Back in the 1920s, it seemed everything was becoming coin-operated. All over the U.S., you could find coin-operated weighing machines at railroad stations; coin-operated vending machines were chock ...

As a child, there was something magically rewarding about dropping some small change into the slot of a gumball machine, turning the lever and being rewarded with some hard candy. The Razorfish ...

Now they’ve gone and done it: Even the prices of office snacks have gone up. Consumers have recently been bombarded with price spikes for products ranging from gasoline at the pumps to bananas at ...

Legend has it the first vending machine was created in 215 B.C. when Greek mathematician Hero devised a contraption t dispense holy water when a coin was dropped into a slot. But it would be more than ...

Many moons ago, in my teens, I came across a vending machine with "Akarui Katei Seikatsu" written on it. I assumed it dispensed chewing gum and put some coins into it, and out came a tiny box. I put ...