1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,000 Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much 3 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: for tuning in. Let's hear it for the Man, the 4 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: myth Legend, our super producer, mister Max Williams, the top. 5 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: I'm gonna, I'm gonna. 6 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:43,840 Speaker 2: Yeah. 7 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: Remember how I started saying Zan's a bargain. 8 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:50,120 Speaker 2: We all just went with it. I think I stole 9 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 2: hisah from Lauren Vogelbam Actual facts, Lauren Actual Facts, Vogel 10 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 2: bumb love it. 11 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 3: I mean, I think we should bring Zan's bar back 12 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 3: to be like Kahokia. 13 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 2: I sometimes said via text, say hazoo exclamation. 14 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: Uh, well, we're going to put a quarter in our 15 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: local podcast vending machine and that's a that's ridiculous history, 16 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: and hopefully our snack doesn't get stuck and we have 17 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: to shake that thing because that's part of the history 18 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 1: of vending machines and hopefully we're talking about today we're 19 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: only touching a vending machine for snacks as we are 20 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:32,720 Speaker 1: going to learn. Uh, vending machines vend a lot of things, 21 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: ridiculous stuff. 22 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:38,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're Noel Brown. I'm I'm Ben Bolling. Uh. 23 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,720 Speaker 1: I think before we teamed up with our research associate 24 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: Jeff Bartlett, Uh, we were all kind of curious about 25 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: where vending machines come from because nowadays they're ubiquitous and noel. 26 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: You know, if I'm in Japan, there there are ountless 27 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: vending machines. If if you and I are walking through 28 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: let's say, what's. 29 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 2: That the airport. The airport, they have been the machines 30 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 2: for everything at the airport, snacks like you know, sandwiches, 31 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 2: high value, Yes, exactly, and good. 32 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:20,919 Speaker 1: I think it's a good thing that there are cottoms 33 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: in vending machines, you know, in the. 34 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 2: Airport, especially when you want to join the Mile High Club, 35 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 2: which is actually be safe about it. 36 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, actually the Mile High Club has Uh it sounds 37 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:38,640 Speaker 1: cooler than it is. We are a PG thirteen show 38 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: cool secrets. 39 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 3: I mean, plane bathrooms are awful just to use, They're awful. 40 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 2: They're so small, they flushed so aggressively, like it gives 41 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:52,639 Speaker 2: me a start every time, like oh, it's like I 42 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 2: feel like I'm gonna get sucked out of the planes 43 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 2: in that little hole. 44 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: It's the pause too, because you hit the flush button 45 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: and then there's like two or three seconds before it 46 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: just evacuates. 47 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, it has to be that a cross stuff though, 48 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 3: because shoots it shoots it out over over the over 49 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 3: the out into the air instantly, you know it is. 50 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 3: I didn't think so no longer true good, although I did. 51 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 2: See a meme I guess notly meme with more of 52 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 2: an Internet video of cruise ships just straight up mass 53 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 2: dumping waste into the ocean and it's legal as long 54 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 2: as there are a certain distance offshore. 55 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 3: They have Matthews Surbus right. 56 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 2: On the on the water taxi in Chicago. Oh, never forget, 57 00:03:40,600 --> 00:03:41,960 Speaker 2: never forget, never forget. 58 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: Also, U cruise ships are one of the few things 59 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: that are currently not sold in a vending machine, and 60 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: that's probably just due to the size of the cruise ship. 61 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 2: This is very true, but I would argue or pose 62 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 2: it that there are vending machines on many cruise ships. 63 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: I know, and I want a vending machine that sells 64 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: vending machines, you know what I mean, wake up car. 65 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 2: But that is a pretty awesome art installation. Idea is 66 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 2: a vending machine that sells tiny replicas of vending machines 67 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 2: with different stuff in them, so you can get like 68 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 2: the snack vending machine and then collect them all like Pokemon. 69 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 2: I'll be honest. 70 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 3: Sorry, I'm not meaning to take its even further off, 71 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 3: but it reminds me of that season one Rick and 72 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:26,400 Speaker 3: Morty episode where they're jumping through universes. 73 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:30,280 Speaker 2: You know, it's not that one's. 74 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 3: The uh, it's actually the one where we first meet 75 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,120 Speaker 3: Evil Morri. Spoilers this first season though, But it's like 76 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,880 Speaker 3: it's a rotation of four things. It's humans, pizza, phone, 77 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 3: and chairs. So in one universe is like a chair 78 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:48,520 Speaker 3: talking into a human ordering, uh, sitting out a pizza ordering. 79 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 2: It's hard to redo them all. 80 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: It's all it's all for iterations of those right, and 81 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 1: we see there this What was I gonna say? Oh, 82 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 1: I was gonna mention this. We have to at the 83 00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: top a few A little while back, I can't remember 84 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:09,360 Speaker 1: how long ago, Noel, you and our pal Matt, Frederick 85 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: and a couple of other folks visited Miao Wolf. You know, 86 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: we all went together and they had they had Mega 87 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: mart yes, Mega mar oh Mega Bart and they had 88 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: a very interesting spin on vending machines. 89 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 2: Psycho telling waves. Yeah, yeah, and. 90 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: What I think we're all surprised to learn is that 91 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: vending machines are. 92 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:35,240 Speaker 2: Actually pretty old. 93 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,320 Speaker 1: Our story begins with a guy named Hero or Heroon 94 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: or Heron of Alexandria uh in ancient Egypt. This guy 95 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: purportedly invented the first vending machine and it was not 96 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: It was not selling snacks, so it was not selling 97 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:06,719 Speaker 1: cruise ships or condoms. It was selling holy water, of course. 98 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 2: Because you know, for when you need some in a pinch. 99 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 2: This is a smart fellow. He's a mathematician, an engineer, 100 00:06:12,640 --> 00:06:18,119 Speaker 2: and obviously an inventor. He, among many other incredible innovations 101 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,640 Speaker 2: that still kind of remain very very relevant today, invented 102 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 2: the windwheel, which is, you know, obviously kind of a 103 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 2: certainly something that's been developed to generate hydro electric power 104 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 2: and wind power, et cetera. He published some very detailed 105 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 2: schematics of a device called the a low pile also 106 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,320 Speaker 2: known as Heroes enginem. 107 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was a that was like a steam 108 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: powered mechanism. Some of his ideas clearly come from earlier 109 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: Greek inventors and mathematicians. And when we whenever we talked 110 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: about Hero of Alexandria, we have to acknowledge that a 111 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: lot of his original stuff has been lost to time. 112 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,320 Speaker 1: It makes me wonder whether our pal Ben Thompson from 113 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: Badass of the Week has covered hero like imagine being 114 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 1: so cool that your name becomes a noun or a 115 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: descriptor for other cool people. 116 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 2: Is that is that true? Is this the hero that 117 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 2: that is referencing? 118 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: I don't know. 119 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 2: I always assume, Okay, Maybeeah. You certainly was scientifically and 120 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 2: innovatively heroic. And if you want to dig in a 121 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 2: little beyond the scope of what we're going to talk 122 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 2: about today to his life, you can check out a 123 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 2: great profile on the Famous people dot com Hero of Alexandria. 124 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 2: You can just search for it. There. Really great site 125 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 2: and great resource. 126 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: I'm looking it up. A hero comes from a Greek 127 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: word that means protector or defender, and it later gets 128 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: adapted into Latin. 129 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know, you. 130 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: Know what, would he have just been named hero as 131 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: like like before or after hero became a byword for 132 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: being awesome. 133 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 2: It's a good question, Ben, But of his many innovations, 134 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 2: he was very much responsible for the kind of proto 135 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 2: vending machine and it certainly didn't involve all of the 136 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 2: same electronics. And you know ability to use different types 137 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 2: of payment, you know, the thing you can slide the 138 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 2: dollar into and have it spit back out at you 139 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,840 Speaker 2: over and over and over again. But it did accept 140 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:43,439 Speaker 2: a coin. This thing very much was way ahead of 141 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 2: its time. 142 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's put on our house stuff works hats and 143 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,480 Speaker 1: get a little deeper here. The coin would be inserted 144 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: into a slot. From there it would fall onto a pan. 145 00:08:56,600 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: The pan is connected to a lever. The lever opens 146 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:05,240 Speaker 1: a valve through which holy water flows out, and the 147 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 1: pan keeps moving under the weight of the coin until 148 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: eventually the coin slides off. We know that there wasn't 149 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:21,839 Speaker 1: really any kind of like governmental oversight on ensuring this 150 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: was holy water exactly. 