While we have not heard of any Kansas City hospitals planning to use the technology we can be sure that if the trials are successful the trend will continue to grow the hospitals here in the Kansas City area.

The chamber is always looking for more members and now is a great time to join.  Visit the Olathe Chamber of Commerce website or contact us if you need help getting started.

The machine stocks shirts, footballs, trading cards, customized rubber bands, bobbleheads and more. Prices range from $5 for the rubber bands to $25 for a shirt or hat.  If tests go well you might see one of these machines near you soon.

VendLoop continues to monitor the demand for healthy products to determine which options will work best for our customers.  Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of our Kansas City customers prefer the traditional selection of snacks but we continue to monitor the developments of healthy vending to understand the trends and solutions available.

We stumbled upon an interesting use of old cigarette vending machines finding new life as art distributors.   Art-o-mat has repurposed vintage cigarette machines into art vending machines.  The classic cigarette machines can now be found distributing small pieces of artwork from local artists at reduced prices.  The machines can be found at many locations across the US including Kansas City at the sLaP-n-TiCkLe art gallery.  We hope to stop by sLaP-n-TiCkLe soon to see the machine for ourselves but let us know if you have had a chance to experience one of these machines yourself.

If you are interested in learning how VendLoop can help with your vending machines services please contact us today.

1. Go cans over plastic

   There is some conflicting information about whether plastic bottles have a larger carbon footprint than cans but the general consensus in the US is that aluminum cans are a better option than plastic bottles. The reason is that the US is currently better equipped to recycle aluminum over plastic which often has to be shipped overseas to recycle using large amounts of energy to ship then process and reuse. For now, go with cans but don’t be surprised if someday this changes.

2. Go mechanical snack machines over electric

   Reduce your power consumption by asking your vending service to install a mechanical snack vending machine. Mechanical vendors do not use electricity to vend snack products relying on the customer to insert the exact change and manually turn the coil that distributes the snack product. While not as user friendly as their electric cousins they require absolutely no power to operate.

3. Go with modern Energy Star compliant vending machines

   Like consumer rated appliances, vending machines meeting the Energy Star standards for efficiency also carry the Energy Star compliant approval rating. Ask your vendor to install appliances which carry the Energy Star rating which means they generally use 20%-30% less energy than required by federal standards.

4. Remove the lights
   
   Most vending machines are equipped with bulbs to either backlight the graphic display in the beverage machine or shine over the snack selections. Since most machines operate in well lit break rooms these bulbs can be removed reducing the power consumption of the machine.
5. Add a recycling bin
   
   Many locations still have no recycling program at all. Keep it simple and start with a beverage recycling bin at your location. Placing a bin near your machines will offer a place for beverage consumers to deposit their plastic bottles or aluminum cans.

However, recycling may put a stop to the PET bottle trend as organizations ramp us their recycling efforts in favor of recycling friendly aluminum cans. In fact some organizations have placed bans on plastic bottles as is the case at UW-Stevens Point where the student government recently decided in favor of aluminum cans.

Fortunately, modern beverage machines are adaptable and can easily adjust to accept either bottles or cans as is the case with our VendLoop vending machines.

I really like the innovation here.  Especially the adaptation of using a human pharmacist in place of programming that is more than likely out of reach at this time.  While no one likes to see jobs replaced by technology I think the service that these machines can offer to smaller communities or countries that cannot afford to host a pharmacist are very encouraging.