Vending Machine Anthropology

Words: 880
Pages: 4

A second unhealthy desire or obsession that has long been condemned by any traditional culture is theft. An episode of MacGyver in the early 1990s shows the main character funneling salt water into the coin slot of a vending machine (Mikkelson 2014). The salt water conducts electricity and “flips” the switches that release product and release money. Kids and kleptomaniacs alike saw the episode or heard about the idea and started sneaking around their local vending machines, many getting the glorious payout they desired. Of course, vending machine manufacturers were quick to take action and redesign the panel with the coin slot relocated far from these switches and older vending machines were affixed with diverters in their coin slots that sent any entering liquids to where they could do no harm. …show more content…
In addition to those still attempting the salt water trick and failing, the Internet is filled with instructions on how to cheat vending machines using strings and tape and money with holes in it. Theft and robbery has always been around and will continue to be a presence in our lives but the temptation that many people mostly ignore can become too much when the victim of the act is no longer a young scared cashier or smart and intimidating manager, but is seemingly just the silent box lacking consciousness. When no one stops to consider the people that lose when a vending machine is stolen from or broken, thieves and hackers take action, collecting undeserved product and profit and gaining satisfaction at the sorrow of others. A counterculture of robbers and success with little work rises up against commonly accepted culture of working for the money to pay for a product and being civil to