151 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:25,439 Speaker 2: The quality control there. 152 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: Right, they didn't really have QA at that level. But 153 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:33,600 Speaker 1: the the mechanics make sense, right, and these have to 154 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:38,199 Speaker 1: be coins of a certain weight to operate the mechanism. 155 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I would imagine that coins back then 156 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 2: would have been pretty beefy. 157 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,440 Speaker 1: I imagine so as well. You know, it's also a 158 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:49,880 Speaker 1: way a clever way of finding counterfeit coins, possibly the lever. 159 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: After the coin slides off the pan, the lever raises 160 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: back to its normal starting state. Which closes the valve 161 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: which stops the flow of water. Now, hero or Heron 162 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 1: or Heroon as he's sometimes called, did not describe this 163 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,679 Speaker 1: as a vending machine, and he didn't say, you know, 164 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,120 Speaker 1: this is going to be an awesome way to sell 165 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: Nestley crunch bars in the future. He said, this is 166 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: a sacrificial vessel. And the entire reason this first vending 167 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: machine exists is not to make it easy for people 168 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: to buy stuff. It is to limit the amount of 169 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:37,079 Speaker 1: holy water people can use at an ancient temple. 170 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:40,480 Speaker 2: Like they want to limit the supply, you reduce the 171 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:44,080 Speaker 2: circulations and ultimate control over holiness. 172 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:47,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, kind of like if you're in a if you're 173 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: in a public restroom and there's you know, there's a 174 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: specific timer on the hand dryer, right or the air dryer. 175 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,960 Speaker 2: Oh sure, Or in Europe, and I'm sure in Japan 176 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 2: in any other countries, a lot of public restrooms are 177 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 2: pay and that money is used, I would imagine to 178 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 2: help the upkeep of the facility, and consequently those bathrooms 179 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,600 Speaker 2: are some of the cleanest I've ever encountered. I think 180 00:11:14,640 --> 00:11:16,560 Speaker 2: when you have a little bit of a literal buy in, 181 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:18,679 Speaker 2: it might make you behave a little better. 182 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: You know, Yes, there is definitely some there's definitely some 183 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: psychology at play there. For the pay to I almost 184 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: have pay to play public restrooms, pay to pay right, Yes, yes, 185 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: if we fast forward to I mean fast forward quite 186 00:11:40,840 --> 00:11:48,959 Speaker 1: a long time, Max, give us a fast forward queue. Boom. 187 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:53,959 Speaker 1: We're in the eighteenth century. We're in England now, Hero 188 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: of Alexandria is long gone, but the idea of vending 189 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 1: machines is having a moment. They are these things called 190 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: had you ever heard of this nole that were called 191 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:06,839 Speaker 1: honor boxes? 192 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 2: No, no, tell me about honor boxes. 193 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: I mean they're vending machines with a fancier name. 194 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 2: Sounds like something you would pay your indulgences into for 195 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 2: the church, you know, put your money in the honor 196 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:21,800 Speaker 2: box for absolution. 197 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 1: Or like a weird Victorian euphemism. It does sound like 198 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:27,680 Speaker 1: a glory whole kind of situation. 199 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 2: I'm sorry the quiet part out loud. 200 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:35,199 Speaker 1: Yeah, but the otter box, No, I can't get out 201 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:35,319 Speaker 1: of it. 202 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:41,280 Speaker 2: That's a case the honor I thought you said otter box. Oh, 203 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:45,319 Speaker 2: the otter box is a different thing. But they're pretty good, 204 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 2: solid cases. And we're not sponsored. Yeah, yeah, we just 205 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:49,040 Speaker 2: used them. 206 00:12:49,559 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: So these things were early vending machines that were operated 207 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: via coin, and they were used to sell tobacco and snow. 208 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:05,440 Speaker 1: Uh snuff for anybody not born in the in the 209 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: seventeen hundreds. Uh snuff is a thing where like every 210 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,719 Speaker 1: time you see someone in a film take out a 211 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: small container and then sniff it really quickly if it's. 212 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 2: Either snuff cocaine there there. But yeah, right right in 213 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:29,000 Speaker 2: Victorian times, I mean people would literally dab dab dab 214 00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:32,000 Speaker 2: the snuff onto their hand and like take a rip 215 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:34,240 Speaker 2: of it, you know. I mean it's wild. It's such 216 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 2: finely ground tobacco that you would sniff. It seems so 217 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 2: gross to me. I mean it's wild that people would 218 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,959 Speaker 2: seems like their nasal passages would get real funky, real quick. 219 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:48,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, we're not a judgmental group here. A 220 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: ridiculous thing too, by the way, I think people really 221 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:51,880 Speaker 1: I would. 222 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 2: Think, but we are curious it does exist. Yeah, snuff 223 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:58,080 Speaker 2: is still a thing. You can. It's it's sort of 224 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 2: like old timey, but it's considered smokeless tobacco. Finely ground 225 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 2: or pulverized leaves its snorted or sniffed into the nasal cavity, 226 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,360 Speaker 2: and that is still done today by a certain type 227 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 2: I imagine. Okay, yes, fancy do they wear white gloves 228 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 2: while they do it? It just seems like so victorian to me, right, 229 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:19,720 Speaker 2: you know, do they have to wear a peruke? 230 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,200 Speaker 1: Can you use snuff while you're not wearing you know, 231 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: men's leggings or stockings. Look, we're not a judgmental group, 232 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:29,920 Speaker 1: but we are curious. 233 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 2: So if you are, If you. 234 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: Are, or if you know someone who engages with snuff, 235 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 1: just tell us about it on our Facebook group Ridiculous 236 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:46,760 Speaker 1: Historians anyway. Look, so, yes, the first vending machine probably 237 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: holy Water. The next boom of vending machines probably tobacco, and. 238 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 2: Far a walk okay, walk us through it. 239 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: I can't far so all right, these these things are 240 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: these honor boxes are portable brass mechanisms, contraptions really, and 241 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: they are a huge boon for the tobacco industry overall. 242 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: They are our next big step in the commercialization and 243 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: the emerging ubiquity of vending machines as a concept kind. 244 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 2: Of makes sense if you think about it, because if 245 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,560 Speaker 2: you maybe it's an age thing. But in my mind, 246 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 2: one of the classic styles of vending machines that you 247 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 2: see less and less of these days is the cigarette 248 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:43,840 Speaker 2: machine with the big old clunky, you know, slot machine 249 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 2: type pull things. You know, it makes a really good 250 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 2: chunk sound. And you still will see them at bars 251 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 2: and taverns. And there are more modern ones that I've seen, 252 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,440 Speaker 2: mainly in Europe, but in America, if you see them 253 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 2: at all, it's going to be the super old timing style, 254 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 2: one which which had to have evolved, you know, from 255 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 2: these honor boxes some way. 256 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Yeah, and there, you know, now that 257 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 1: I'm thinking about it, those are so old school. I 258 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: remember a lot of them were actually old because yeah, yeah, 259 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:22,920 Speaker 1: I remember one of my relatives told me years back 260 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,440 Speaker 1: now that that was the way to know you were 261 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 1: in a bad place. 262 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 2: Told me that's a little broad, but okay, glad they 263 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 2: were looking out for you. If you see one. 264 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 1: Of those machines, right, yeah, you're in a place you 265 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: shouldn't be. 266 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 2: You're in grave danger. Right. 267 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: It was a little intense, but I'm sure the those 268 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: intense intentions were noble. In the nineteenth century, the eighteen hundreds, 269 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:54,560 Speaker 1: we see the introduction of stamp and newspaper vending machines. 270 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:57,400 Speaker 1: And do you guys remember back when people. 271 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,000 Speaker 2: Were their old school thing? You don't see it. Well, 272 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 2: you just sort of see those newspaper boxes every now 273 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 2: and the end, not nearly as much as you used to. 274 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: No, no, back, I was gonna say, do you remember 275 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: when people read newspapers? 