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Surprised to see no mention of Japan in the comments. As any visitor can attest, the country has way more vending machines than anywhere else I know of, and in

Surprised to see no mention of Japan in the comments. As any visitor can attest, the country has way more vending machines than anywhere else I know of, and in way more categories. Soft drinks, tea (hot and cold), coffee, beer, hard liquor, tobacco, snacks, ice cream, rice, toiletries, even the semi-apocryphal used panties. The article below outlines some reasons why, but it seems to boil down to high cost of labor & real estate, high population density and heavy public transport usage. In suburban shopping arcades (shotengai), which by and large are dying a slow death, it's not uncommon to see closed stores that have literally been replaced by a vending machine or two (often owned by the store owner) retailing the same products, particularly for liquor and tobacco. https://www.businessinsider.com/why-so-many-vending-machines-in-japan-2017-1 https://www.businessinsider.com/why-so-many-vending-machines... Not that Japan has the monopoly on weird vending machines: https://www.norwegiansalmon.com.sg/ https://www.norwegiansalmon.com.sg/

mc32 6y ago
It also helps that it’s a high trust society and you don’t get a lot of delinquent kids breaking in to get cigs or beer. Obviously cameras help with that.
- codeulike 6y ago
  Yes I thought that when I visited. A vending machine on the streets of a UK city full of beer and cigs wouldn't last 3 minutes.
  - pjc50 6y ago
    Railway stations in the UK used to have cigarette vending machines, back before smoking ban.
    - mc32 6y ago
      Not sure about the UK but in the US when there used to be cig vending machines it would be under the supervision of staff, so like in a bar. In Japan they are out in the open in non descript corners and alleyways, although there is usually a streetlight.
      - howlgarnish 6y ago
        They do require a "tobacco passport" to operate, which aims to make it harder for kids to buy them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo Then again, this is the same country where it's sufficient to self-certify by tapping a button that you're over 18 when buying hard liquor at the 7-11.
        Liquix 6y ago
        Is underage drinking a problem in Japan? Genuinely curious, I know salarymen feel obligated to drink with their bosses but have never heard about unruly drunk Japanese teenagers
        fomine3 6y ago
        Drinking is allowed over 20 years old but some university students tend to drink on eighteen on party. It's illegal but not thought as serious problem. For high school student or below, smoking is problem (So vending machine must have authenticate feature like card(Taspo) or face age recognition) but drinking is looks like not popular but still considered as problem.
  - asdff 6y ago
    In croatia they have tiny little 5'x5' walk up convenient stores everywhere that might as well be vending machines, but I'm sure the drunks would get in there in no time if they weren't manned.
- cfmcdonald 6y ago
  The U.S. used to have cigarette vending machines. I believe they were phased out due to the desire to enforce age limits for smoking more strictly, not because of theft. My general impression is that the U.S. used to have more vending machines in general ~30-40 years ago. I remember soda machines being outside of every grocery store, but I don't see that anymore. Newspaper vending machines also used to be common. But I don't have any data to back that up.
  - sogen 6y ago
    yes, there were more vending machines: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vending-machines-snacks-same-united-states https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vending-machines-snack...
  - biztos 6y ago
    I remember the cigarette machines from my youth. I was amazed that something so forbidden (I was a kid, and my parents didn't smoke) was available in restaurants if you were just bold/sneaky enough. In Germany there are bars that still have them, but I think they're pretty rare now even there. The one used by one of my friends who smokes a lot even requires old DM coins, which you can get at the bar.
