Turns out you can sell just about anything in a vending machine, and entrepreneurs everywhere are cashing in on the craze. Live bait, art, socks, sushi, poetry and even pet roaches are all available at your convenience.

The live crab vending machine in a subway station in Nanjing, China took a while to catch on but as many as 200 live hairy crabs are being sold to commuters daily. Meanwhile, two British companies are coming to the rescue of damsels in footwear distress by dispensing Rollasoles and Afterheels, cheap flats that are sold with matching bags for toting painful heels home. According to the Huffington Post, these flat shoe vending machines are selling out in England’s popular nightclubs.

Hankering for a fresh baguette but the bakeries are all closed? Hit the “bakery of tomorrow”.  French baker Jean-Louis Hecht claims to be “answering a real need” for hungry night owls; thousands of steaming freshly baked baguettes are being purchased from a machine in Paris’s 19th arrondissement and another in Hombourg-Haut. Shocking for a country where bread baking is sacred?

The Swiss and Danish duo Yarisal and Kublitz have even turned a vending machine into interactive art with their Anger Release Machine. Put your money in, and out comes a piece of china, yours to smash until your blood stops boiling.

No money but in need of a shopping fix? The Swap-o-matic in Brooklyn, NY allows participants to earn “purchasing” credits by contributing items. Okay, it’s a point rather than money being made on this one but it’s seriously inventive use of technology to make our planet greener.  According to the website www.swap-o-matic.com “it’s fun . . . and it promotes recycling and reusing.”

See a vending machine opportunity in your business’s future?

Submitted by Jan Napier, Find her at www.jnapier.ca