PICTURED: The Vancouver skyline. That’s a lot of apartments. That’s a lot of vending machines… Or is it?
By Ian Reynolds-Young, source: theprovince.com
Why not instal vending machines in apartment blocks? It seems like such an obvious idea, so why’s nobody thought of it?
Or have they thought about it and dismissed it?
There’s a fella in Canada right now, Jason Moyal, who’s trying to test the waters: he wants to offer residents of apartment buildings the opportunity to buy a selection of staples, from milk and eggs, to coffee and condoms, from vending machines installed on the premises.
Mr. Moyal, apparently a former financier, has raised initial funding ‘to produce a vending machine line’ in Vancouver. Similar business concepts are wall-to-wall in Japan, but not yet in North America and certainly not here in the UK. He claims that his proposed machine, with grocery dispensing capability, would be the first of its type in Canada.
Mr. Moyal has told The Province magazine that he raised $35,000 from investors to produce his vending machine, which he hopes commit soon to field trials.
That doesn’t sound lie enough money to design a machine from scratch does it?
If the venture is profitable in Vancouver, Mr. Moyal says his backers are ready to finance a national roll-out. “We’re looking to go into areas where it is colder, like where it’s 30 degrees below and people don’t even want to go outside,” he said.
Fair enough – but we can see the idea being welcomed in well-heeled, city-central apartment blocks where the fear factor, especially if you’re a woman, isn’t the weather, it’s the scallies you might encounter between your block and the Sainsbury’s Local next time you run out of milk…
What do you think, dear readers? A goer or a gonner?
I think I’ll get on the phone to Sainsbury’s to see if they want to get into the ‘vending at home’ business with me…
