Coca-Cola’s holiday cans are generally something that people look forward to every year. They have been part of the Holiday season. Yahoo is reporting that there is a problem with the white cans in particular this year.  The white Coke cans are causing confusion from people mistaking the cans for Diet Coke.

Coke's white holiday can

Current Diet Coke Can

A debate is raging on the comment area of the comment section from the article on Yahoo.  Some users are coming to the defense of Coke saying, “The Silver Cans look Great !! Does America really have that many people that CAN NOT READ LABELS ?????”

However, another business owner has said the new cans have hurt his business, “James Ali, who owns Wall Street Deli in an Atlanta food court, said about half a dozen customers have returned opened white cans in recent days after realizing, too late, that they weren’t drinking Diet Coke. He lets them take unopened diet cans without charging them again.”

The cans are clearly causing some confusion about what product is being purchased, another commenter on the official Coca-Cola blog adds another side the controversy saying the can color has also changed the flavor of the Coke inside:

“So what is up with the coke in the white can. It doesnt taste the same and I dont like it. Please give us a choice. I bought one case thought I made a mistake and bought another. Its been one day & Im dying for a regular coke please dont do this. It sucks. I want my reg coke back.”

What do you think?  Is the new can confusing?  Could changing the color actually affect the taste of the product inside?

Let us know!

Now that Shaquille O’Neal, or “Shaq” as we generally know him, has officially retired, we look back at one of his contributions to one of our vending partners, Pepsi.  In today’s post we are featuring the uniquely spelled  “Shaq Attaq Paq.”

The bottles commemorate different facts about Shaq’s 92-93 rookie season with the Orlando Magic.  Some of the bottled laud facts such as “The first rookie since ’85 to start the All-Star-Game” and “1st rookie since ’82 with over 1,000 pts and 1,000 rebounds.”  One side of the box also features the 93-94 season schedule.

While the bottles were probably never offered in a vending machine, we’d advise not to drink one of these if one comes out since they’re about 19 years old.

How can we do a blog post about Plaxico Burress being released from prison today and make it topical?  Simple, we found a picture of him on an aluminum Pepsi bottle celebrating the Giants’ 2008 Super Bowl win.

If you want to own one of these pieces of Burress’ history you can buy one for yourself here.  There are three for sale as of June 6th ranging from $.99 to $16.20 all with no bids!  We are not affiliated with Ebay or any of the sellers…but we’ll take 15% if one of the above items in the link is yours and this promotion results in a sale!  (just kidding)

Do you have any vending related celebrity items you’d like to share?

Let us know in the comments!

The National Multi Housing Council released their yearly report showing the 50 largest apartment managers in the United States.  After comparing the list to our internal database we were able to determine that we manage vending for one or more properties at 48 of the 50 largest apartment management companies.

Maybe we can make it 50 out of 50 by the next report release!

Pepsi announced that they’re launching a new vending machine that showcases their Social Vending System.  Rather than using traditional buttons to make beverage selections, this machine has a large touch screen that allows users to navigate between drink choices and other functions of the machine.

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Want to buy the latest Pokemon gear but skip the store? One of our regular readers of the Vending Solutions blog sent us pictures of a Pokemon vending machine located at Northgate Mall in Seattle, WA.

The machine has a sign that reads “Pokémon Center.” The vending machine is very high tech and each side has different features. One side has merchandise for sale including Pokémon Trading Card Game box sets, booster packs, DS games, Pokédoll plushies and pocket games. Other sides of the machine have screens that show Pokemon anime movies, touch screen games, an interactive Pokédex, and the last side has a Wii featuring Pokémon Rumble.

This machine is the first of its kind in the United States. The Seattle area is on the cutting edge of all things Pokemon since the United States offices for Pokemon and Nintendo are headquartered in nearby Bellevue, WA.

Check out the pictures below! What do you think of the Pokemon Center? Would you rather buy your gear from a vending machine or a traditional retail store?

