More Vending Machines Take Plastic

If you haven't come across cashless vending yet, you will soon. By 2009, we'll be able to pay by credit card at over 50% of the vending machines in the United States.  Watch out!

Already, at thousands of machines across the country – located in airports, department stores, highway rest areas, ice rinks, zoos, and test sites galore -- you can use plastic to buy:

• Refreshments -- soda, snacks, ice cream, milk, and candy.
• Tickets – for the subway, bus, and train, with movie tickets not far behind.
• Electronic gadgets -- iPods, cellphones, digital cameras, DVDs, etc.
• Cigarettes (boo, hiss).

You can now swipe your credit card at "ShredStations" at Staples stores in Los Angeles and Phoenix, which will shred up to two pounds of confidential papers for you. In exchange for the $5 it will cost, you can receive a "Certificate of Destruction" announcing the successful shredding of your documents. While I don't see much of a future for the pricey ShredStations, there's a lot to be said for the convenience of some of the other on-the-go payments.

What worries me is how much easier it's going to be to make impulse purchases. From the industry's point of view, cashless vending is going to be terrific! We're expected to spend 50% more and of course, their profits are expected to go up, way up. They're going to tempt us with "stylish, user-friendly" equipment designed to part us from our money … fast. Just what we need.

Who "Needs" a Soda?
I don't know about you, but coming upon an "old-fashioned" vending machine with some of my nine grandkids in tow has been difficult enough. My attempts at talking with them about wants versus needs notwithstanding, when reason hasn't worked, I have eventually run out of spare change. Now that there's going to be an alternative to coins, it's going to be harder to say, "No!"

If you know you can trust yourself (or your kids) to use the new fangled machines wisely, great! But the rest of us are going to have to be really vigilant, or the combination of credit cards and vending machines will be a real budget buster.

Have you had any experience with swipe-and-go vending? Did you spend more? Please share your stories with us!