Vending machines

[FFC]

Why is the cost of food/drinks inside vending machines so inflated, compared to gas stations? I mean, gas stations are inflated as it is, but I can drive down the street to the gas station and get a meal cheaper than from the vending machine in my break room at work.

I've run vending machines before - I understand that the food/service has to pay for itself, but come on.... $1.00 for a bag of chips that you can buy 20 of for $5? Maybe bottled water for $1.20 when you can get a case 24 for $3.00+CRV.

[Ninedays9]

That is a good question. I"m guessing it has something to do with how vending machines are usually in remote locations where no other food/drink is available. So, that way they can get away with it. Kinda like how vendors can get away with charging more for Fridays and Saturdays if it's a popular vendor. They also charge way too much for food and drinks at places like amusement parks.

[Brian's Bride]

I completely agree that vending machines can be a rip-off. We have bags of chips in ours at work for $.80! The pretzels have recently gone up from $.50 to $.80. Kind of ridiculous when you can buy a big bag at the grocery store for $3. So now I try to keep my desk stocked so I'm not spending that extra money.

Although I was recently at the Habitat Re-Store and their vending machine soda was only $.50. I was pleasantly surprised by that!

[WebLady]

I have always thought that vending machines were sort of a rip-off and just priced high because they think they can get away with it.

[kgvettegirl]

The drink machine at our Chevy dealership sells full sized cans for $.60. Can't beat that with a stick.

[FFC]

The drink machine at our Chevy dealership sells full sized cans for $.60. Can't beat that with a stick.

Full sized cans? Like a 12 oz can?

I used to love going to walmart and treating everyone to a soda - at $0.35 per can of walmart brand (Shasta I think). That's only a little bit more than buying them by the case.

[Ninedays9]

The best was when the Pepsi machine at Walmart was 75 cents for a 20 oz. The Coke was $1.00. I loved it that I could get Mountain Dew for cheaper than Coke.

The worst was at a hotel we stayed at for our girls' night... 12 oz drinks (pop and water) for $1.25 (or it might've been $1.50 I forget). We thought it was 20 oz bottles in there, and I thought that was kinda cheap for a hotel vending machine... and then we saw the 12 oz bottle come out. Grrr.

[RevMatty]

Why are they so highly priced? One word: Convience!!



Did you know that there are some pop machines out that that can change the prices based on the outside temp, and sales? The hotter it gets the more people buy, so the higher the price, the lower the temp, the less people buy, so a lower price. Talk about suply and demand pricing.

[FFC]

Wow, so they automatically change the prices without someone manually programming them? None of our vending machines do that!