The side of the machine has a Wii featuring Pokémon Rumble

Pokemon center with games and plushies for sale

This side of the Pokemon Center shows Pokemon movies

This is a closeup of the Pokemon vending machine

This is the interactive Pokédex

Here at Vending Solutions we like to think of ourselves as very current on the happenings in the vending industry.  Imagine our surprise to find an article titled, Freddie Mac Introduces FredBox, First Ever Mortgage Vending Machine in our Google Vending News RSS feed.  As of right now, there are 134 results showing for “Fredbox” that have been posted in the past 24 hours.  Most of the vending blogs covering the story seem to have missed the astrix at the bottom that says, “Clearly a parody, boys and girls.”

The original article states that Freddie Mac issued a press release saying it will let investors buy securitized loans from vending machines that will be placed in airports, 7-Elevens etc.

Freddie Mac Vending Machine

While our company isn’t going to take a stance one way or another regarding Freddie Mac’s current status as a company, the article is an entertaining read.  Again, FredBox is a HOAX!  Freddie Mac is NOT PLACING A NETWORK OF SECURITIZED MORTGAGE BOND VENDING MACHINES!

There is big news from Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper this morning. The The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporting that Coca-Cola and Dr Pepper Snapple Group inked a $715 million dollar deal to distribute Dr Pepper brands for the next 20 years.

This is great news for vending companies, especially in the South where Dr Pepper are both very popular. Additionally, Coke announced that they will begin adding Dr Pepper to their “Freestyle” soda machines which reported on here.

Click here to read the full article.

Here at Vending Solutions we have been around long enough to see just about any type of vending machine including a dog wash machine to a live bait machine markets-in-everything-live-bait-vending.html

This latest vending head-scratcher is from GRAFFOMAT. It is a glass front vending machine that sells graffiti supplies.

The following is from the company’s website:

“GRAFFOMAT is entering the market with a new state of the art graffiti supply vending machine!

GRAFFOMAT will supply you with all of your favorite state of the art graffiti supplies such as markers, caps, gloves, and everything else that the graffiti writer needs. Including ski masks!

Forget about the times where you would run out of paint in the middle of the night and there would be nothing you could do about it. Graffomat is here for you 24 hours a day, located easily accessible on almost every street corner in your neighborhood.”

First of all, what city is going to allow these machines to be sold on “ever street corner?”  Also,  the companies who own or allow the machines on their premesis may get hit from lawsuits for aiding criminal activity. We fully support the arts at our company and recognize that graffiti is a form of art when it’s done without breaking the law. Conversely, maybe law enforcement will like the machines so they can just sit and wait to pounce on potential vandals!

From a practicality standpoint, does anyone actually think that a glass front vending machine selling spray paint and ski masks to people will not be vandalized itself?

It will be interesting to see how profitable these machines are after they’re placed “on almost every street corner [..]” but we aren’t holding our breath for that to ever happen!

Here is a new vending concept, the graffiti machine

Facility Blog is reporting that a new type of vending machine is being manufactured by Tomra Systems ASA that reverses the traditional vending concept.

The machine is meant to encourage recycling in facilities such as health care facilities, large offices, educational institutions and other organizations that typically generate a lot of waste.  The UNO is essentially a vending machine in reverse.  The user inserts recyclable material such as aluminum cans, glass bottles or other containers into the machine.  The vending machine will then sort the items by container type.

Additionally, the machine can be set up to encourage recycling by printing coupons for discounts when a user recycles something in the machine.

The UNO is meant to be an improvement over a traditional recycling bin that can generate waste or unwanted bugs.

Although there are some facilities using the machines, a couple Dunkin Donuts locations and a hospital in New Haven, CT, it’s our opinion that we probably will not see a large number of these machines since they likely cost thousands of dollars.  It’s pretty hard to justify the expense when a regular recycling receptacle cost closer to $30.