9 Ways Healthy Vending Machines Are Revolutionizing The Vending Business

We've all been forced to hit the vending machine for an afternoon pick-me-up or even a quick meal replacement. The choices are all horrible and you stand there trying to decide which item will sabotage your diet the least and will fill you up for more than 10 minutes. What if there was another option? What if all your choices were not only healthy but delicious? It may sound too good to be true but healthy vending machines are making it possible for a quick snack to be a nutritious one as well. Until now, the vending business has only been concerned with how many items they can cram into a machine and how high their markup will be. Vending machine owners and operators have no concern for what's actually in their machines. It's time for revolution! Below are nine ways healthy vending machines are bringing this revolution to schools, offices, hospitals and grocery stores near you.

Let's face it, America is fat. Twenty-five percent of adults and nearly thirty percent of kids are obese. Those numbers are alarming yet traditional vending machines are major contributors to this epidemic. Obesity causes all kinds of health issues like heart disease and diabetes and what's so frustrating about it is it's totally avoidable. If more people would make healthy food choices, the obesity rate would go down, plain and simple. Unfortunately, in today's busy society, people don't always have time to visit the supermarket daily (or even weekly), prepare healthful meals and snacks, package them, and take them where ever they go. So when they need a snack and have five minutes in which to eat it, they go straight to the vending machine down the hall or in the break room. Imagine if all those people were having healthy snacks! Healthy vending machines actively fight obesity by making better choices available to millions of vending machine consumers nationwide. This seems like an obvious concept but it is, in fact, the first time this is happening in the vending business.

Have you noticed that you can't buy very much, if anything, in a vending machine for 50 cents anymore? You need at least 75 cents and upwards of two dollars for bags and bottles of junk in standard vending machines. Would you pay $2 for a healthy snack as opposed to a bag of greasy chips? Of course you would. People are becoming more comfortable paying more for healthy vending goods because they are getting quality items. And as people's horizons expand and they see what is available in vending machines, how fresh and healthy the items can be, as well as quick and easy, they will gladly pay two or three or even five dollars for a nutritious snack or meal replacement from a machine. The more consumers are willing to pay for an item, the higher the profit margin for the vending machine operator.

Organic, all-natural products were left out by traditional vending. What a waste! Today, more and more people want to buy organic items because they are healthier, have not been genetically engineered or treated with chemicals at any point in their product life. So it makes sense to include organic and all-natural products in vending machines. Not only will it give consumers better snacking options but it opens up a huge new way for a billion-dollar business sector to get their products to consumers. Before now, organic products were only available in the grocery store and often they're fighting, side-by-side, with processed, chemically treated items for shelf space and market share. Offering only organic and all-natural food and drink items in a vending machine gives the consumer better choices and gives the organic food producers the marketing and exposure they need to grow their business.

Traditional vending machines give the consumer no way to know exactly what they're getting. All they can see is the front of the package so they don't know how many calories or fat grams or chemicals are in the bag or bottle. Healthy vending machines educate consumers right on the machine. Each machine is equipped with an LCD screen that shows consumers more information about the products inside. This display is completely customizable and can focus on the calorie count of the items if the machine is in a fitness center. If the machine is in an organic grocery store, it can point out how each item is 100% organic. It can even educate consumers about the operator's location or business. Educating consumers before they buy is a great way to ensure they are pleased with their purchase. Some traditional vending companies try dispense healthy items out of old machines but how do you know it's healthy? These companies don't educate at the point of sale; they are just looking for more profits by trying to tap into the "health trend."

Healthy vending machines have many features that are environmentally friendly which is important in this era of green business. Their LED lighting uses less energy, as does the energy efficient power devices and an Eco-friendly refrigeration system. All of these features add up to a lower energy bill for the vending machine location. Traditional vending companies aren't concerned with being Eco-friendly; they don't care how much energy their machines use and they certainly don't care about your health. Healthy machines don't just benefit the consumer's health, they benefit the health of our earth.

Not only do healthy vending machines offer great, nutritional products, they do it in a cool, high-tech way. There's the LCD screen with completely customizable content that educates the consumer at the point of sale as well as technology that allows vending of fruit and even glass bottles! Infrared sensors tell the machine that an order has been placed and the consumer will not be charged unless an item is vended. The unique conveyor system and soft-drop technology allow fragile items to drop safely without bruising or breaking. This system allows vending of items like glass juice bottles and bananas. Not all healthy vending companies provide this system. Technology is also in place that gives consumers the ability to pay with credit or debit cards as well as cash and coins. No more digging for change in your desk drawer or hoping your crinkled dollar bill is accepted. Maximizing the flexibility of payment options makes healthy vending machines easier to use and more convenient than traditional machines.

For years, vending has been in decline. This could be due to the increased pricing of products, the fact that people don't have as much expendable income as they used to or maybe they're starting to pay closer attention to what they're putting in their mouths. With healthy vending machines, operators can feel good about their business because they are offering healthy snack options as well as earning higher profits. They can feel like they are making a difference because they ARE making a difference. Vending used to just make people fat. Now vending can actually make people healthy!

Healthy vending doesn't just help the consumers who purchase items from their machines. Some healthy vending companies are actually giving back a portion of their profits to help fund programs that fight obesity and malnutrition. This shows that the bottom line isn't just the bottom line. The real bottom line is the health of our country and our world which means sharing profits with charities in order to properly educate children and adults worldwide.

You may not think about the indirect consequences of healthy vending machines. When consumers purchase healthy snacks from vending machines, they are more likely to buy that item in a larger size at the grocery store. This means more of these healthy items will be in people's homes and they will feed them to their kids. This small step, a vending machine purchase, can make a huge change in a person's life as well in the lives around them.

Healthy vending machines have many, many advantages over standard junk food vending machines. These revolutionary machines fight obesity by offering nutritional and organic items. They are Eco-friendly, high-tech, have higher profit margins, and educate the consumer at the point of sale. They have a social conscious that has been absent in the vending business. In fact, I can't think of a single negative aspect to these machines except that they have not yet replaced every traditional vending machine around the world. We have stood by for too long letting junk food be our only option. It's time to make a change. It's time to stand up for our health and for the health of our children. It's time for revolution.