How Easy Was It For Kids To Get Cigarettes From Vending Machines?
Back when there were vending machines that sold cigarettes, how easy was it to purchase them? How did they work? When did they get rid of them?
Tags: Cigarettes, Easy, From, Kids, Machines, Vending
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September 23rd, 2009 at 12:07 pm
As someone who lives in a country where cigarette vending machines are still legal (England) I have an excellent knowledge of cigarette vending machines as, I used to get cigarettes from them all the time. How easy it is to get them depends on where the machine is, sometimes they are really well hidden and out of sight. Other times they will be on sight for all to see so a child trying to purchase cigarettes from the machine will be caught by an adult or member of staff immediately.
Some places had cigarette machines that where quite visible, but the staff would turn a blind eye to you buying cigarettes as it would mean they’d be getting the money from it. Using them is basic enough, you have a choice of different types of cigarettes and when you;ve put your money in, the options will light up, you press th ebutton for the type you want and they will vend. One interesting point is that instead of 20 packs, most vending machines have 16 packs, why, I don’t know! They also cost alot more, but when you’re a kid, you don’t really mind paying a bit more because you can’t get them anywhere else. As a teen, there was a few places I’d always go to use cigarette machines, usually hotels, because they were either well hidden or the staff woulden’t pay attention to me using them. I was never actually once stopped from using a machine.
It’s still, over here, pretty easy for kids to use cigarette vending machines but I remember it was always nerve wrecking, the clunk of each coin going in thinking I was about to get caught!