BOSTON, MA - Tired of the same-old-same-old when it comes to vending machine candy bars and soft drinks? Smartertravel.com reports on the world€™s 10 most bizarre vending machines.
- Live crabs: Subways in China offer live crabs for sale in vending machines. To repeat: they€™re live, which should make for some interesting commutes home.
- Gold dispensing machine: Where else but Dubai could you buy gold bars and coins from a vending machine, with prices automatically updated every 10 minutes to keep check with markets.
- Bike dispenser: Bike-friendly Holland offers the Bikedispenser, a jumbo-sized machine that emits a bike after you€™ve paid for your ride.
- Sushi: Vending machine sushi? What would Anthony Bourdain say? You can find it Japan, and we€™re guessing it€™s healthier than a bag of chips.
- Dog washer: France offers the Dog-O-Matic, an automatic dog washer, where you open the door, insert your dog (or someone else€™s, we suppose), and pay by size. NOTE: Not PETA-approved.
- Canna MedBox: It€™s medical marijuana dispensed quickly and accurately from this California vending machine, with a fingerprint and prescription scanner that verifies patient identities.
- Cupcakes: Beverly Hills offers bakerySprinkles, a 24/7 cupcake dispenser where consumers get their sugar rush for just four bucks.
- Fingernail painting: Japan comes in with another top-10 entry with a machine that offers quick and easy touch ups to chipped and unsightly nails.
- Automatic apparel: Boston addresses the under- and over-dressed crowd with its automatic apparel machine that offers everything from shoes to underwear to shirts.
- Let€™s Pizza: Vending machine pizza in Italy? Seems sacrilegious, not to mention pizza bagel-ish, with a pie that€™s ready in just 90 seconds.
NACS€™ Ideas 2 Go has covered a number of new vending concepts, from the drive-thru vending offered at SmartMart to Shop24 on college campuses to a unusual Washington, DC-area vending startup called Tik-Tok EZ Shop. By 2003, it had added DVD rentals and was featured in Ideas 2 Go with a new name: Redbox.