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Authors: David Feldman
Tags: Reference, Curiosities & Wonders
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half of the twentieth century, when a child is more likely to think that penny candy is the name of a cartoon character rather than the actual price of a confection, it is hard to believe that in the early days of vending machines the industry would have loved to be able to accept pennies. When a candy bar cost five cents, vendors undoubtedly lost many sales when frustrated kids could produce five pennies but not one nickel. Now, when a candy bar might cost half a dollar, payment in fifty pennies might clog a receptacle. But why didn’t vending machines ever accept pennies? We spoke to Walter Reed, of the National Automatic Merchandising Association, who told us about the fascinating history of this Imponderable.
The vending machine industry has always been plagued by enterprising criminals who inserted slugs or relatively worthless foreign coins into machines in the time-honored tradition of trying to get something for nothing. In the 1930s, a slug rejector was invented that could differentiate U.S. coinage from Mexican centavos of the same size. The slug rejector worked by determining the metallic content of the coin. Although the slug rejector could easily differentiate between silver or nickel and a slug, it couldn’t tell the difference between a worthless token and the copper in a penny. For this reason, vendors hesitated to accept pennies in the machines.
The slug rejectors of today are much more sophisticated, measuring the serration of the coin, its circumference, its thickness, and the presence of any holes. Whereas the 1930s slug rejector was electromagnetic, current rejectors perform tests electronically.
The vending machine industry was instrumental in pushing for the clad-metal coins that were introduced in 1965. Since that year our quarter, for example, which used to be made of silver, now has a center layer of copper surrounded by an outer layer of copper and nickel. The copper-nickel combination reacts to the electronic sensors in vending machine rejectors much like silver. The government also loves the clad coins because the constituent metals are so much cheaper to buy.
Except in gumball machines, the vending machine industry has never accepted pennies, although they once gave pennies away to consumers. In the late 1950s, a cigarette tax was imposed that drove the retail price of cigarettes a few cents above its long-held thirty-five-cent price. Stores simply charged thirty-seven cents, but vending machines couldn’t, for they were not equipped to return pennies.
Vendors had to decide whether to keep charging thirty-five cents and absorb the loss of the two cents on every pack, or charge forty cents and risk loss of sales when grocery stores could undercut them by 10%. So they compromised. Vending machines charged forty cents a pack, but pennies were placed in the pack to restore equity to the consumer.
Submitted by Fred T. Beeman of Wailuku, Hawaii .
Now that Most Products Sold in Vending Machines Sell for Fifty Cents or More, Why Don’t Most Vending Machines Accept Half Dollars or Dollar Bills?
The problem with the half dollar is that the public does not carry it in its pocket. Half dollars are too bulky and heavy. Allowing half dollars would necessitate increasing the size of coin slots in the machines.
The American public loves quarters. Unfortunately, studies have shown that people resist putting in more than two coins in vending machines. And two quarters aren’t enough to buy even a soft drink anymore.
So isn’t the dollar bill acceptor the panacea? The technology exists to accept dollar bills in vending machines, but the same hassles that plague the consumer using dollar-bill changers are also a nightmare for the vendor. Bills must be placed in the proper position to be accepted. Worn or slightly torn bills are rejected routinely even though they are perfectly legal tender. And worst of all, dollar bills can’t be counted easily by machine. The labor involved in
The vending machine industry has always been plagued by enterprising criminals who inserted slugs or relatively worthless foreign coins into machines in the time-honored tradition of trying to get something for nothing. In the 1930s, a slug rejector was invented that could differentiate U.S. coinage from Mexican centavos of the same size. The slug rejector worked by determining the metallic content of the coin. Although the slug rejector could easily differentiate between silver or nickel and a slug, it couldn’t tell the difference between a worthless token and the copper in a penny. For this reason, vendors hesitated to accept pennies in the machines.
The slug rejectors of today are much more sophisticated, measuring the serration of the coin, its circumference, its thickness, and the presence of any holes. Whereas the 1930s slug rejector was electromagnetic, current rejectors perform tests electronically.
The vending machine industry was instrumental in pushing for the clad-metal coins that were introduced in 1965. Since that year our quarter, for example, which used to be made of silver, now has a center layer of copper surrounded by an outer layer of copper and nickel. The copper-nickel combination reacts to the electronic sensors in vending machine rejectors much like silver. The government also loves the clad coins because the constituent metals are so much cheaper to buy.
Except in gumball machines, the vending machine industry has never accepted pennies, although they once gave pennies away to consumers. In the late 1950s, a cigarette tax was imposed that drove the retail price of cigarettes a few cents above its long-held thirty-five-cent price. Stores simply charged thirty-seven cents, but vending machines couldn’t, for they were not equipped to return pennies.
Vendors had to decide whether to keep charging thirty-five cents and absorb the loss of the two cents on every pack, or charge forty cents and risk loss of sales when grocery stores could undercut them by 10%. So they compromised. Vending machines charged forty cents a pack, but pennies were placed in the pack to restore equity to the consumer.
Submitted by Fred T. Beeman of Wailuku, Hawaii .
Now that Most Products Sold in Vending Machines Sell for Fifty Cents or More, Why Don’t Most Vending Machines Accept Half Dollars or Dollar Bills?
The problem with the half dollar is that the public does not carry it in its pocket. Half dollars are too bulky and heavy. Allowing half dollars would necessitate increasing the size of coin slots in the machines.
The American public loves quarters. Unfortunately, studies have shown that people resist putting in more than two coins in vending machines. And two quarters aren’t enough to buy even a soft drink anymore.
So isn’t the dollar bill acceptor the panacea? The technology exists to accept dollar bills in vending machines, but the same hassles that plague the consumer using dollar-bill changers are also a nightmare for the vendor. Bills must be placed in the proper position to be accepted. Worn or slightly torn bills are rejected routinely even though they are perfectly legal tender. And worst of all, dollar bills can’t be counted easily by machine. The labor involved in
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