    - mauvehaus 6y ago
      That's an amazing bit of indirection that both spares them having to update the machine and let's them change the price without reconfiguring the machine. Just like subway tokens.
      - notahacker 6y ago
        Also in theory allows them to ensure that only people over the legal smoking age can use the machine
    - lorenzhs 6y ago
      No they're still very common here. There are at least three within a 50m radius of my front door (inner city). Someone made a map of cigarette vending machines tagged in OSM in Dresden: http://ubahnverleih.de/osm/zigaretten/ http://ubahnverleih.de/osm/zigaretten/
em500 6y ago
There are lots of weird and wonderful vending machines around the world: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/live-crabs-and-lego-sets-a-look-at-12-quirky-vending-machines-from-around-the-world https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/live-crabs-and-lego-s...
- Symbiote 6y ago
  In Romania I came across an egg vending machine. There was a padded cushion where the eggs dropped down. http://www.eggvendingmachines.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Egg_vending_machine.jpg http://www.eggvendingmachines.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09...
- namdnay 6y ago
  There are cheese vending machines in several towns in the Alps: https://www.filbing-distribution.com/s/cc_images/cache_6004167.jpg?t=1485763807 https://www.filbing-distribution.com/s/cc_images/cache_60041... Quite useful actually, avoids long queues on Sunday morning when everyone wants to pick up some cheese on the way home
  - dylan604 6y ago
    Sunday morning...on the way home? What cultural thing that I'm not aware of would the population in mass be coming home...(church?) that would cause such a large queue at the cheese shop?
    - namdnay 6y ago
      City dwellers driving back home after the school holidays (two weeks in Jan/Feb/Mar, staggered depending on the city, to reduce congestion on the slopes) Skiing is serious business here :)
      - dylan604 6y ago
        Can't be that serious if you're driving back Sunday morning. Serious would be skiing at least half-day, and driving back Sunday afternoon! Or ski full day, and overnight drive it back!
Tor3 6y ago
I counted 16 vending machines side-by-side outside a random shop I visited in "my" town (the town where I stay when I'm in Japan). And yes they're everywhere. I appreciated them particularly the first couple of years I visited, as at that time shops insisted on you paying as accurately as possible, they tended to refuse accepting banknotes if that implied returning a lot of coins. Strange thing, and that has since changed (i.e. that's not a problem anymore), but, back then the easiest way out was to simply buy a 100yen coffee from a vending machine, paying with a note, and keep the change to use in shops.
- greggman3 6y ago
  Been here since 98, never ran into the issue of not being able to pay with banknotes because of returning lots of coins. In fact quite the opposite. Go into a convenience store, buy a pack of mints for $1.04 (104 yen) hand them an $100 bill (10000yen) no one blinks an eye. Most convenience stores in the USA won't accept $100 bills AFAIK. I can see if it was some tiny store and they couldn't make exact change then yes, they'd have an issue. Also, liquor (and maybe beer) I think may have changed. I haven't seen a beer/liquor machine since 2016 but the one I saw then required an id card to prove you were old enough to buy. Tobacco too apparently (I don't pay attention to cigarette machines) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo
  - innocenat 6y ago
    Nowadays I think I only saw liquor/beer machine only in hotel. I don't remember last time I saw them on the street anymore.
  - SilasX 6y ago
    >Been here since 98, never ran into the issue of not being able to pay with banknotes because of returning lots of coins. In fact quite the opposite. Go into a convenience store, buy a pack of mints for $1.04 (104 yen) hand them an $100 bill (10000yen) no one blinks an eye. Similarly, I was surprised in Amsterdam when a family got on a bus and didn't have a ticket (or whatever) and so just gave the driver a 50 Euro note, and he made change and gave them their tickets.