276 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:11,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's quaint almost these days. And as we know, 277 00:17:11,760 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 2: a lot of those legacy newspapers are certainly struggling with 278 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:19,280 Speaker 2: that with the circulation of their physical print copies, and 279 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 2: they really rely a lot on like spoke subscriptions for 280 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 2: the people that actually want a real paper to hold, 281 00:17:24,760 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 2: you know, and the Sunday Times and all of that 282 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 2: good stuff. 283 00:17:29,359 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about Richard Carlyle. 284 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 2: He was the one responsible for these newspaper boxes in 285 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 2: eighteen twenty two. He actually came up with these in 286 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 2: order to do a little, i don't know, work around 287 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:52,920 Speaker 2: to avoid censorship by distributing the papers through automated means. Yeah, 288 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 2: and this is this is huge. 289 00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,840 Speaker 1: We're seeing a resurgence of things like this through some 290 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: local innition. Here in Atlanta, Georgia, where we record this podcast, 291 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: there are these like everybody has a little free library now. 292 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:12,760 Speaker 2: Talking about the little little boxes, the. 293 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:17,280 Speaker 1: Little banded, little band book libraries. 294 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 2: Oh well, yeah, there's certainly that. There's that's that's awesome. 295 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:20,679 Speaker 2: I love. 296 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, those are repurposed old newspaper vending machines. 297 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,399 Speaker 2: Aha, So I don't think I've seen those, but I 298 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 2: have certainly seen in lots of different cities those kind 299 00:18:31,480 --> 00:18:34,439 Speaker 2: of little mailbox style like leave a book, take a 300 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 2: book kind of boxes. Free libraries for sure. Yeah, exactly, 301 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:40,359 Speaker 2: that's exactly what you're talking about, Ben, But he is 302 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 2: doing this because he's able to kind of sort of 303 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:47,160 Speaker 2: skirt the authorities by distributing banned materials through these boxes. 304 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 2: Simon Denham was another innovator who's responsible for creating a 305 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,879 Speaker 2: stamp dispensing machine. In eighteen sixty seven, he patented it 306 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 2: and that was kind of the next step of vending evolution. 307 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,560 Speaker 2: It represented the first fully automatic vending machine. Uh. And 308 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:08,360 Speaker 2: this it just kind of just you know, snowballed from there. Yeah. 309 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is cool because already we're learning so much 310 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: more about vending machines. So just a recap, we've got 311 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,200 Speaker 1: holy water, the limiting of holy water, not selling it, 312 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,600 Speaker 1: just like keeping people from using all of it at once. 313 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,560 Speaker 1: Then we've got tobacco and snuff, which I still think 314 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 1: mystifies both of us. And then but right, and then 315 00:19:32,359 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: we have fighting against censorship, and then we have people 316 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: selling stamps. So naturally, you know, it would make sense 317 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 1: that the rest of the world looked around and said, 318 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:47,879 Speaker 1: what else can we put in these machines? 319 00:19:48,040 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 2: Anything? Sky's the limit, and it truly was the limit. 320 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 2: In eighteen eighty three, a guy named Perceval ever it 321 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 2: was the first to truly innovate some of these previous 322 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,440 Speaker 2: kind of iteration the vending machine into a form much 323 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 2: more resembling what we know today as modern vending machines 324 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 2: and these dispense postcards. So this would be that kind 325 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:12,760 Speaker 2: of this the curly queue kind of design. Right, Okay, 326 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 2: you have a thing and then a little curly cue, 327 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:16,960 Speaker 2: and then another thing, and then that's another thing with 328 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 2: a quirkscrew, and the mechanism turns and causes the thing 329 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:23,679 Speaker 2: in the front to drop, you know, out of the 330 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 2: front of the thing into a trough that you can 331 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:27,159 Speaker 2: then reach down and grab it. 332 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,120 Speaker 1: That's cool, yeah, yeah, yeah. And this is a kind 333 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:37,360 Speaker 1: of old school vending machine approach that I personally associate 334 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: with with auto repair shops weirdly enough, because you go 335 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:46,439 Speaker 1: into the waiting room and then there you go. 336 00:20:46,640 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 2: Or oil change places. 337 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, oil change places as well, and they'll have 338 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,399 Speaker 1: the vending machine, you know, with the elderly cheese its 339 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:56,639 Speaker 1: and the vintage em and. 340 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:00,640 Speaker 2: M's aged if you please, aged very well. 341 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: Heaven for fends that we would ever we would ever 342 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:10,160 Speaker 1: disparage the Noble Lines Company. 343 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:11,400 Speaker 2: Oh yes, jesuits. 344 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:18,640 Speaker 1: So all right, this this design you're describing their Percival's invention. 345 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,520 Speaker 1: These vending machines are able to sell all kinds of 346 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:30,240 Speaker 1: stationary right, envelopes, but also notepaper postcards. And as this 347 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: stuff propagates throughout train stations and post offices, we see 348 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,280 Speaker 1: that there's something crucial in the vending machine concept here. 349 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:47,000 Speaker 1: Its location, right. A vending machine that sells envelopes just 350 00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: on insert random street corner here, that's not going to 351 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: do as well as a machine that sells envelopes at 352 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: the literal post office. 353 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:57,639 Speaker 2: It's not. 354 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:00,960 Speaker 1: You know, if you're at a railway station and you 355 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:05,200 Speaker 1: want to send a postcard to friends or family, that's 356 00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 1: where a vending machine comes in, right. 357 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, Or if you're at the train station waiting for 358 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 2: a train. It's a perfect place to have a little 359 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 2: snacky machine, which is what we start to see in 360 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 2: the UK with the establishment of I love the term. 361 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 2: I mean to say, by the way, so the sweet 362 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:26,960 Speaker 2: Meat Automatic Delivery Company in eighteen eighty seven sweet meat 363 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 2: of course, or maybe you don't know, it refers to 364 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,919 Speaker 2: like a treat. You know, a piece of candy is 365 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:43,160 Speaker 2: a sweet meat. You hear him say, I Monty Python. 366 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:45,239 Speaker 2: Sometimes it's funny you say that. 367 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:50,880 Speaker 1: I was just watching some excellent money Python interviews last night. 368 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:53,919 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's say they're the best some of my fa 369 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 2: I mean the Flying Circus. There's still sketches that I 370 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 2: come across that I haven't seen. And it's like the 371 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 2: British equivalent of kids in the Hall, kind of like 372 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,640 Speaker 2: the Flying Circus is phenomenal if anyone hasn't Some people 373 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 2: don't even know it exists, Like they know the movies 374 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 2: and stuff, but they don't know there's a good the 375 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:14,400 Speaker 2: Parrot sketch, The Parrots Sketch. I guess maybe that's true. Yes, 376 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 2: I'm saying a lot of people don't maybe realize how 377 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,679 Speaker 2: deep a catalog it is. Oh yeah, and what a 378 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:24,440 Speaker 2: wealth of treasures there is to find. Yes, yeah, agreed. 379 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 1: I would love to see a muddy python sketch about 380 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: a vending machine. 381 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 2: Or there's one. The one I remember learning sweetmeats from 382 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 2: was there's a sketch about this company that's like debuting 383 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 2: this new box of chocolates, and each one of them 384 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:41,280 Speaker 2: is more unpleasant than the next. And the yeah, it 385 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 2: is called crunchy frog, and it's crunchy because it's got 386 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 2: the bones in it still. And like there's another one 387 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,080 Speaker 2: where like it's like you you take a bite of 388 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 2: it and it shoots steel bolts out into your cheeks, yes, 389 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 2: and cheeks from the inside, and they call it a 390 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 2: sweet meat. 391 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,920 Speaker 1: I remember this because you can tell that the pythons 392 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: got together and sometimes they just wrote a list of 393 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:07,679 Speaker 1: phrases or a riff on an idea, and then they 394 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: built a sketch around it. What I was gonna say is, 395 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:14,520 Speaker 1: we could do a pretty cool sketch about vending machines. 