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Gold to go: The vending machine which dispenses precious metal

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  • Gold to go: The vending machine which dispenses precious metal

    Gold-dispensing machine in Westfield shopping centre offers shoppers the chance to pick up bars in varying weights



    Tucked away in an unassuming corner of the Westfield shopping centre in west London are a trio of vending machines. One dispenses cash, another soft drinks and water, but the final – and latest – one offers a much more expensive commodity: 24-carat gold. It's not exactly an impulse buy, is it?

    The Gold to go machine is manufactured and operated by German company, Ex Oriente Lux (light from the east). They've already taken their gold-vending ATMs across the world, with machines in Europe, North America, and the Emirates. The idea is simple: take the world's reliance on the idea of gold as a solid investment and then give them quick and easy access to it. It's so simple, in fact, you wonder why no one else has done it before. The machine updates its prices every 10 minutes, based on current gold spot prices.

    Back at Westfield, a young man steps up to the machine and peruses it for a couple of minutes, before whipping out his iPhone and snapping photos. Would he be interested in buying some gold? "Maybe," he answers coyly, as he walks away. "I'm going to do some maths and figure it out."

    Five minutes later, apparently satisfied, he returns. He's done some research, he says, brandishing his phone again. And? "Let's just say they're making a good profit," he laughs. He is Hussein Amiri, a 26-year-old Bahraini student, who's been living in the UK for the past eight years. "I'm going to buy one," he says. Why? "As a keepsake, a souvenir. It's quite cool."

    On offer are bars of different weights: 1g, 2.5g (with the distinctive London skyline engraved on its back) 5g, and a quarter of an ounce coin. For the flashier punter, there's a 250g bar, which costs in the region of £10,000. Hussein selects a 2.5g bar about half the length of his forefinger and pays £100 in cash. A couple of seconds later, a matt black gift box emerges from the machine. Inside it, the thin bar is sealed in plastic with an anti-counterfeit hologram sticker. There's some information about their money-back guarantee: Hussein has 10 days to ponder his purchase.

    More people wander over – a curious elderly man on his mobility scooter, a mum and daughter, a couple who think it's a machine on which to pay their parking ticket. Tom Wheeler, a 16-year-old visiting from Liverpool, says he'd happily buy some gold. "You see all those ads offering money for your gold. It seems like a sensible investment."

    One man wonders aloud if the company would consider buying gold rather than just selling it. "I'm more interested in ounces," he says, grandly.

    Two colleagues, Sayeh and Rafael, stop by. "You get water and chocolate from a machine, but gold?" an intrigued but unsure Sayeh asks. "It's a bit strange," she says.

    Muriel, 31, who works in the nearby BBC building, has similar qualms. "It's more than a trust thing. I like some human contact when I'm buying gold. It's an interesting idea, though."

    Gold to go: The vending machine which dispenses precious metal | Business | The Guardian
    No such thing as a good tax - Churchill

    To make mistakes is human. To blame someone else for your mistake, is strategic.

  • #2
    Wow!

    Proof positive that the price of gold is a bubble, AFAIC.

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    • #3
      The Ex Oriente Lux vending machines are nothing new, they've been around for two years or so.

      What's really new is that they are now getting competitors. In places like China.

      Comment


      • #4
        I bet there has to be a guard around for a machine like that - I'd worry about it being stolen if I was the owner of it.
        sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
        If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

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        • #5
          They're always put into indoors venues. Malls etc. The version with the 250g bar is usually located inside regular gold vendors.

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          • #6
            Krugerans!

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by kato View Post
              The Ex Oriente Lux vending machines are nothing new, they've been around for two years or so.

              What's really new is that they are now getting competitors. In places like China.
              You might get fool's gold from a Chinese gold vending machine...:scared:
              "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by snapper View Post
                Krugerans!
                You mean a coin-op gold vending machine that takes Krugerans?
                "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Someone told me this and I have not confirmed this since I don't want to but....

                  They used to have a vending machine for used female panties in Japan for perverts but was withdrawn because of public pressure?

                  Fact or fiction, I don't care but it sounds cool...

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by YellowFever View Post
                    They used to have a vending machine for used female panties in Japan for perverts but was withdrawn because of public pressure?
                    Actually they were just relabeled after technically being declared illegal in 1993.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by YellowFever View Post
                      Someone told me this and I have not confirmed this since I don't want to but....

                      They used to have a vending machine for used female panties in Japan for perverts but was withdrawn because of public pressure?

                      Fact or fiction, I don't care but it sounds cool...
                      are the panties hanging on hooks behind a glass window (like those potato chip vending machines) so the perv can choose which ones to get? - extra stained or regular...
                      sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
                      If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by USSWisconsin View Post
                        I bet there has to be a guard around for a machine like that - I'd worry about it being stolen if I was the owner of it.
                        No, there are no visible guards, but there may be some security not too far away.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by USSWisconsin View Post
                          are the panties hanging on hooks behind a glass window (like those potato chip vending machines) so the perv can choose which ones to get? - extra stained or regular...
                          No they are in packages. Some that have a picture of the "Girl that wore them" Usually a JAV or Schoolgirl Idol star.
                          Attached Files

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                          • #14
                            That is effed up.

                            Is that 10000 yen? Like $130?

                            Sickos.
                            "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by highsea View Post
                              That is effed up.

                              Is that 10000 yen? Like $130?

                              Sickos.
                              My thoughts exactly. Some strange people walking the streets.

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