Kawaii Sanrio Stickers in the Vending Machine at the Arcadia Mall in California
Millennials remember these machines that dispense stickers, toys, and other little trinkets
When was the last time you saw a coin machine that dispenses stickers or temporary tattoos? If you've been to your local mall, chances are you've seen one there. These trinket dispensing machines used to be extremely popular back in the early 2000s. If you are a millennial, there's a high chance that you've encountered one of these machines and used your change to get something from one. I recently saw several of these machines at the Arcadia Mall in California.
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with these machines. For a quarter, you could easily obtain some candy (possibly expired, who knows how long they've been sitting in there), little ninja figures, sticky hands, parachute soldiers, plastic animals, and the list goes on. Stickers and tattoos were generally 50 cents. Most of the time, it was exciting to see new stickers or toys being introduced into the machines. Other times, it was extremely sad to see your favorite trinket be replaced by something super lame (like a pet rock or something, no offense to anyone who likes those..it's just not my cup of tea). I remember going to Albertsons and asking my dad if I could get a Britney Spears sticker every time we passed by the machine near the door. As a kid, I looked forward to going to Albertsons because of that.
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My Melody sticker in a cardboard sleeve |
Where are the toy and sticker vending machines now?
Over the years, I began seeing fewer of these machines. They used to be everywhere. I would see them at grocery stores, hobby stores, liquor stores, mall stores, and more. Nowadays I only really run into them at the mall. Intially, these trinket vending machines were being replaced by other toy dispensing machines called Gachapon. The concept is the same, you put coins into a machine and get a random toy, figure, keychain, etc. The trinkets were in sturdier-looking capsules, almost like an egg shape. However, these machines generally cost you 1 dollar each. These Gachapon machines were popular for a while, but they didn't last long. I thought it made sense because as novel as these new capsule toys were, they were also more expensive than their former counterpart.
They still exist today
These quarter vending machines still exist today. However, they are nowhere near as popular as they once were. Today, I purchased a Sanrio sticker for 50 cents. I'm surprised that the price remained the same, even after all these years. I ended up getting My Melody (pictured above in the article). I gave 50 cents to my husband and he proceeded to purchase a temporary tattoo. He got a skull samurai tattoo (not bad, I guess). The machine was located in front of a hobby store inside the Arcadia mall on the second floor, in case anyone was interested.
What are your thoughts on these machines? Do you remember these machines? What was your favorite thing to get from them?
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