396 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,800 Speaker 1: We just need accounting to pay for a vending machine, 397 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: and we'll do it, you know, because we are people 398 00:24:21,480 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: in the United States, and American ingenuity really comes into 399 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:30,520 Speaker 1: the foreground in the late eighteen hundreds. Thanks to the 400 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: Thomas Adams Gum Company. These guys make gum vending machines 401 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:37,919 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty. 402 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 2: Eight, yep, and they were really popular in New York 403 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,520 Speaker 2: City on you guessed it train platforms. And this truly 404 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,880 Speaker 2: set off the I guess We've said this multiple times, 405 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:50,119 Speaker 2: like and this is the one that set off the 406 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:52,879 Speaker 2: vending machine craze, but no, this really did it. The 407 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 2: Pulver Manufacturing Company added a little fun twist to these 408 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 2: gum vending machines by including little toys and little figurines 409 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:05,399 Speaker 2: like based, I don't know how much action you were 410 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 2: going to get. I'm picturing like those really sad wrestling 411 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:11,520 Speaker 2: figures that like you're just tiny, and the way of 412 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 2: it all with. 413 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: No points of articulation. Yeah, but this is still cool as. 414 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 2: This is entertainment is what it became, you know, not 415 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:25,159 Speaker 2: just crucial everyday items. Now it's like the sky's the 416 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 2: limit truly. Yeah. 417 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, what I was going to say is this is 418 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: straight seahorse teeth, you know, it's it's never one of 419 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: vending machine that sells seahorse teeth. Yeah, and hot cheese. 420 00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:42,600 Speaker 1: So we we see this this idea again, like we've 421 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:47,120 Speaker 1: been continually returning to this concept that one could indeed 422 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:52,320 Speaker 1: sell anything, limited only by the size of the thing 423 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:58,360 Speaker 1: being sold and the the finances of the potential customer. 424 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: If we go to eighteen ninety three, just a few 425 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: years later, we'll see a German chocolate manufacturer with the 426 00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:12,840 Speaker 1: name I absolutely adore stover Stoverk sold their chocolate in 427 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 1: vending machines. They also sold, of course, chewing gum, cigarettes, matches, 428 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:24,440 Speaker 1: and soap. I feel like someone in the executive room 429 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: or someone in the boardroom at Stolverk made this machine 430 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 1: up for them. 431 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 2: Sure you know, it's whatever it takes. I mean, if 432 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,800 Speaker 2: you think about it, though, Ben, it totally makes sense 433 00:26:36,880 --> 00:26:39,920 Speaker 2: that this as a concept has been around for so long. 434 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 2: I mean, to me, it's like the earliest idea of 435 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 2: this would be literally putting something on a table and 436 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,240 Speaker 2: a little you know, dish to put your money in 437 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 2: and trusting people to pay for the items they take. Which, 438 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 2: by the way, in I believe it's Switzerland, there are 439 00:26:56,960 --> 00:27:02,880 Speaker 2: like honor system vending machine for like cheese and stuff 440 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,080 Speaker 2: and on these like hiking trails up in the up 441 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 2: in the Alps and Swiss Alps. 442 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 3: Jump in here real quick, it's not offending machine. But 443 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 3: one thing I find really cool in Seattle is it's 444 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 3: the public transit is on honor system. Basically like there 445 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,920 Speaker 3: is you pay for the ticket and uh, you tap 446 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 3: it on. Somebody charged you for the ride, but there's 447 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:25,240 Speaker 3: nothing stopping you. You can just walk on. And I 448 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,280 Speaker 3: think the design behind it is like if somebody needs 449 00:27:28,280 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 3: to get somewhere, it doesn't have the money, you'd rather 450 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 3: than just walk onto the train. 451 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, then getting shot for like fair jumping at the 452 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 2: New York like that or. 453 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,639 Speaker 3: Like yeah, or like not be able to work to 454 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:43,280 Speaker 3: make money for sure. Yeah, And so then it's just 455 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,159 Speaker 3: like you know, it's for me. I'm like, I like 456 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,680 Speaker 3: that and I pay for it every single time because. 457 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:50,479 Speaker 2: And and the proof is in the pudding as far 458 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:53,439 Speaker 2: as like what funds are being generated and are they 459 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:56,199 Speaker 2: able to sustain themselves. It's like a public service like 460 00:27:56,240 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 2: that shouldn't be operated like a profit, you know, making business. 461 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 2: Shout out to the post office. Post office got some problems. 462 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,879 Speaker 2: I'm gonna get on my post office box again. I 463 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 2: just and I when I say it's got some problems, 464 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 2: it's because of funding. But and also like who buys 465 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 2: stamps anymore. Everyone ships things or or you know, Amazon, 466 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 2: I'm sure has put an absolute dent. 467 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,080 Speaker 3: Part of it's a cell phone. Well, but I'm not. 468 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 3: I'm not gonna get the stop box. 469 00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:27,959 Speaker 2: What do you mean by cell phone? The post office 470 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 2: has been sabotaged. 471 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a law those past almost two decades ago 472 00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 3: now Ben that basically they have to backfund retirement funds 473 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 3: like a ridiculous amount. And what it does is just keeps. 474 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 3: It turned a department that had been profitable forever to 475 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,160 Speaker 3: this what it is now we should do. And people 476 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:51,800 Speaker 3: believe that this was intentional to get rid of. 477 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 2: The post I'm one of those people. Of those people 478 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:59,520 Speaker 2: to maybe, Ben, this is more of stuff they don't 479 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 2: want you to know. But this is news to me 480 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 2: and I'd love to find out more. But as we 481 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:06,800 Speaker 2: roll into the twentieth century, we're going to get to 482 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 2: answering some of this questions that I know you all 483 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:10,760 Speaker 2: have out there, like how does the machine know your 484 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,720 Speaker 2: money is real? We'll get into that in a bit. 485 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 2: But the kind of more modern vending machine boom came 486 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 2: after the twenties, when up to that point in America, 487 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,560 Speaker 2: at least penny candies had kind of been really the 488 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 2: only game in town, which you know isn't going to 489 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,880 Speaker 2: make you a pile of money. But when you're selling 490 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:35,360 Speaker 2: full priced items like food products or cigarettes a packet 491 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 2: of cigarettes, that's when the money really starts to flow, 492 00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 2: and you'll see whole businesses selling their stock entirely through 493 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 2: networks of vending machines. 494 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,200 Speaker 1: Oh, before we move on, I've got to say it ridiculous. 495 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:52,040 Speaker 1: Historians you may find this but fuddling as well as 496 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 1: Noel Max. I think you guys will, I think you 497 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: guys will enjoy this. Do you know what these penny 498 00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:01,880 Speaker 1: candy or hard care indie products were called. 499 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 2: In the UK? Sweetmeats, boiled sweets, boiled sweets. Yeah, another 500 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 2: very off putting, very British. 501 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 1: It's like barley water or spotted dick. What are the 502 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:18,360 Speaker 1: other ones? Oh man, it's so strange with oak brown sauce. 503 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 2: Treacle tarts. Yeah, what's going on with that? What's up? 504 00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 2: Sounds like poo When I hear treacle, I think of 505 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 2: and pepe. 506 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:33,000 Speaker 1: I don't know why, imagine, I'm just imagining the idea 507 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 1: of would you like a boiled sweet? 508 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 2: And so sounds like something the child catcher would say. 509 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, it sounds like someone should look into that anyhow. Anyhow, 510 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: we have reached a pivotal point as you described there. 511 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:56,480 Speaker 1: Vending machine manufacturers realize that they can up their profits 512 00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: by selling more sophisticated products. Right, A pack of cigarettes 513 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:08,200 Speaker 1: takes more work than you know, boiled sweets or hard candy. 514 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 2: So weird, it's such a weird phrase. 515 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:15,320 Speaker 1: Anyway, So you could easily, for a time, you could 516 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:20,719 Speaker 1: easily go to a cigarette vending machine and buy cigarettes, 517 00:31:20,840 --> 00:31:23,480 Speaker 1: even if you were too young to do so. This 518 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:28,000 Speaker 1: is a health problem, this is also a social problem. 519 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: And the cigarette machines come before the soda machines. I 520 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:38,720 Speaker 1: always imagine a Coca Cola machine or a Pepsi machine 521 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:41,800 Speaker 1: when I think of vending machines. They didn't come around 522 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 1: until nineteen thirty seven. 523 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 2: Well, and especially since the coke vending machine. You know, 524 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,880 Speaker 2: those are proprietary owned, not always, but like they'll be, 525 00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,800 Speaker 2: you know, owned and distributed by the Coca Cola company. 526 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:57,240 Speaker 2: And so they serve also as fantastic advertising. It's a 527 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 2: massive lit up you know thing, the logo like at 528 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 2: the bus station or whatever. That's what they're designed to 529 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,080 Speaker 2: do is to be like a beacon of the coke 530 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 2: company out in the world. 531 00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, and we obviously, as a three three Americans, three 532 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,880 Speaker 1: Georgia boys, we have a bit of a bias toward 533 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,280 Speaker 1: Coca Cola. We're gonna be honest about that, but we're not. 534 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,600 Speaker 2: It's better than pepsi. We're sorry. It just pepsi tastes weird, 535 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:28,720 Speaker 2: is off. Oh my gosh. I like products, but pepsi 536 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 2: the cola is not good. 537 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,240 Speaker 1: Man. I got to tell you, it's a real cultural 538 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,160 Speaker 1: divide here in the US. You know, you go too 539 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:39,920 Speaker 1: far in one direction and all of a sudden you're 540 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:40,880 Speaker 1: in pepsi country. 