Just had one installed at work.

Grab bags of Walkers 90p ffs.

Tried getting a Twix which got stuck. Gave the machine a good kicking and 2 fell out plus a Boost.

Happy days.

ps 9/10 for the Twix - wasnt at an optimum temperature imo.

I didnt get the same amount in change as I put in the machine either.

I've probably mentioned this before on here but I restore/repair/fanny around with Jukeboxes. I've had about 10 over the years and I've learned a lot about Coin Mechanisms/Selectors etc...pretty much the same principles apply to Jukes as to Vending Machines. Piece of piss to fiddle. So I do.

How?

Asking for a friend

Put the coin on a piece of string and pull it back - worked for Top Cat

Kick fuck out of it then just take what you want.

I got my hand/fingers stuck in the Coke machine at the Baths trying to free a stuck can!!!!

Used to love getting a Highland Toffee Bar, hot chocolate, bag of Crunchies, space raiders, green meanies etc etc after the baths

Hot chocolate and space raiders, Occasionally chips and gravy.

You are all very well aware of my thoughts on this subject!

Not exactly a vending machine story but years ago my boss had asked me to go to a meeting with him. We had to take his car which was parked at a meter. He was running late so he asked me to nip outside and put another 20p in. The 20p got stuck so i tried to push it in with his car key which,would you believe it, jammed in the meter. He came out and seeing what had happened accused me of trying to pinch his 20p. He went all Blakey-like from on the buses.
That did n't ruin my prospects at the firm. It was running him out first ball in the inter company cricket match the following week. Happy days, or so it was when I left the firm a bit after.

Back in the day, the old 5p coin was exactly the same size and weight as a 1DM coin... on a school trip to Germany back in the 80s, some of those in the know went armed with a pocketful, and you could probably have tracked our progress through Germany by the rifled Vending Machines - one favourite was a Cornetto for 10p, actual price 2DM - about 60p....

We found out the same in Hucklehoven but didn't know beforehand....there was still a few cigarette machines with 5p's in though!!!!

You could wrap the old 10 pence pieces with foil insert in the a phone box and get 50p worth of calls. I did it once, call was engaged, it spewed out a 50p piece when I put the receiver down.

Vending machines contribute to kids being fat.

Anyone associated with this industry is a murderer.

Big fan of vending machines as a kid like?

After years of paying way over the odds and things getting stuck, I used to do the same where I worked. Go upstairs to the rest room in the afternoon when there was no one about and give the thing a good shake, got all sorts out of it free gratis. I remember when I was working in Seaham, and I shook the vending machine and the clock immediately behind the vending machine fell off the wall and broke into bits. There were a couple of people at the other end of the canteen who never saw what happened but heard the noise of the clock hitting the deck.I beat a hasty retreat. A few hours later the boss came to my desk and said they wanted a word with me. I thought some right wing sycophantic tory tw*t had grassed me up for shaking the machine. I sat down , the boss said , " I hear you witnessed the clock falling off the wall, when you were at the vending machine " I said yes I was, the boss said, " in that case could you do me a favour and fill in one of these requisition forms, so that I can order a new one " Phew ! another lucky escape.

Them old baths in late 60/70,s must have been 50/50 chlorine and water ... a nestle crunch bar and hot chocolate was very soothing. .

I disagree ! I think a bar of chocolate and a can of coke around 11am, , between a Macdonalds breakfast and a Greggs pastie at lunchtime is a fundamental right of the North Briton. Sets them up nicely for that evenings takeaway

Seaton baths were 50% salt dissolved in chlorinated water. The stuff was so thick you couldn't sink in it ...

Thinking back, I wonder if my aversion to most things mechanical and our inability to control same began with vending machines.

I have travelled on the Underground ever since I first started work and it was a regular sight on the various platforms to see these machines being smacked and sworn at because of one malfunction or another.

However, reading through the various posts on here, I remembered an incident that occurred to me and, for once, the boot was on the other foot.

In our teens, there was a local dairy on the High Street with it’s entrance situated between two shops and it had placed a large metal device on the pavement selling milk. The variety was not just any old milk but chocolate, unheard of in those days, and was delivered in those old third of a pint bottles. Walking past one evening with some mates, I turned the handle and, lo and behold, received a bottle. Naturally we had to try it again and we all staggered home with bottles of the stuff covered up in our jumpers etc. I don’t think I’ve been able to face the stuff since.

The flapjacks and the quavers quite often get stuck on the one I use. If you wait 10 seconds you get your money back in full because the sensors at the bottom know the item hasn't dropped. After you collect your money it's as if gravity takes over and you often get what you wanted for anyway, of course you aren't allowed to shake the machines under any circumstances......