Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
Make mine a double.

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Slow-item Vending Sales Improvement

classify under public: evil
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(+8, -1)
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This vending machine has one or two of the less popular food items, (as tracked over the weeks), glued surreptitiously in place but seemingly just ready for freefall.

The customer makes their selection of the lesser product, believing they'll get 2 for the price of 1, and only receive the one queued to fall. (This happened to me; it is possible).

No one is gypped, just no freebee.

RayfordSteele, Feb 17 2009

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       Could it be construed as false advertising?   

       //false advertising// I'd agree with that. A distant memory of just such a situation and my expectation I would get both items. This was in the day when the slot price was the same for all items and the quantity was varied.
bigsleep, Feb 17 2009
  

       ...supposedly if you push that door flap all the way up so the candy cant drop, a sensor in the machine will interpret as a jam. Not only will the item drop, but its supposed to give you your money back, then you can just let go of the door and your candy will drop though.
bobofthefuture, Feb 18 2009
  

       ,,,Id love it if they could be be scheduled to go into "or best offer" mode during lunchbreaks.
bobofthefuture, Feb 18 2009
  

       It should occasionally release the decoy item with odds depending on how long its been there.
Spacecoyote, Feb 18 2009
  

       You'd need pretty good insurance, as this will expose vending machines to a fair amount of physical abuse. The prospect of freebies (even if it's a pack of gum) makes people lose all common sense.
placid_turmoil, Feb 18 2009
  

       This is crossing the gulf between those penny falls/penny cascade things you used to see in old amusement arcades and traditional vending machines.   

       You could drop a packet of crisps/mars bar/mints onto the oscillating shelf, along with all the other goodies, and see if the additional item pushes anything over the edge into the collection hopper.
zen_tom, Feb 18 2009
  

       Whatever happened to the public: evil category anyway?
RayfordSteele, Feb 18 2009
  

       It got stuck to another item! Excellent idea. Big BIG bun +
xenzag, Feb 19 2009
  
      
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