541 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 2: I don't trust any place that only has pepsi products. 542 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 2: I'm drawing a line in this. Not even Pizza Hut 543 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,680 Speaker 2: don't care for it. Wow, all right, well, choose your battles. 544 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: I got your back, Coca Cola, regardless of whether you 545 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:57,280 Speaker 1: love them or hate them. Coca Cola was the first 546 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: company to sell their bottled dream in vending machines, and 547 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: that I love that point about advertising because it's probably 548 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:09,760 Speaker 1: a big part of their success. And now we get 549 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: to the early twinklings of World War Two. The US 550 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: begins building up its defense industry. 551 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:25,440 Speaker 2: And now you can buy handguns in vending machines. We're 552 00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:27,800 Speaker 2: heading in that direction, y'all as a country. Sorry not 553 00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 2: to be political, but I could, I could see it. 554 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:31,960 Speaker 2: It's like something that would be in idiocracy. 555 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:34,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, they'll probably put them in the coke or the 556 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,080 Speaker 1: pepsi machines, like the pre existing machines. Do you want 557 00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:38,440 Speaker 1: a fanta or do you want. 558 00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 2: A firearm or a glock? 559 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:46,720 Speaker 1: Right, So, as the US enters into a wartime economy, 560 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: they have this tremendous boom in factories, right in industrialization, 561 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,560 Speaker 1: in around the clock production of things that will be 562 00:33:57,680 --> 00:33:58,600 Speaker 1: useful in war. 563 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 2: The people who are in. 564 00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: Charge of these factories and these plants, they say, all right, 565 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: we can't have employees working for twelve plus hours without 566 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:15,200 Speaker 1: a refreshment break, and we're not going to pay for 567 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 1: a full time cafeteria staff. 568 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 2: So what about vending machines? Exactly. I really really love 569 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 2: the term automat because it just makes me think of 570 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,760 Speaker 2: like the old school I believe it was Greek automatons, 571 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,640 Speaker 2: you know, the automated man or whatever, And it's such 572 00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:38,240 Speaker 2: a nostalgic thing. I think it's maybe a cup opper 573 00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,839 Speaker 2: painting like Nighthawks at the Diner I think is one 574 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,400 Speaker 2: where there's this classic, you know scene of like a 575 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 2: New York City automat, you know, where you have like 576 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 2: the little windows you put your money in and then 577 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,920 Speaker 2: your pie is behind this little window with a metal handle. 578 00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:55,760 Speaker 2: It's just so charming to me. And now we're starting 579 00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 2: to see stuff like that kind of come back into 580 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 2: popularity with like some of these like Revolt Thing sushi 581 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 2: restaurants that are so popular and fun. 582 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,919 Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, or there are a lot of restaurants that 583 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: use these specific vending machines where you put in the money, 584 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,719 Speaker 1: you put in your yen or whatever, and then you 585 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,040 Speaker 1: select the thing you want to eat, and it doesn't 586 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,759 Speaker 1: give you the thing. It gives you a ticket, and 587 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:27,040 Speaker 1: you take the ticket to a counter or you you know, 588 00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,040 Speaker 1: you walk up to the counter and someone hands you 589 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,560 Speaker 1: the food. It's a it's kind of a hybrid relationship 590 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:37,880 Speaker 1: between vending machine and actual customer service. I love an automat. 591 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 1: It's just a cool vibe. And during the nineteen forties 592 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:46,200 Speaker 1: and the nineteen fifties here in the US, vending machines 593 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:51,239 Speaker 1: were largely concentrated in plants and in factories. This is 594 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,200 Speaker 1: where you know, this is where you think of the 595 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,040 Speaker 1: break room vending machine, right, if you've ever had one 596 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,800 Speaker 1: of those, and they always they always had these lands 597 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:01,839 Speaker 1: crackers of a certain age. 598 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:05,560 Speaker 2: Yeah. I always can judge, like whether a company is 599 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,040 Speaker 2: going to be cool to work for by whether they 600 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 2: have like free snacks or a vending machine in the 601 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:14,880 Speaker 2: break room. Having the vending machine just strikes me as 602 00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:17,239 Speaker 2: being so cheap, and that is not a company I 603 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:18,439 Speaker 2: would wish to work for, sir. 604 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:23,239 Speaker 1: Yeah, having a vending machine for the employees like that 605 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: always strikes me as saying we don't especially love you, 606 00:36:28,520 --> 00:36:30,520 Speaker 1: but you know, no judgment. 607 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:34,360 Speaker 2: We have a little judgment, a little judgment. We're curious. 608 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:37,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's be accountable, a little bit of judgment because 609 00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:42,320 Speaker 1: we have had vending machines in our operation in the past, 610 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,160 Speaker 1: and I think the statute has expired here so I 611 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,879 Speaker 1: can tell you this. No, the whole reason we had 612 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: vending machines in the Buckhead office is because our office manager, Michael, 613 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:56,680 Speaker 1: owned a vending machine company. 614 00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:58,840 Speaker 2: You're joking. I remember Michael. 615 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,839 Speaker 1: Yeah, that was early days. He's doing well, he's doing well. 616 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:07,680 Speaker 2: I always liked him. I remember when I first met Mike, 617 00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:11,640 Speaker 2: because I guess he went by. We installed like this 618 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 2: in one of the weird offices that we were converting 619 00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:18,360 Speaker 2: into a podcast studio in the earliest days of podcasting. Literally, 620 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,080 Speaker 2: we just there was this open window and the traffic 621 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 2: noise outside. It was like a high rise, you know, 622 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:27,480 Speaker 2: upper floor building, and we just like took a bunch 623 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:31,040 Speaker 2: of egg crape foam and like stapled it to plywood 624 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:33,960 Speaker 2: and like shoved that in the window and like that 625 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:37,160 Speaker 2: was Man, it was so punk rock back then poil 626 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,880 Speaker 2: but still better than the glass. Oh yeah, it was 627 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,600 Speaker 2: so so uh so old. 628 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:49,120 Speaker 1: Praise due to our our colleague and our friends, Mike Campbell. 629 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:50,200 Speaker 2: Uh. 630 00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 1: Moving into the vending machine industry is a naturally American 631 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:59,160 Speaker 1: thing to do. America takes the idea of the vending 632 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:02,239 Speaker 1: machine and for a while they run with it. We 633 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:08,239 Speaker 1: could argue that now China and Japan have accelerated the 634 00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:13,279 Speaker 1: vending machine boom that the United States pursued. You know, 635 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:17,960 Speaker 1: by the end of the nineteen fifties, there are vending 636 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:22,560 Speaker 1: machines throughout the US and they're selling not just prepackaged food, 637 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: but they're selling freshly prepared stuff to your point about automats. 638 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: Now we see another innovation in the world of soft 639 00:38:32,239 --> 00:38:38,760 Speaker 1: drink vending machines, refrigeration. The refrigeration is a huge game 640 00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:43,200 Speaker 1: changer because I don't care know what people think about 641 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:47,880 Speaker 1: pepsi or coke. I'm just not European enough to enjoy 642 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:49,239 Speaker 1: it at room temperature. 643 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:54,080 Speaker 2: You know, I will house a d C at room 644 00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:58,640 Speaker 2: temperature with lemon time. No, no, no, d dyed coke. 645 00:38:59,080 --> 00:39:01,920 Speaker 1: No, I mean with leon, because Europeans put lemon. 646 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:04,000 Speaker 2: That's a thing they drove O. I did not know that. 647 00:39:04,040 --> 00:39:06,279 Speaker 2: But I am headed to Europe next month, so maybe 648 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,680 Speaker 2: I'll give that a try. Yeah, only if I'm really thirsty. 649 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,480 Speaker 2: And for me, if it's bubbly, a bubbly drink, I 650 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 2: can drink at room temperature because in some weird way, 651 00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:17,200 Speaker 2: the bubbles are like a stand in for it being cold. 652 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:22,400 Speaker 2: But drinking flat room temperature soda is akin to death. 653 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:24,320 Speaker 2: It is just absolutely miserable. 654 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,280 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, no, no, it needs the effort vescence, 655 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: It needs the carbonations. 656 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 2: Ben, we're talking about refrigeration. 657 00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:33,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, yes, we are, we are. 658 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:34,839 Speaker 2: They keep us on task. 659 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:39,319 Speaker 1: There there's another curious thing that has been missing from 660 00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:43,000 Speaker 1: the vending machine race for a long time. It's not 661 00:39:43,120 --> 00:39:48,239 Speaker 1: until the nineteen forties that coffee vending machines are developed. 