You can learn a lot about a country by what they sell in their vending machines... It’s true I swear!!!

You can learn a lot about a country by what they sell in their vending machines (“VM”)... It’s true I swear!!!

 

For example, here in London, at the Fulham Broadway Tube station, they have an “umbrella” VM! Yes, that is because in England, it rains a lot! You’ll wake-up in the morning, it’s hot and sunny, you’ll take the tube to work in your t-shirt, by the time you’re out of the station on the other side of your 30min journey, it’s freezing and pissing down with rain! And guess what? It hadn’t occurred to you to bring your umbrella with you today! So you go to the VM and buy yourself one - I think it costs £2!

 

Or in Barcelona, I once saw a VM in the Placa Catalunya Metro that sold books! While living in Barca, I once read that Spanish children under 16 read more books that any other children under 16 in the whole of Europe! So in a way, it seems logical that the Spaniards feel the need to supply books in their VMs!

 

Now, I save the best for last... In Japan, they sell Asahi beers in their VMs! Yes, alcohol my friends! As you can see in the picture above, my eager buddies were buying themselves some beer! Now, the VM doesn’t ask you how old you are... I mean if we had those vending machines in Switzerland when we were growing up, I can assure you we’d have been alcoholics by the ripe age of 11! It’s completely mad! But what does it tell you? Probably that children in Japan aspire to better things than getting drunk and therefore can be trusted not to go and acquire themselves a VM drinking habit...

 

So, dya see what I mean about VMs telling you a lot about the society of a nation? Please let me know if you’ve encountered any obscure VM products on your travels...