raxxorrax 6y ago
So now they have salmon in vending machines... Tried to buy some fish once and the cashier just laughed at me and wanted to sell me fishing equipment.
xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
If North America was speckled with machines vending hot canned coffee, I would use them far more often than e.g. Starbucks. I drank so many Boss coffees last I was in Japan, they're so convenient -- no line, not too-hot-to-drink, open 24/7, such as in the early dawn. Just a wonderful thing.
- ComputerGuru 6y ago
  I’m not sure what you refer to as early dawn, but here in the Midwest all Dunkin’ Donuts and many Starbucks are open at 5am. Side note: it blows my mind each time I’m in California and I have to drive forty five minutes or more to find a Dunkin’.
  - lotsofpulp 6y ago
    It blows my mind that someone would want to find a Dunkin’ in CA where there’s far better options, but to each their own!
    - ComputerGuru 6y ago
      Known viable option for coffee for someone from out of town, whereas a local brand is an unknown quantity and McDonalds and Starbucks are undrinkable.
  - samcheng 6y ago
    LA is known for their many donut shops, mostly owner-operated. https://time.com/longform/national-doughnut-day-photos/ https://time.com/longform/national-doughnut-day-photos/ Here in the Bay Area I have a 24-hour donut shop about a quarter mile away. I have been making a point to patronize them, so they survive COVID. Dunkin' Donuts pulled out of California, and is shrinking nationally. There are much better options out there if you look...
    - gnicholas 6y ago
      > Dunkin' Donuts pulled out of California, and is shrinking nationally. Dunkin' just opened a location in Redwood City, on Woodside Road near El Camino. So they're not pulling out of CA. There are also locations in San Mateo, Fremont, Half Moon Bay, and Concord. Definitely not as common as Starbucks, but they're growing their presence, not shrinking these days. Source: my wife went to school on the east coast and is a big Dunkin' fan...
de_Selby 6y ago
Climbing Mt Fuji in Japan is a reasonably serious climb (for ordinary people). At 3600m you need to think about altitude acclimitisation and it's best to sleep overnight on the way up. The achievement is only undermined by the fact that there is a literal queue of people in front of you for the entire ascent, and by the fact that after completing the climb you are greeted with a vending machine at the summit!
- wenc 6y ago
  Like most people, my first thought was "how do they restock those machines?" Turns out the summit of Mt Fuji has civilizational amenities, and there's actually a vehicle that goes up to the summit via a trail. https://www.flickr.com/photos/182302882@N05/48439659072/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/182302882@N05/48439659072/
- NikolaeVarius 6y ago
  Thats about 12,000 feet. You dont need altitude acclimatization for that, it'll just suck a decent bit more than normal. I just went backpacking at 13k+ feet without any prep, it was fine outside of needing to take more breaks.
  - umvi 6y ago
    It really depends on the mountain, which you should always research beforehand. For example, I climbed Mt. Massive in Colorado (second highest peak and >14k feet) without any special training or problems (I normally live near Washington DC). If you are in reasonably good shape (i.e. you run regularly) then you should be fine. Yeah, I stopped to catch my breath a little more frequently the higher I got, but it was a totally manageable 8 mile round trip.
  - Green_man 6y ago
    This can depend widely on the altitude you are acclimated to (what altitude do you live at, how regularly do you hike/climb/run near the target altitude, etc.), as well as how quickly you go. For some, finishing the mountain without having to overnight on or near it is more convenient, but others might overnight so they can go faster on summit day without getting altitude sickness. Side note (I'm not saying this applies to above comment): I'd caution anyone to take 12,000 feet seriously, it's a serious altitude and you want to think in terms of turnaround times and eventualities, not "I'm getting to the top no matter what".