662 00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:51,480 Speaker 2: Cool. I mean all the moving parts in that, Like 663 00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 2: someone had to figure out what how to automatically grind 664 00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:57,359 Speaker 2: the beans and then you know, you put the cup 665 00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,279 Speaker 2: in and then it makes you a perfect serving size. 666 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:02,560 Speaker 2: You know, when I think of that, I'll tell you 667 00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 2: what I think I've been is hospitals. Oh yeah, the 668 00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:09,799 Speaker 2: coffee vending machines, you really only in my mind. I 669 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 2: think you always see it in hospitals and courthouses. 670 00:40:13,600 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, hospitals, courthouses, I would add again auto body shops. 671 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,480 Speaker 2: Maybe usually auto body shops these days have like a 672 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:22,960 Speaker 2: little free coffee like service kind. 673 00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:25,359 Speaker 1: Of see going back to our point about is the 674 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,960 Speaker 1: stack free or do you have to pay for it? 675 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:30,720 Speaker 2: This is where you're paying with your time, that's. 676 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:34,200 Speaker 1: For sure, the only real currency. This is where we 677 00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:38,480 Speaker 1: get to something that we foreshadowed. We we have a 678 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:40,120 Speaker 1: lot of stuff we want to get to. We may 679 00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:43,879 Speaker 1: not get to all of it, but you you plan 680 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:47,480 Speaker 1: it a nice seed there. Earlier in the Achilles heel 681 00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:53,080 Speaker 1: of all vending machines is their ability to figure out 682 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:58,440 Speaker 1: whether the money being put in there is actual money 683 00:40:58,520 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: or actual fax money. 684 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:08,959 Speaker 2: Shout out the lord. Well, call back to our buddy hero, 685 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:12,400 Speaker 2: our ancient innovator the beginning of this whole story, and 686 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,200 Speaker 2: you'll recall his holy Water venue machine. You just put 687 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 2: a coin on a slot and it like fell, and 688 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,680 Speaker 2: the weight of it was what triggered the mechanism that 689 00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:23,399 Speaker 2: opened the valve that then squirted out the holy water. 690 00:41:24,840 --> 00:41:27,600 Speaker 2: That is a you know, to your point, ben about you, 691 00:41:27,600 --> 00:41:29,320 Speaker 2: you mentioned that maybe there was a way so you 692 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:31,600 Speaker 2: could determine if money was counterfeit, because in those days 693 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:33,560 Speaker 2: it would have had to be down to the exact 694 00:41:33,600 --> 00:41:36,520 Speaker 2: weight probably or a very close exact way, because they 695 00:41:36,560 --> 00:41:39,640 Speaker 2: certainly didn't have any way of visually. The whole point 696 00:41:39,680 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 2: was to not have a person there, and so they 697 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 2: didn't have any kind of scanning technology, which is what 698 00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,000 Speaker 2: we're about to get into. So his machine had to 699 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:50,000 Speaker 2: be like really sensitively tuned. I would think where if 700 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:51,840 Speaker 2: he wanted to make sure people weren't just throwing a 701 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:55,520 Speaker 2: rock in there, you know, a flat rock, that it 702 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:57,600 Speaker 2: had to have enough weight to it, or had to 703 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 2: be an exact enough weight, and me, maybe I'm giving 704 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:02,200 Speaker 2: them too much credit. But that is sort of a 705 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,919 Speaker 2: rudimentary way of thinking about maybe pre technology that could 706 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 2: scan ways of determining whether money was real. It would 707 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:11,640 Speaker 2: have to be like, it would be the exact right circumference, 708 00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:14,240 Speaker 2: you know, and only then could it go down the slot, 709 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,080 Speaker 2: you know, to get into the mechanism to trigger the 710 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:18,560 Speaker 2: treat Think. 711 00:42:18,400 --> 00:42:21,360 Speaker 1: Of all the think of all all the comic strips 712 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,880 Speaker 1: and old cartoons of a little scampy deadnis the mints 713 00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 1: type kids stringing putting, the putting a string around a 714 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:32,600 Speaker 1: quarter and then dropping in the vending machine and getting 715 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:35,880 Speaker 1: their thing and yoinking it out. That this is a 716 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:40,400 Speaker 1: hidden history fact that you only get for listening through 717 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:46,120 Speaker 1: uh the rest of the show. The reason that coins 718 00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:50,080 Speaker 1: in the United States have ridges on them, the quarter 719 00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:56,000 Speaker 1: and the dimes, it's because it's because they wanted to 720 00:42:56,040 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 1: prevent fraud in vending machines. An American quarter has one 721 00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:06,280 Speaker 1: hundred and nineteen ridges, dimes have one hundred and eighteen ridges. 722 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,840 Speaker 2: It's so cool the earliest forms of these they could 723 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:13,400 Speaker 2: build a mechanism that could detect that because they certainly 724 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:17,200 Speaker 2: didn't have any kind of you know, electronic scanning ability. 725 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:21,160 Speaker 2: You know, we get a little further into still very rudimentary, 726 00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:24,360 Speaker 2: but a little more advanced technology when they started accepting dollars. 727 00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:27,839 Speaker 2: Dollar bills have I think they still are maybe it's 728 00:43:27,880 --> 00:43:31,279 Speaker 2: a QR code now or sorry, an RFID, but were 729 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,520 Speaker 2: embedded with a piece of magnetic tape that had information 730 00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,719 Speaker 2: embedded on it. And these early machines that took a 731 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,960 Speaker 2: buck could scan that to verify that it was in 732 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:42,240 Speaker 2: fact an authentic dollar. 733 00:43:42,719 --> 00:43:47,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, they were using it was similar to eight track technology. 734 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:52,600 Speaker 1: Early vending machines had this magnetic tape head mechanism that 735 00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:57,040 Speaker 1: determined whether a single one dollar bill had the correct 736 00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:01,560 Speaker 1: amount of iron content. But the issue, Oh, that's. 737 00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:02,920 Speaker 2: Say, I got it kind of wrong. I thought it 738 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,759 Speaker 2: was it was detecting that that little strip that was 739 00:44:05,760 --> 00:44:08,600 Speaker 2: embedded inside. Maybe that was later. This is even cooler 740 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:11,800 Speaker 2: and more rudimentary, So it was scanning for a certain 741 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:14,440 Speaker 2: element in the dollar. That's insane. 742 00:44:15,360 --> 00:44:19,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, this, Uh, there's this arm race between you know, 743 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:26,040 Speaker 1: the deadis medici or the deadis minicis UH and the 744 00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:28,279 Speaker 1: people who don't want to get ripped off with their 745 00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:34,240 Speaker 1: vending machines because later, uh, laser printers can use iron 746 00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:38,600 Speaker 1: laced ink to make counterfeit dollars in what we would 747 00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:42,160 Speaker 1: call an entirely unnecessary and ridiculous scam. 748 00:44:42,320 --> 00:44:45,000 Speaker 2: Yeah that's true. Yeah, I got a wonder like the 749 00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:48,040 Speaker 2: are people actually profiting off of counterfeit money? It just 750 00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:49,680 Speaker 2: seems like that is a scam that is going to 751 00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:51,239 Speaker 2: catch up to you sooner than. 752 00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:54,759 Speaker 1: Later, especially in an increasingly cashless society. 753 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:55,840 Speaker 2: Also true. 754 00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:56,879 Speaker 1: Yeah, true. 755 00:44:57,760 --> 00:45:01,520 Speaker 2: So starting in the nineteen nineties, we start to see 756 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,840 Speaker 2: digital scanning technology. I guess you could call it maybe 757 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:13,360 Speaker 2: an early form of low resolution, low pixel count digital photography. Yeah, yeah, 758 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:15,799 Speaker 2: this is really cool, right. 759 00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:20,479 Speaker 1: The device is looking for specific patterns, and if your 760 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:24,000 Speaker 1: dollar doesn't have that pattern, it will not be accepted. 761 00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:28,840 Speaker 1: This is the real reason why crumply dollar bills often 762 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:32,040 Speaker 1: don't work in a vending machine. I always thought I 763 00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:36,080 Speaker 1: always thought it was just because I hadn't been neat 764 00:45:36,360 --> 00:45:39,000 Speaker 1: enough with my folded Sorry. 765 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:40,400 Speaker 2: No, I mean I think that probably has something to 766 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:43,680 Speaker 2: do with it, too, but it Yeah, if the image 767 00:45:43,680 --> 00:45:46,600 Speaker 2: is distorted like that because of all the different crumples, 768 00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:48,440 Speaker 2: then the scanner's not gonna be able to read it, 769 00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:50,360 Speaker 2: especially in an older machine. 770 00:45:50,719 --> 00:45:54,200 Speaker 1: And of course we are coming to you live in 771 00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:57,920 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five from the threshold of the future. 772 00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,680 Speaker 2: Of our live album. It's gonna be a double LP 773 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:02,840 Speaker 2: Ridiculous History Live in twenty twenty five. 774 00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:05,919 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna be super relevant in twenty twenty eight. 775 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:09,200 Speaker 1: We'll probably still be doing this show. 776 00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:10,920 Speaker 2: Do you think so? I hope so. I'd like to 777 00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,440 Speaker 2: think so. I'd like to think so too. What do 778 00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:16,319 Speaker 2: you think, Max? Are you down? 779 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:17,800 Speaker 1: Do you want to hang out with us for a 780 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:18,600 Speaker 1: few more years? 781 00:46:19,239 --> 00:46:21,920 Speaker 3: So, however, refer to this show as I'm like, yeah, 782 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:24,799 Speaker 3: we do two episodes a week with a classic every 783 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 3: week until the sun absorbs the earth. 784 00:46:27,719 --> 00:46:31,320 Speaker 2: There you go, Yeah, you go, that's a good deadline. 785 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:31,879 Speaker 2: I'm cool. 786 00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:34,040 Speaker 3: I'm like, it's one of those things where it's like, 787 00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:35,920 Speaker 3: I don't know that. That's not means saying if I 788 00:46:36,000 --> 00:46:38,880 Speaker 3: want to or not. It's more just saying, oh wow, okay, 789 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:44,120 Speaker 3: I am I'm your bound you are bound not to 790 00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:45,320 Speaker 3: be too pronancy. 