# Death by vending machine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 10, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842 "2003-01-10T23:26:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OhthaHughManitee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OhthaHughManitee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OhthaHughManitee)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/1 "2003-01-10T23:26:28Z")
Today I was summoned by a damsel in distress. Her bag of nuts was dangling, but refused to drop. Before tipping the machine, she warned me that somebody was once killed performing the same maneuver. Can this be verified or is it an urban legend? ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/2 "2003-01-10T23:37:55Z")
WAG: It could’ve happened, some vending machines have those stickers that warn of it tipping and crushing you. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/3 "2003-01-11T00:07:02Z")
Not just an urban legend. The most notorious case was that of [Kevin Mackle](http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSLaw0107/11_coke-cp.html), a Canadian student killed by a tipped vending machine in 1998. ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/4 "2003-01-11T00:11:59Z")
I’m sure it’s possible. Those “danger of death” stickers are there for a reason: vending machines are HEAVY! ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/5 "2003-01-11T00:18:05Z")
I have never actually heard a verifiable story of anyone killed by a vending machine, but I’ve seen dozens of them with that little cartoon that warns you not to tip them and shows a little stick man about to get squished by one… ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Defense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Civil\_Defense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Defense)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/6 "2003-01-11T00:23:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Her bag of nuts was dangling, but refused to drop. I had a similar problem when I was a toddler. Tipping a vending machine did little to help my situation. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/7 "2003-01-11T00:29:43Z")
\ Q. Which are more expensive, beer nuts or deer nuts? A. Beer nuts. They are often a few dollars a pound, while deer nuts are under a buck. \ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/8 "2003-01-11T00:38:47Z")
I had a Pepsi machine delivered to my office once. These suckers are so heavy that the delivery guys don’t use a reqular furniture dolly. They have a special two piece dolly that lifts the unit straight up by its bottom. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/9 "2003-01-11T01:03:49Z")
- - - Note: there was a page listed at Portal Of Evil about a kid (Kevin Mackle IIRC) tht said there were at least 40 or 50 serious injuries (or was it deaths?). It had the horrible, trajic story of how the college was _negligent_ in not bolting a 700-lb vending machine to the floor, and how people _probably_ passed by and saw him underneath but didn’t do anything to help, and how the kid’s parents were demanding the vending machine companies come clean and fix their _obviusly faulty products_ and so on, as you can imagine. Everyone’s fault but their idiot kid’s. Anyway, the link in POE"s archives say “this site is currently down”… ~ ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/10 "2003-01-11T01:04:28Z")
It happened in my town. [A 15 year old](http://www.rivertowns.net/news1999/hsorival/week24/frontpage/np/LOCAA02.HTM) was killed when the machine hit him in 1997. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Defense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Civil\_Defense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Defense)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/11 "2003-01-11T01:10:06Z")
Well, while I agree that the kid was indeed at fault, it doesn’t take rocket science for vending machine manufacturers to realize that people are going to rock them to get their product if they fail to operate as designed. I do not believe that warning labels do not absolve them of the responsibility of designing an appropriate safeguard. It would be much more practical, and leave less room for liability, to fasten them more securely. I’m not saying the idiot kid wasn’t responsible for his own death, merely that it was entirely his fault. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-by-vending-machine/147842/12 "2003-01-11T02:59:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not saying the idiot kid wasn’t responsible for his own death, merely that it was entirely his fault. Uh…, yup, I agree.