"Chris Tolley" wrote in message
.. .
Chris Read wrote:
The problem with the present business model for vending machines, is
that the machines have become *too* reliable. Going back 20 years
(remembering childhood trips with grandparents who liked to spoil
me), the machines were programmed to 'eat the money but not dispense
the product' for one in three attempts. It was like a cruel lottery,
but the profit margins must have been good.

35 years ago, I knew of a vending machine that was rather generous from
time to time. It just dispensed ordinary chocolate bars. However, it was
stuck on a wall in such a position as to get the full afternoon sun in
midsummer. This, of course, meant that the chocolate melted. It also
meant that when your money had gone in the slot and you pulled the tray
out, two melted bars occupied the space of one solid bar.
--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p12598512.html
(37 219 and 37 220 at Gloucester Central, 8 Jun 1985)

We had one about the same time that was very generous once and didnt ask for
any money. To a bunch of 13 yr olds this was a delight. A week later we all
had to receive a questioning and lecture from 2 detectives at our local
police station.

It must have been a socially well-connected machine.
Simon