791 00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:47,759 Speaker 1: But I actually thought of you Max when I was 792 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,719 Speaker 1: I was watching something earlier, and I am putting a 793 00:46:51,719 --> 00:46:58,840 Speaker 1: screenshot in the chat for later anyway, WHOA, I love you. No, 794 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:01,960 Speaker 1: you're on the chat too, Okay, I'm look forward to 795 00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:05,479 Speaker 1: the secret. So, uh, so we're not going to spend 796 00:47:05,560 --> 00:47:09,960 Speaker 1: too much time on the future of vending machines. Please 797 00:47:10,040 --> 00:47:12,360 Speaker 1: know your cultural mileage may vary. 798 00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:14,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean for sure in term, I guess when 799 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,040 Speaker 2: we're talking about the future, we're talking about the way 800 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:21,279 Speaker 2: payment forms have changed and will change, you know. I mean, 801 00:47:21,280 --> 00:47:23,200 Speaker 2: I don't know if you've seen these, but I guess 802 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:25,480 Speaker 2: you could call these vending machines and a lot of 803 00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:30,799 Speaker 2: gas stations. You'll see these crypto machines, right, Yeah, who 804 00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,680 Speaker 2: uses those? It seems like somebody pulled pulled a fast 805 00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:35,640 Speaker 2: one with that. I don't think it really took off. 806 00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:39,040 Speaker 1: Okay, explain this to me because I've seen them, You 807 00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:40,520 Speaker 1: and I haven't talked about them. 808 00:47:40,640 --> 00:47:44,960 Speaker 2: What are they really able to deposit and withdraw crypto 809 00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:48,520 Speaker 2: from the blockchain on them? Supposedly, but I've never seen 810 00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:52,000 Speaker 2: one in you literally ever, Like, why would you need that? 811 00:47:52,080 --> 00:47:54,400 Speaker 2: You do it all online. That's the whole point of crypto. 812 00:47:54,520 --> 00:47:58,040 Speaker 2: But anyway, sketchy, it's weird. Like I said, I think 813 00:47:58,040 --> 00:47:59,719 Speaker 2: someone pulled a fast one, had a little fly by 814 00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:04,240 Speaker 2: night operation. But what we are going to start seeing 815 00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:06,920 Speaker 2: is for vending machines to have more and more flexible 816 00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:10,080 Speaker 2: payment options like I do love most vending machines that 817 00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:12,120 Speaker 2: you see. Now you can do the Apple pay, tap 818 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:16,239 Speaker 2: to pay, and that's just becoming increasingly a thing that 819 00:48:16,239 --> 00:48:19,360 Speaker 2: you're going to start seeing on everything, not to mention 820 00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:24,840 Speaker 2: vending machines that use ultra violet scanners to authenticate cash, 821 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:29,399 Speaker 2: measuring the amount of glow that gets emitted. Genuine notes 822 00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:31,560 Speaker 2: contain fluorescent ink, so it's going to glow. It's almost 823 00:48:31,600 --> 00:48:33,440 Speaker 2: like the like a forensic way of looking for like 824 00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:38,480 Speaker 2: bodily fluids at a crime scene. But increasingly, as we 825 00:48:38,560 --> 00:48:41,319 Speaker 2: to your point, ben are becoming more and more and 826 00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:44,560 Speaker 2: more of a cashless society, even a cashless world, you're 827 00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:46,880 Speaker 2: going to start seeing machines like the way that cars 828 00:48:46,880 --> 00:48:49,960 Speaker 2: stopped having CD players or the way that laptops stopped 829 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:51,280 Speaker 2: having disk drives. 830 00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,319 Speaker 1: You know that's a good I don't know, those are 831 00:48:54,320 --> 00:48:58,719 Speaker 1: two really good comparisons for this. We are going to 832 00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:05,560 Speaker 1: see vending machines continue because they satisfy some basic human needs, right, 833 00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:11,080 Speaker 1: the number one being the need for food and water, 834 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,840 Speaker 1: or something like food or something like water, or the 835 00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:18,319 Speaker 1: need for speed or the need for speed, and it's 836 00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:22,040 Speaker 1: all motivated by the vending machine. Manufacturer's need for greed. 837 00:49:24,480 --> 00:49:28,200 Speaker 2: That's very good, Ben, that's very style. Well played, my friend. Well, 838 00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:30,399 Speaker 2: I think you mentioned this at the top or maybe 839 00:49:30,440 --> 00:49:32,560 Speaker 2: in a conversation we had off Mike, But you know, 840 00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:36,279 Speaker 2: you you are a fan of Japan. The country and 841 00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,719 Speaker 2: the country of Japan is and has long been considered 842 00:49:39,800 --> 00:49:43,360 Speaker 2: like since it's kind of I don't know, reinvention of itself, 843 00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:46,040 Speaker 2: you know, after it was sort of decimated by some 844 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:49,400 Speaker 2: bombs that we drop, you know, just a hey beacon 845 00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:54,279 Speaker 2: of technology and innovation, and within that you're seeing some 846 00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:58,520 Speaker 2: really weird and innovative uses of vending machines, like think 847 00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:01,480 Speaker 2: claw machines as well a arcades. They've always been on 848 00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:03,879 Speaker 2: the cutting edge. Yeah, we didn't even talk about how 849 00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:06,960 Speaker 2: pinball machines kind of came into being around the same 850 00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:12,600 Speaker 2: time as the New York City kind of vending machine boom. 851 00:50:12,960 --> 00:50:17,279 Speaker 2: But Ben, Japan is known for having really interesting and 852 00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:21,160 Speaker 2: weird stuff in its vending machines, which are absolutely everywhere. 853 00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:24,560 Speaker 2: And I'm excited to go about a year, but you've 854 00:50:24,560 --> 00:50:26,520 Speaker 2: been a bunch of times. Can you set the scene, 855 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:30,160 Speaker 2: like how common are these things are? They literally everywhere? 856 00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:32,359 Speaker 2: Are what is in them? Yeah? 857 00:50:32,560 --> 00:50:36,759 Speaker 1: I cannot wait for you guys to go with me 858 00:50:37,080 --> 00:50:40,760 Speaker 1: on the next trip. We're going to have such a time, 859 00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:44,160 Speaker 1: and as long as we have a couple of coins, 860 00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:48,320 Speaker 1: we're never going to be thirsty. 861 00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:49,480 Speaker 2: Or in need of socks. Right right. 862 00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:54,760 Speaker 1: By far, the most common vending machines in urban areas 863 00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:59,840 Speaker 1: of Japan are beverage machines. They'll sell they'll sell coffee, 864 00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:03,800 Speaker 1: they'll sell soda, they'll sell something I still don't quite 865 00:51:03,880 --> 00:51:05,840 Speaker 1: understand named pakari sweat. 866 00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:09,600 Speaker 2: I've seen that in the in the Asian markets and Asia. Yeah, 867 00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:12,120 Speaker 2: it gets it's an energy drink. No, sorry, it's a 868 00:51:12,160 --> 00:51:16,280 Speaker 2: sports drink like electrolyte kind of replenishr or whatever. 869 00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:20,120 Speaker 1: That's also know, it's a weird one, but you know, again, 870 00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:22,719 Speaker 1: who are we to judge. I do have an interesting 871 00:51:22,800 --> 00:51:27,120 Speaker 1: conspiracy about vending machines in Japan. You don't see a 872 00:51:27,200 --> 00:51:33,839 Speaker 1: ton of machines selling prepackaged stacks, and that's because restaurants 873 00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:37,439 Speaker 1: are likewise ubiquitous, so you don't want to take money 874 00:51:37,480 --> 00:51:38,200 Speaker 1: from the restaurant. 875 00:51:38,200 --> 00:51:38,880 Speaker 2: That's my idea. 876 00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:42,560 Speaker 1: But I did earlier. I think it was, oh gosh, 877 00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:46,480 Speaker 1: it must have been February. I ran into a pizza 878 00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:48,080 Speaker 1: vending machine. 879 00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:51,400 Speaker 2: Like hot pizza discike, it's like an entire pie or 880 00:51:51,440 --> 00:51:54,640 Speaker 2: a slice. Yeah, yeah, it made a pizza, It makes 881 00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,360 Speaker 2: it for you. So this is taking the automation aspect 882 00:51:57,400 --> 00:51:59,040 Speaker 2: of it to a hole, just wild. 883 00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,480 Speaker 1: But that's not even you know, what we're setting up 884 00:52:01,520 --> 00:52:04,400 Speaker 1: here is when you and Max and I and maybe 885 00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:08,319 Speaker 1: you as well, ridiculous historians head back to Japan. Those 886 00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:13,279 Speaker 1: are the bare like, those are the low threshold of 887 00:52:13,600 --> 00:52:18,960 Speaker 1: weird vending machines. We've heard tell of vending machines for bugs. 888 00:52:19,080 --> 00:52:21,960 Speaker 1: I haven't seen that, but I believe it because there 889 00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:25,160 Speaker 1: are a lot of There are a lot of strange 890 00:52:25,239 --> 00:52:26,120 Speaker 1: vending machines. 891 00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:31,000 Speaker 2: Have you heard of the Japanese used pante vending machine? 892 00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:35,319 Speaker 2: And bust? We had to mention it, right, tell us 893 00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:40,800 Speaker 2: a little well, you know, in Tokyo. I think, in particular, 894 00:52:41,280 --> 00:52:45,600 Speaker 2: there was a brief period of time and I don't know, 895 00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:47,200 Speaker 2: I just remember when it was reported or when I 896 00:52:47,200 --> 00:52:49,960 Speaker 2: first read about it, maybe in the early two thousands 897 00:52:50,080 --> 00:52:54,760 Speaker 2: or maybe even late nineties, where you could buy women's 898 00:52:54,920 --> 00:53:00,840 Speaker 2: used under garments from a vending machine to feed some 899 00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:02,600 Speaker 2: kind of you know, a fetish. 900 00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:07,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I've never personally seen those, and I think 901 00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:09,480 Speaker 1: you make a I think you make a good point 902 00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:14,400 Speaker 1: because because it was a story that was reported in 903 00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:16,400 Speaker 1: the West, it was very much a real thing. But 904 00:53:16,480 --> 00:53:18,080 Speaker 1: I don't know if they're around anymore. 905 00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:24,440 Speaker 2: There's no article on tech nin tech tech in Asia. 906 00:53:24,560 --> 00:53:26,600 Speaker 2: All right, I'm trying to read the r tech in 907 00:53:26,719 --> 00:53:30,000 Speaker 2: asia dot com the death and digital records resurrection of 908 00:53:30,080 --> 00:53:34,759 Speaker 2: Japan's used pante vending machine. So yeah, it's definitely it 909 00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:38,240 Speaker 2: gets in the mix, but you know, let's get wholesome 910 00:53:38,600 --> 00:53:41,279 Speaker 2: with it. There's also like amazing venue machines that sell 911 00:53:41,640 --> 00:53:43,799 Speaker 2: kind of like the old coin op where you put 912 00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:45,680 Speaker 2: a stack of quarters in and turn a crank and 913 00:53:45,680 --> 00:53:48,120 Speaker 2: then you get a little toy inside a plastic bubble. 914 00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:51,040 Speaker 2: Those are everywhere in Japan. Yeah, with all kinds of stuff. 915 00:53:53,560 --> 00:53:54,879 Speaker 2: There are entire. 916 00:53:56,160 --> 00:54:00,759 Speaker 1: Almost like twenty four hour laundromat area. You know, if 917 00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:03,880 Speaker 1: you've ever been to a place where you've got washers 918 00:54:03,880 --> 00:54:07,080 Speaker 1: and dryers and they're all automated, there's no staff there. 919 00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:09,120 Speaker 1: You just go in and you put your coins in, 920 00:54:09,200 --> 00:54:12,520 Speaker 1: you do your laundry. There are places like that in 921 00:54:12,600 --> 00:54:14,120 Speaker 1: Japan entirely. 