. And that was even a machine that people could see into to buy stuff. The machine lived at 2 different spaces (The bunker on 1st and also at Cook St.). It was not used much in either space. So just my 2 cents would be, let’s not go down that road again.

I think we need the pandemic to end before we can consider adding this.

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