Quote:
Originally Posted by SummitPond
John
A cousin has quite the collection. He does have a hard time finding bottles to stock his machine.
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I remember when they installed the first "coke machine" at the local Tenneco gas station. People lined up to try it out and Mr. Stanley, the gas station owner, couldn't keep it filled. Customers complained that the coke wasn't cold, he complained that there was no way to collect the 2 cent bottle deposit and he was losing money on every sale....
Before that, he had an "ice chest with cokes and blocks of ice stashed around the coke bottles" and a cigar box nailed to a post beside the ice chest. Strictly on the honor system and he seldom lost money. Put in the "coke machine" and suddenly he was losing his bottle deposit... Hmmmmmm
Then, about 2 years later, Coke went up to 6 cents a bottle and they modified the machines by adding a coin box on the front. You had to put a penny in the box, then put your nickel in the slot to get it to dispense your bottle of coke. Do it in reverse order and you lost your nickel. I suppose that was the way Mr. Stanley made up for the losses in deposits