922 00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:18,239 Speaker 2: For gatchapon makes sense and say same as like claw 923 00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:19,359 Speaker 2: machine parlors, you. 924 00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:22,520 Speaker 1: Know, yeah, yeah, just so just so we also. 925 00:54:22,280 --> 00:54:24,399 Speaker 2: Sometimes there'll be a combination where they'll have like half 926 00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:28,200 Speaker 2: claw machines and half goatchapons. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, combination. 927 00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:33,040 Speaker 1: Right, And there are also ramen vending machines. We talk ramen, 928 00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:36,880 Speaker 1: not just prepackaged ramen, right, yes, yeah, yeah, hot ready 929 00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:41,040 Speaker 1: to eat ramen. There are also food ticket machines. There 930 00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:48,240 Speaker 1: are weird not quite gambling things where you can put 931 00:54:48,360 --> 00:54:52,600 Speaker 1: in some money for a mystery prize and it could 932 00:54:52,680 --> 00:54:56,000 Speaker 1: be you know, it could be like a picture of 933 00:54:56,320 --> 00:54:59,600 Speaker 1: a musician, or it could be a Nintendo. 934 00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:02,480 Speaker 2: Switch go yeah, like a like a blind box, you know. Yeah, 935 00:55:04,360 --> 00:55:06,879 Speaker 2: I've seen these vending machines or I guess they're kind 936 00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:10,719 Speaker 2: of considered a game where it's like this one giant glass, 937 00:55:10,800 --> 00:55:15,320 Speaker 2: you know, enclosure with a mass single massive stuffed animal 938 00:55:16,000 --> 00:55:18,880 Speaker 2: suspended by a little string and the game as you 939 00:55:18,920 --> 00:55:20,560 Speaker 2: put in, you know, it's going to be more of 940 00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:23,239 Speaker 2: a premium than the smaller item claw machines, and you 941 00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:27,160 Speaker 2: get the opportunity to like operate these scissors that like 942 00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:29,680 Speaker 2: will snip the string, and if you can sniff the string, 943 00:55:29,760 --> 00:55:34,759 Speaker 2: you get this one giant prize. The whole question of 944 00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:40,080 Speaker 2: like the investment of actual funds and the comparison to 945 00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:43,200 Speaker 2: how much the thing that you've won is actually worth 946 00:55:43,680 --> 00:55:47,279 Speaker 2: is a discussion under itself. But it is fun to 947 00:55:47,280 --> 00:55:49,600 Speaker 2: find places though, where it doesn't feel like the machines 948 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:53,240 Speaker 2: are rigged. But Ben, we talked about used pante machines 949 00:55:53,280 --> 00:55:55,640 Speaker 2: and the kind of mythology of that. You're also going 950 00:55:55,719 --> 00:56:00,279 Speaker 2: to see things like adult item vending machines, though not 951 00:56:00,480 --> 00:56:03,400 Speaker 2: typically would be in the in the in the courtyard 952 00:56:03,520 --> 00:56:06,680 Speaker 2: of the public square, because they they're pretty if I'm 953 00:56:06,719 --> 00:56:10,640 Speaker 2: not mistaken, Ben Japan has a bit of a modesty still, 954 00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:13,919 Speaker 2: even with its forward facing advertisement. It's it's a little 955 00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:14,719 Speaker 2: bit wholesome. Right. 956 00:56:15,239 --> 00:56:18,759 Speaker 1: Well, again, I would say it goes back to location. Yeah, 957 00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:21,640 Speaker 1: So back in the day, as we established earlier, there 958 00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:25,920 Speaker 1: was this realization that the best way to sell stamps 959 00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:29,600 Speaker 1: or to sell postcards is to put the machine at 960 00:56:29,600 --> 00:56:32,640 Speaker 1: a place where people need stamps and the postcards, and. 961 00:56:32,680 --> 00:56:34,960 Speaker 2: The naughty machines are probably more likely to be in 962 00:56:35,040 --> 00:56:39,320 Speaker 2: like the naughty shops, yes, in the naughty districts, yes, right. 963 00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:44,000 Speaker 1: Right right straight up Shinjuku. But we also know that 964 00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:48,520 Speaker 1: you can see. You can see the same struggle that 965 00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:55,080 Speaker 1: the US had with tobacco vending machines in Japan, you know, 966 00:56:55,920 --> 00:56:57,520 Speaker 1: like alcohol vending. 967 00:56:57,400 --> 00:57:01,960 Speaker 2: Machines, sake machines, right, yeah, there, we don't have those here. 968 00:57:02,280 --> 00:57:05,200 Speaker 2: We don't. We don't all no alcohol venus. It's completely 969 00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:07,000 Speaker 2: illegal in the United States. Now. 970 00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:11,400 Speaker 1: In Japan, there are still cigarette vending machines, but there's 971 00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:15,160 Speaker 1: a much more robust law about it. You have to 972 00:57:15,239 --> 00:57:19,360 Speaker 1: have an I D And a special card and also. 973 00:57:19,240 --> 00:57:22,200 Speaker 2: Have to be scanned and validated by the way, yep, right, 974 00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:26,680 Speaker 2: big brother is watching you. Here's the thing. I think 975 00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:28,000 Speaker 2: we we have to wrap up. 976 00:57:28,040 --> 00:57:31,880 Speaker 1: But I think the best idea we had so far 977 00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:36,400 Speaker 1: is a vending machine that sells vending machines. 978 00:57:38,080 --> 00:57:43,360 Speaker 2: I'm writing that down, and within those are tinier vending machines. 979 00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:47,560 Speaker 1: It's just vending machines all the way down. It's dolls, right, 980 00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:52,240 Speaker 1: And I can't I can't wait. I can't wait to 981 00:57:52,360 --> 00:57:55,600 Speaker 1: explore new parts of the world with you guys, and 982 00:57:55,720 --> 00:58:00,240 Speaker 1: to find the weirdest vending machines we can. Uh, what 983 00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:05,000 Speaker 1: what would you what would you love in a vending machine? 984 00:58:05,040 --> 00:58:07,080 Speaker 2: Oh? I know I already, I know you too. Well. 985 00:58:07,280 --> 00:58:09,440 Speaker 1: I know what vending machine you would love. You'd love 986 00:58:09,440 --> 00:58:11,200 Speaker 1: a synth vending machine. 987 00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:13,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's you know the thing about that is 988 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:16,400 Speaker 2: like I've certainly been to shops that you can put 989 00:58:16,440 --> 00:58:18,760 Speaker 2: anything in a vending machine. And I've certainly seen in 990 00:58:18,800 --> 00:58:21,040 Speaker 2: some like boutiki type places, whether they be record stores 991 00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:23,800 Speaker 2: or music stores, they'll have a vending machine that they'll 992 00:58:23,840 --> 00:58:26,120 Speaker 2: have some fun little items inside, you know, where it's 993 00:58:26,160 --> 00:58:29,120 Speaker 2: like you can get like a little grab bag item 994 00:58:29,280 --> 00:58:32,000 Speaker 2: like of some weird local art or something like that, 995 00:58:32,040 --> 00:58:34,640 Speaker 2: And I just think that's so fun. But yeah, a 996 00:58:34,640 --> 00:58:38,040 Speaker 2: synth venning machine would be rad. Though I would hope 997 00:58:38,040 --> 00:58:40,680 Speaker 2: that it wouldn't just drop it, you know, into the 998 00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:43,280 Speaker 2: chasm for me to go. No, No, it needs to 999 00:58:43,320 --> 00:58:46,440 Speaker 2: build up before it drops the beat. How are you 1000 00:58:46,560 --> 00:58:49,480 Speaker 2: handed to me by a little robot arm with fingerless 1001 00:58:49,480 --> 00:58:51,200 Speaker 2: gloves on? Sure? Max? 1002 00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:54,600 Speaker 1: What about your vending machine? What's your dream vending machine? 1003 00:58:54,920 --> 00:58:56,800 Speaker 2: Oh? Man, dream vending machine? 1004 00:58:56,840 --> 00:58:59,720 Speaker 3: That is a good question. I I like, for years 1005 00:58:59,760 --> 00:59:03,640 Speaker 3: ago up in coffee, but I'm caffeine free now because yeah. 1006 00:59:03,280 --> 00:59:05,880 Speaker 2: It's okay, we're still we can still be friends. I 1007 00:59:05,880 --> 00:59:10,520 Speaker 2: don't know, I maybe tea. 1008 00:59:10,560 --> 00:59:12,840 Speaker 3: I'm getting really into tea. I was also thinking about 1009 00:59:13,160 --> 00:59:15,560 Speaker 3: games venning machine, but then also we used to have 1010 00:59:15,600 --> 00:59:19,520 Speaker 3: those and they sucked, So go on PlayStation storing in 1011 00:59:19,600 --> 00:59:22,440 Speaker 3: my video games. So I know I would like a 1012 00:59:22,520 --> 00:59:25,320 Speaker 3: vending machine that I could buy more versions of myself, 1013 00:59:25,440 --> 00:59:26,800 Speaker 3: because that's awesome. 1014 00:59:27,280 --> 00:59:30,840 Speaker 2: We had in this world the Betrishka maxis. I love it. Yeah, 1015 00:59:30,960 --> 00:59:32,120 Speaker 2: I like it. I dig it. 1016 00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:36,760 Speaker 1: Tell us what your dream vending machine would be. Visit 1017 00:59:36,880 --> 00:59:41,160 Speaker 1: us on our Facebook page, Ridiculous Historians. Yes, we are 1018 00:59:41,200 --> 00:59:44,880 Speaker 1: still working to get our social media platforms back. 1019 00:59:44,960 --> 00:59:47,920 Speaker 2: We've got a plan. We're gonna stick Max on. We've 1020 00:59:47,960 --> 00:59:50,400 Speaker 2: been discussed Max. You weren't present at this meeting, but 1021 00:59:51,160 --> 00:59:53,800 Speaker 2: we're sticking Max on the on the medic boys. I 1022 00:59:53,880 --> 00:59:56,800 Speaker 2: get it straight. I handled back. I straight up told 1023 00:59:57,800 --> 00:59:58,520 Speaker 2: this was weird. 1024 00:59:58,600 --> 01:00:00,320 Speaker 1: I know you got it and old, but I straight 1025 01:00:00,360 --> 01:00:03,120 Speaker 1: up told our folks in marketing you have to burn 1026 01:00:03,160 --> 01:00:05,840 Speaker 1: the village to save the village. And they let me 1027 01:00:05,880 --> 01:00:07,919 Speaker 1: get away with saying that on a work call. 1028 01:00:08,080 --> 01:00:10,840 Speaker 2: Oh you know, what are they gonna do? Well? 1029 01:00:11,320 --> 01:00:15,360 Speaker 1: Hopefully they will join us in future episodes, and we 1030 01:00:15,480 --> 01:00:17,720 Speaker 1: hope you do as well. Thank you so much for 1031 01:00:17,760 --> 01:00:20,880 Speaker 1: tuning in. Ridiculous historians. Thank you as always to our 1032 01:00:20,920 --> 01:00:25,160 Speaker 1: super producer mister Max Williams, as well as his biological 1033 01:00:25,240 --> 01:00:30,040 Speaker 1: brother Alex Williams, a mad composer who word on the 1034 01:00:30,080 --> 01:00:33,920 Speaker 1: street has has it that he just recently drifted through town. 1035 01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:36,640 Speaker 2: I'm actually going to see him this very evening. He's 1036 01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:40,040 Speaker 2: coming over to the studio to do some be booping. 1037 01:00:40,160 --> 01:00:43,920 Speaker 2: I'm excited. So he actually also composed and be booped 1038 01:00:44,000 --> 01:00:46,800 Speaker 2: this very theme that you hear in your very ears. 1039 01:00:47,040 --> 01:00:49,840 Speaker 2: Huge thanks to Christopher Hasiotis and Eve Jeff Coates here 1040 01:00:49,920 --> 01:00:50,600 Speaker 2: in spirit. 1041 01:00:51,080 --> 01:00:55,200 Speaker 1: Big big thanks of course to aj Bahamas Jacobs and 1042 01:00:55,400 --> 01:00:58,120 Speaker 1: you're right, You're right, Max. We we got to get 1043 01:00:58,200 --> 01:01:03,439 Speaker 1: him back on the back together big things. Yeah, yeah, 1044 01:01:03,560 --> 01:01:08,280 Speaker 1: we were all right. Big thanks to BADASSU, the Badass imperator, 1045 01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:13,720 Speaker 1: Ben Thompson, Rachel Big Spinach Lance and I think Donald. 1046 01:01:13,480 --> 01:01:20,200 Speaker 2: Strickland from earlier in a regular Dude from time to time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 1047 01:01:20,200 --> 01:01:24,960 Speaker 1: Well, Jonathan is still a little heated with us folks 1048 01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:28,919 Speaker 1: behind the curtain because he wrote an entire quister. 1049 01:01:28,760 --> 01:01:32,240 Speaker 2: Segment and we just did not do it when we 1050 01:01:32,240 --> 01:01:33,880 Speaker 2: were in the Middle East. Well, I think it's a 1051 01:01:33,960 --> 01:01:35,760 Speaker 2: he's got it in his back pocket for next time. 1052 01:01:35,880 --> 01:01:37,280 Speaker 2: It means it went have to do as much prep. 1053 01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:41,400 Speaker 2: Geez Ben, Thanks to you, this was a really fine conversation. 1054 01:01:41,520 --> 01:01:43,840 Speaker 1: And thanks to our research associate Jeff. 1055 01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:48,280 Speaker 2: Thanks to for the good conversational fodder. Good Jeff, thank 1056 01:01:48,280 --> 01:01:48,640 Speaker 2: you very. 1057 01:01:48,640 --> 01:01:53,880 Speaker 1: Much, and thanks to everybody who has run into a 1058 01:01:53,920 --> 01:01:55,080 Speaker 1: weird vending machine. 1059 01:01:55,120 --> 01:01:57,400 Speaker 2: Please post pictures. I want to see weird like the 1060 01:01:57,400 --> 01:02:00,600 Speaker 2: anthropomorphic vending machines with arms and legs, come alive at 1061 01:02:00,720 --> 01:02:03,480 Speaker 2: night and have a whole like inner life, you know, 1062 01:02:04,080 --> 01:02:06,560 Speaker 2: like a toy story. But with any machines, we'll see 1063 01:02:06,560 --> 01:02:16,240 Speaker 2: a nice tep folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 1064 01:02:16,280 --> 01:02:19,400 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 1065 01:02:19,440 --> 01:02:20,400 Speaker 2: your favorite shows.