As I understand it, the vending machines were actually introduced as a way to track employee consumption of equipment[1] (at Facebook anyways). They were a resp

As I understand it, the vending machines were actually introduced as a way to track employee consumption of equipment[1] (at Facebook anyways). They were a response to an open kiosk where you could swing by and pick up hardware at will without any externally-enforced tracking of what you've taken. Assuming you use your own badge to dispense equipment, the vending machines are able to track your equipment usage. This allows IT departments to respond to consumption problems as needed, rather than putting a process in place that keeps you from being productive when your keyboard dies & the requisition personnel have gone home for the day. I work at a small company--we don't have vending machines or IT departments. Instead, each employee has a company credit card and we submit receipts for our IT purchases. I'll admit that, knowing I can buy new stuff as needed, I'm less careful about my equipment. However, I also know that someone's looking at the receipts I submit & that knowledge has kept me from being wasteful. I'd imagine that the vending machine tracking motivates similarly. [1] http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/06/facebooks-vending-machines-a-coke-or-a-keyboard http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/06/facebooks-vending-mac...