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!

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.

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!

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

Speaking of other functions, this machine does more than just spit out drinks.  You can still buy a drink for yourself, however, you can also purchase a drink as a gift for a friend as well.  You chose the gift amount you want to give, enter your payment information along with your friend’s contact information and the Pepsi machine will email or txt a code to the person along with a personal message and a video greeting. The sticking point to all of this is that the code only seems to be redeemable at another of Pepsi’s social vending machines, which are not exactly on every street corner.

The vending machine also ties into Pepsi’s “Random Acts of Refreshment” and allows people to “gift” a drink for a stranger as well. According to Pepsi, the machine allows “the ability to buy a drink for a complete stranger through any other Social Vending system.  For example, a consumer could send a symbol of encouragement someone in a city that has experienced challenging weather, or a congratulatory beverage to a student at a university that just won a championship.

The machine was developed by Pepsi’s Equipment Innovation group, which collaborated with DCI Marketing and Protagonist to make the design and user interface. The third feature of the Pepsi machine is the ability to “connect” with their Pepsi Refresh Program.  The vending machine user can watch the video showcasing the Pepsi Refresh Programs’ latest happenings and sign up for email updates or a downloadable shortcut to put on an Internet devise such as an iPad or smart phone.

In summary, this sounds like an amazing new vending machine, however, do you really want to wait in line to buy a Pepsi which the person in front of you is busy watching videos and downloading apps on the machine?  Let us know what you think in the comments below!

The Wall Street Journal reports that Dr Pepper Snapple Group is reportedly trying to take some market share from the top selling citrus soda in the U.S., PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew has 84.3% of the citrus soda market share while Sun Drop has 2%.

The decision to push the brand Nationally stemmed in part from a study conducted in New York City, “We did a taste test on the streets of New York City, and it has been abundantly clear that Sun-Drop can be a successful brand nationally,” said company spokesman Jason Genthner. “Sun- Drop is unique. It’s had that passionate following for many years, and we’re looking to capitalize on that passionate following and get it out to the masses.”

Given the extremely competitive nature of the declining carbonated soda business it will be interesting to see if Sun Drop can build on it’s smaller regional fan base and become a National brand.

Vending Solutions is not affiliated with SCI Vending. They do not process any credit cards for our vending machines. Please do not contact us regarding SCI charging your credit card.

My company frequently receives calls from banks and other businesses asking if Vending Solutions is affiliated with SCI Vending. After receiving another call this morning I decided to do a little research on my lunch break that would shed some light on the SCI Vending “scam” mystery charges.

After some research, it looks like the SCI Vending charge mystery may already be solved. Most people seem to mistakenly assume that SCI is a vending company that deals with Pepsi and Coke style vending machines. However, I found out that SCI may not be a snack or soda vending company at all, there is a company called Smart Carte Inc. that has a variety of machines placed in many different locations.

Here is a description of the types of products and services they offer and the countries they’re operating in taken from the Smart Carte website:

Smarte Carte has operations in North America, Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

Smarte Carte operates:

* Luggage cart concessions at airports and major bus/rail stations
* Electronic locker concessions at transportation centers, amusement/theme parks, indoor and outdoor waterparks, ski resorts and other entertainment venues
* Stroller concessions at shopping centers, amusement/theme parks and zoos
* Massage chairs at transportation, shopping and entertainment centers and other commercial venues
* Cell phone charging and Internet kiosks at airports
* Long-term baggage storage, baggage wrapping and excess baggage services at airports and major bus/train stations

The following is taken from a person describing their situation on consumer complaints message board which seems to match the information from the vast majority of the scam complaints.

Rented a luggage cart at the San Jose Airport, on November 8. Got billed almost a week later. It took some time to figure out what the charges were for. Right besides the place where you swipe your credit card to get the luggage cart, it should say “your credit card statement entry would read ‘SCI Vending’.”
This is how it appeared in the online statement.
Original Network Post Date 11/13/2010
Original Network Trans Date 11/12/2010
Approval Code 01290B
Transaction Amount $4.00
Merchant Name SCI VENDING 1227
Merchant City Name SAN JOSE
Merchant Zip Code 95110
Partial Shipment Indicator N

If you are currently researching a SCI Vending charge on your credit card, did you rent or use any of the machines mentioned above? Another source on the web said the charge didn’t show up on his statement until 3 weeks after he rented a stroller.

Did this solve the SCI Vending scam mystery? Please comment below and let us know. Also, if you have more information please post below for other readers as well!

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

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!

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.