Vending machines being rocked or tilted have been known to cause serious injury and death when the heavy machines fall over.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Vending_machines_at_hospital.jpg/220px-Vending_machines_at_hospital.jpg)
Users may rock machines in order to obtain free products, release stuck products, or obtain change.[2] The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found in a 1995 study that at least 37 deaths and 113 injuries had occurred due to falling vending machines from 1978 to 1995.[1][3] This resulted in a voluntary campaign from vending machine manufacturers to warn that rocking or tilting the machines could cause serious injury or death, including placing warning labels on all machines.[3][4][5] The U.S. military started putting warning labels on machines in the late 1980s after a number of incidents on military installations.[6]
The vast majority of injuries and deaths have happened to men.[7][8][9]
The argument that death by a vending machine is more likely to occur than something like winning the Powerball lottery, has drawn more attention to these unusual deaths.[10] One 2012 report states that the odds of winning Powerball are 1 in 175 million, versus 1 in 112 million of getting killed by a vending machine.[11] A similar comparison is often drawn to emphasize the rare occurrence of lethal shark attacks.[12] The deaths have also at times been associated with "Darwin Awards".[13]
In popular culture
editIn the Snowy Escape expansion pack to life-simulation video game The Sims 4, players can cause the sim to be crushed by a vending machine by performing the shake action, which will make the sim shake the vending machine. The sim may be crushed but will remain alive with a Battered and Bruised Moodlet. Should the sim perform the action again with this moodlet active, they will be crushed to death.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b (13 September 1998). Warning: Don't Jiggle That Vending Machine, Chicago Tribune
- ^ (1 January 1992). Soft-drink machine crushes woman who kicked it, Sun Journal (Associated Press)
- ^ a b (2 November 1995). CPSC, Soda Vending Machine Industry Labeling Campaign Warns Of Deaths And Injuries, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
- ^ Morford, Mark (18 July 2001). Death By Vending Machine / Warning: Large heavy appliances can be hazardous to your health, San Francisco Chronicle
- ^ (10 February 1995). Teen-Ager Crushed To Death Under Vending Machine, Orlando Sentinel
- ^ (2 January 1996). Newest Safety tip: Tilting a vending machine can be hazardous to your health, Toledo Blade
- ^ Abraham, Marc (20 January 2015). The (mainly) men who have fallen under sway of drinks vending machines, The Guardian
- ^ Soda Pop Vending Machine Injuries, JAMA. 1988;260(18):2697-2699
- ^ Cosio, Michael Q.; Taylor, Gregg W. (June 1992). "Soda Pop Vending Machine Injuries: An Update". Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. 6 (2): 186–189. doi:10.1097/00005131-199206000-00009. ISSN 0890-5339. PMID 1602339. S2CID 2499640.
- ^ Miller, Sara G. (12 January 2016). Will You Win Powerball? A Vending Machine Death Is More Likely, Live Science
- ^ Memott, Mark (28 November 2012). Winning Powerball? It's More Likely A Vending Machine Will Kill You, NPR
- ^ Docter-Loeb, Hannah (2022-07-27). "Do Vending Machines Really Kill More Americans Than Sharks Every Year?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 2023-11-09.
- ^ McGehee, Lucy. Cause of Death: Vending Machine, edspace.american.edu (2018)
- ^ Schusste, Mark (2022-11-23). "The Sims 4: How to cause Death by Vending Machine". Best Gaming Tips. Retrieved 2023-11-07.