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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/apr/14/a-day-in-the-life-of-almost-every-vending-machine-in-the-world>
"A minute before midnight on 21 July 2021, as passengers staggered sleepily
through Manchester airport, I stood wringing my hands in the glow of a vending
machine that was seven feet tall, conspicuously branded with the name of its
owner – BRODERICK – and positioned like a clever trap between arrivals and the
taxi rank. Standard agonies. Sweet or savoury? Liquid or something to munch? I
opted for Doritos, keying in a three-digit code and touching my card to the
reader so that the packet moved jerkily forwards, propelled by a churning
plastic spiral and tipped into the well of the machine. My Doritos landed with
a thwap, a sound that always brings relief to the vending enthusiast, because
there hasn’t been a mechanical miscue. Judged by the clock, which now read
12am, it was the UK’s first vending-machine sale of the day.
Nine hours later, I was sitting in a spruce office in the Manchester suburb of
Wythenshawe, drinking coffee with John “Johnny Brod” Broderick, the man who
owned and operated that handsome airport machine. I’d had an idea to try to
capture 24 hours in the life of vending machines. These weird, conspicuous
objects! With their backs against the wall of everyday existence, they tempt
out such a peculiar range of emotions, from relief to frustration,
condescension to childish glee. For decades I’d been a steady and unquestioning
patron. I figured that by spending some time in the closer company of the
machines and their keepers, by immersing myself in their history, by looking to
their future, I might get to the bottom of their enduring appeal. What made
entrepreneurs from the Victorian age onwards want to hawk their goods in this
way? What made generations of us buy? Johnny Brod seemed a good first person to
ask."
Via Esther Schindler, who wrote "Fun and fascinating story. Recommended."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
