# Coke machine stupidity **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-machine-stupidity/364342 "2006-07-13T16:30:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-machine-stupidity/364342/1 "2006-07-13T16:30:51Z")
All I wanted was a cool refreshing bottle of Coca Cola to accompany my PB&J. I walked up to the machine, grumbling at the fact that the price had recently been bumped up from $1.00/bottle to $1.25 Oh well… I dug deep into my pocket and withdrew a handful of nickels and dimes. Since I wanted to get rid of the most weight possible I started feeding the machine my nickels. “Credit: .45” Good. I then started putting in dimes. The machine wouldn’t take them. They went straight through and fell in the coin return slot. Fine. Gimme back my nickels then. I pressed “Coin Return” with absolutely no effect. Ok. So it doesn’t like dimes, but I didn’t want to lose my credit. Where can I get some quarters? I spied the snack machine to the right of the Coke machine: after risking a single dime to test its own coin return, I deposited five dimes, hit the coin return button, and was rewarded with two quarters. Bingo! I inserted my two quarters in the Coke machine. “Credit: .95” Ok. No more nickels, so I figured I would just convert five more dimes into quarters, and so I did. I deposited two more quarters. “Credit: 1.45” Now I pressed the button for my beverage of choice. “Please deposit exact change” WTF? The “Use Exact Change” light wasn’t even lit. I leaned on the “Coke” button again, hoping I could convince it to give me the darned thing and keep the change. Instead, it spit out 5 quarters. “Credit: .00” Huh? Having just been calmly relieved of my extra .20, I brazenly dropped the quarters back into the machine and purchased my beverage. Got a good laugh out of it, so I feel I did come out ahead in the end. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-machine-stupidity/364342/2 "2006-07-13T20:33:12Z")
How long did it take you to work that post out? So many coins… ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-machine-stupidity/364342/3 "2006-07-13T21:02:42Z")
> [@LunaV](#): > > How long did it take you to work that post out? > > So many coins… Only about as long as the original transaction took (5min) – a short time to write a post, but a long time to stand in front of a maching fussing around with dimes. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-machine-stupidity/364342/4 "2006-07-13T21:07:13Z")
Vending machines and printers… two things that realy should have all the kinks worked out of them by now. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-machine-stupidity/364342/5 "2006-07-13T21:22:59Z")
The machine was trying to subtly tell you that the only proper drink with a PB&J is _milk_, not a Coke.