Vending Machine

Machine that sells/dispenses product. Retail variation. "Kiosk"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vending_machine

Newspaper box

Train tickets, SubWay Metro Card

• air-flight life insurance

Lottery tickets

Live Event Ticket Seller? Seems pointless (given ability to print-at-home).

Auto Mat - food http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat

• hmm, merge with Food Truck?

Candy, soda, stamps, condoms, tampons, etc.

Coffee Machine

Ramen

Mobile phones, accessories, SIM cards

Copy Machine (KinKos)

Desktop Fab! (note needs even more hand-holding than Copy Machine)

Books

• losing ground to EBook-s? http://elcerrito.patch.com/articles/library-a-go-go-program-losing-steam-to-e-books
• Espresso Print On Demand http://newslite.tv/2009/04/28/vending-machine-prints-any-boo.html
• Penguinator http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/04/what-publishers-today-can-learn-from-allen-lane-fearlessness/

Video rentals (Red Box) or purchase.

Coin Star (owner of Red Box)

• they are working on lots of new ventures: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/coinstar-tests-kiosks-coffee-gadgets/

Photo Mat, Digital Camera printing

Parking Meter

Live lobsters? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vending_machine#Japan

Other weird varieties http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vending_machine#Varieties

Why sell something this way?

• avoid inventory-theft (from employees and customers)
• sell something in a place where there are no people to handle transactions
• sell something where there's nobody qualified to deal with some weird aspect of closing a sale
  • a Coffee Machine will probably follow a process better than an untrained Grocery Store employee
• sell something at a time when there's nobody available to do work (middle of night in airport, train station, etc.)
• sell something where you purposely avoid the cost of customer service
• sell something with greater Privacy from not having a salesclerk
• Entertainment/experience: a Photo Booth isn't about the awesome pictures but the silly moment shared among friends at a to-be-remembered time/place

Good locations

• Grocery Store - frequent, convenient
• Coffee House - likewise
• Fast Food joint (though less likely to have spare space)
• Shopping Mall
• Book Store (note how much space Barnes And Noble has converted to non-books)
• Public Library (probably not open enough hours)
• AirPort, Train Station, Bus Station - good for some things, not others
• Gas station - not great, few people go inside