What's the strangest / quirkiest vending machine you've seen?

Sarahspangles

MSE_James said:

I was at a suburban railway station yesterday that had a vending machine selling frozen ready meals: 



These days I know it's fairly common in rural areas for farms to have vending machines for dairy products and fresh fruit/veg.    I've even seen a vending machine for farm-fresh milk in quite an urban shopping centre.

20 years ago a convenience store near where I lived at the time installed a hot pizza vending machine which was only the second in the UK at the time and caused quite a stir.

Last year I was very impressed by some of the vending machines at Paris Austerlitz station which sold some very nice fresh snacks of a much higher standard than you would find anywhere on the UK railway network.

What unusual vending machines have you seen on your travels? Have you tried them? Did they work well?

I used to get that company’s ready meals for student offspring at exam time. I think it’s only like going into M&S Food at a service station, when you can’t be bothered to cook.

In Italy there are espresso vending machines for €1 in many stations, in some cases on every platform. Coffee machines aren’t unusual but this is really good espresso. And €1

jon81uk

Back in the 90s Pot Noodle vending machines were quite common.

loony767

I remember a vending machine that sold maggots on the Norfolk Broads once

middlewife

We saw a cannabis vending machine in Sicily in 2019, it seem quite popular but I thought travel insurance probably wouldn't cover any accidents while under the influence.

mxxx

The Japanese are apparently big on vending machines. They have all sorts of weird and wonderful vending machines going back decades, to the extent that someone has opened a 'vending machine park'. Why These Old Japanese Vending Machines Are Genius - YouTube

MarriedtoFinn

Quirky Vending Machines:  Actually, GIVING Machines:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have "Vending" machines - especially around Christmas, where the customer chooses an item to donate to a needy person/family/community somewhere in the world where they aren't as fortunate as most of us. You can spend a little or a lot. The "goods" on display show what you'd be giving and a likely type of recipient. It might be seeds, chickens, a goat, tools... You pay, make the choice, and the "package" bearing a picture falls into the tray beneath. (This is on display only,)  The actual gifts paid for are then organised by the church and other churches/charitable organisations around the world.  Millions of US dollars worth are given every year by this method, (although they appear in many large cities around the world).  Most of us would like to do as much good as we can, but often it takes someone else to organise a method, and the machines are very popular.

GiGibessie

So while traveling around France in our motorhome, we passed through a small village and on the side of the road next to a pull in area we saw not 1 but 2 vending machines. We had to do a u turn and pull in to try them out!
The first was a baguette machine  very tasty bread!
The second was a pizza vending machine! We chose pepperoni you had a choice of 3 different types of pizza  then you get the choice of cold uncooked a slightly cheaper option and can cook at home. We chose the hit cooked pizza we had to wait around 8-10 mins.
out popped our hot pizza in a box we sat and ate it as fabulous.

Brie

I do like the milk vending machines around where I live.  First you use a machine to buy a bottle and then another to fill it.  On the side are a selection of syrups that you can squirt in the bottle before you get you milk and you end up with strawberry, chocolate etc "milkshakes".

Jimifan

middlewife said:

We saw a cannabis vending machine in Sicily in 2019, it seem quite popular but I thought travel insurance probably wouldn't cover any accidents while under the influence.

We're currently in Bologna and they have them here too.
Only a very low percentage of THC though, same in the shops.

Langerhan

The train station in Alsace has a pretty, mechanical vending machine which sells smoked sausages. They're displayed hanging down in a glass case, then cut from their strings when you pay and turn the handle.