mc32 6y ago

It also helps that it’s a high trust society and you don’t get a lot of delinquent kids breaking in to get cigs or beer. Obviously cameras help with that.

codeulike 6y ago
Yes I thought that when I visited. A vending machine on the streets of a UK city full of beer and cigs wouldn't last 3 minutes.
- pjc50 6y ago
  Railway stations in the UK used to have cigarette vending machines, back before smoking ban.
  - mc32 6y ago
    Not sure about the UK but in the US when there used to be cig vending machines it would be under the supervision of staff, so like in a bar. In Japan they are out in the open in non descript corners and alleyways, although there is usually a streetlight.
    - howlgarnish 6y ago
      They do require a "tobacco passport" to operate, which aims to make it harder for kids to buy them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo Then again, this is the same country where it's sufficient to self-certify by tapping a button that you're over 18 when buying hard liquor at the 7-11.
      - Liquix 6y ago
        Is underage drinking a problem in Japan? Genuinely curious, I know salarymen feel obligated to drink with their bosses but have never heard about unruly drunk Japanese teenagers
        fomine3 6y ago
        Drinking is allowed over 20 years old but some university students tend to drink on eighteen on party. It's illegal but not thought as serious problem. For high school student or below, smoking is problem (So vending machine must have authenticate feature like card(Taspo) or face age recognition) but drinking is looks like not popular but still considered as problem.
- asdff 6y ago
  In croatia they have tiny little 5'x5' walk up convenient stores everywhere that might as well be vending machines, but I'm sure the drunks would get in there in no time if they weren't manned.
cfmcdonald 6y ago
The U.S. used to have cigarette vending machines. I believe they were phased out due to the desire to enforce age limits for smoking more strictly, not because of theft. My general impression is that the U.S. used to have more vending machines in general ~30-40 years ago. I remember soda machines being outside of every grocery store, but I don't see that anymore. Newspaper vending machines also used to be common. But I don't have any data to back that up.
- sogen 6y ago
  yes, there were more vending machines: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vending-machines-snacks-same-united-states https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vending-machines-snack...
- biztos 6y ago
  I remember the cigarette machines from my youth. I was amazed that something so forbidden (I was a kid, and my parents didn't smoke) was available in restaurants if you were just bold/sneaky enough. In Germany there are bars that still have them, but I think they're pretty rare now even there. The one used by one of my friends who smokes a lot even requires old DM coins, which you can get at the bar.
  - mauvehaus 6y ago
    That's an amazing bit of indirection that both spares them having to update the machine and let's them change the price without reconfiguring the machine. Just like subway tokens.
    - notahacker 6y ago
      Also in theory allows them to ensure that only people over the legal smoking age can use the machine
  - lorenzhs 6y ago
    No they're still very common here. There are at least three within a 50m radius of my front door (inner city). Someone made a map of cigarette vending machines tagged in OSM in Dresden: http://ubahnverleih.de/osm/zigaretten/ http://ubahnverleih.de/osm/zigaretten/

em500 6y ago

There are lots of weird and wonderful vending machines around the world: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/live-crabs-and-lego-sets-a-look-at-12-quirky-vending-machines-from-around-the-world https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/live-crabs-and-lego-s...

Symbiote 6y ago
In Romania I came across an egg vending machine. There was a padded cushion where the eggs dropped down. http://www.eggvendingmachines.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Egg_vending_machine.jpg http://www.eggvendingmachines.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09...
namdnay 6y ago
There are cheese vending machines in several towns in the Alps: https://www.filbing-distribution.com/s/cc_images/cache_6004167.jpg?t=1485763807 https://www.filbing-distribution.com/s/cc_images/cache_60041... Quite useful actually, avoids long queues on Sunday morning when everyone wants to pick up some cheese on the way home
- dylan604 6y ago
  Sunday morning...on the way home? What cultural thing that I'm not aware of would the population in mass be coming home...(church?) that would cause such a large queue at the cheese shop?
  - namdnay 6y ago
    City dwellers driving back home after the school holidays (two weeks in Jan/Feb/Mar, staggered depending on the city, to reduce congestion on the slopes) Skiing is serious business here :)
    - dylan604 6y ago
      Can't be that serious if you're driving back Sunday morning. Serious would be skiing at least half-day, and driving back Sunday afternoon! Or ski full day, and overnight drive it back!

Tor3 6y ago

I counted 16 vending machines side-by-side outside a random shop I visited in "my" town (the town where I stay when I'm in Japan). And yes they're everywhere. I appreciated them particularly the first couple of years I visited, as at that time shops insisted on you paying as accurately as possible, they tended to refuse accepting banknotes if that implied returning a lot of coins. Strange thing, and that has since changed (i.e. that's not a problem anymore), but, back then the easiest way out was to simply buy a 100yen coffee from a vending machine, paying with a note, and keep the change to use in shops.

greggman3 6y ago
Been here since 98, never ran into the issue of not being able to pay with banknotes because of returning lots of coins. In fact quite the opposite. Go into a convenience store, buy a pack of mints for $1.04 (104 yen) hand them an $100 bill (10000yen) no one blinks an eye. Most convenience stores in the USA won't accept $100 bills AFAIK. I can see if it was some tiny store and they couldn't make exact change then yes, they'd have an issue. Also, liquor (and maybe beer) I think may have changed. I haven't seen a beer/liquor machine since 2016 but the one I saw then required an id card to prove you were old enough to buy. Tobacco too apparently (I don't pay attention to cigarette machines) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taspo
- innocenat 6y ago
  Nowadays I think I only saw liquor/beer machine only in hotel. I don't remember last time I saw them on the street anymore.
- SilasX 6y ago
  >Been here since 98, never ran into the issue of not being able to pay with banknotes because of returning lots of coins. In fact quite the opposite. Go into a convenience store, buy a pack of mints for $1.04 (104 yen) hand them an $100 bill (10000yen) no one blinks an eye. Similarly, I was surprised in Amsterdam when a family got on a bus and didn't have a ticket (or whatever) and so just gave the driver a 50 Euro note, and he made change and gave them their tickets.

raxxorrax 6y ago

So now they have salmon in vending machines... Tried to buy some fish once and the cashier just laughed at me and wanted to sell me fishing equipment.

xyzzy_plugh 6y ago

If North America was speckled with machines vending hot canned coffee, I would use them far more often than e.g. Starbucks. I drank so many Boss coffees last I was in Japan, they're so convenient -- no line, not too-hot-to-drink, open 24/7, such as in the early dawn. Just a wonderful thing.

ComputerGuru 6y ago
I’m not sure what you refer to as early dawn, but here in the Midwest all Dunkin’ Donuts and many Starbucks are open at 5am. Side note: it blows my mind each time I’m in California and I have to drive forty five minutes or more to find a Dunkin’.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  It blows my mind that someone would want to find a Dunkin’ in CA where there’s far better options, but to each their own!
  - ComputerGuru 6y ago
    Known viable option for coffee for someone from out of town, whereas a local brand is an unknown quantity and McDonalds and Starbucks are undrinkable.
- samcheng 6y ago
  LA is known for their many donut shops, mostly owner-operated. https://time.com/longform/national-doughnut-day-photos/ https://time.com/longform/national-doughnut-day-photos/ Here in the Bay Area I have a 24-hour donut shop about a quarter mile away. I have been making a point to patronize them, so they survive COVID. Dunkin' Donuts pulled out of California, and is shrinking nationally. There are much better options out there if you look...
  - gnicholas 6y ago
    > Dunkin' Donuts pulled out of California, and is shrinking nationally. Dunkin' just opened a location in Redwood City, on Woodside Road near El Camino. So they're not pulling out of CA. There are also locations in San Mateo, Fremont, Half Moon Bay, and Concord. Definitely not as common as Starbucks, but they're growing their presence, not shrinking these days. Source: my wife went to school on the east coast and is a big Dunkin' fan...

de_Selby 6y ago

Climbing Mt Fuji in Japan is a reasonably serious climb (for ordinary people). At 3600m you need to think about altitude acclimitisation and it's best to sleep overnight on the way up. The achievement is only undermined by the fact that there is a literal queue of people in front of you for the entire ascent, and by the fact that after completing the climb you are greeted with a vending machine at the summit!

wenc 6y ago
Like most people, my first thought was "how do they restock those machines?" Turns out the summit of Mt Fuji has civilizational amenities, and there's actually a vehicle that goes up to the summit via a trail. https://www.flickr.com/photos/182302882@N05/48439659072/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/182302882@N05/48439659072/
NikolaeVarius 6y ago
Thats about 12,000 feet. You dont need altitude acclimatization for that, it'll just suck a decent bit more than normal. I just went backpacking at 13k+ feet without any prep, it was fine outside of needing to take more breaks.
- umvi 6y ago
  It really depends on the mountain, which you should always research beforehand. For example, I climbed Mt. Massive in Colorado (second highest peak and >14k feet) without any special training or problems (I normally live near Washington DC). If you are in reasonably good shape (i.e. you run regularly) then you should be fine. Yeah, I stopped to catch my breath a little more frequently the higher I got, but it was a totally manageable 8 mile round trip.
- Green_man 6y ago
  This can depend widely on the altitude you are acclimated to (what altitude do you live at, how regularly do you hike/climb/run near the target altitude, etc.), as well as how quickly you go. For some, finishing the mountain without having to overnight on or near it is more convenient, but others might overnight so they can go faster on summit day without getting altitude sickness. Side note (I'm not saying this applies to above comment): I'd caution anyone to take 12,000 feet seriously, it's a serious altitude and you want to think in terms of turnaround times and eventualities, not "I'm getting to the top no matter what".