See queries. Not only chronologically–I don’t even know when Tampax (or equivalent) was invented, but where do you see them nowadays?
Me, no clue about female points-of-sale, but I’ve seen them in movies. I’m sure the number of condom machines in public bathrooms is much lower than it used to be. In my mind they’re associated with highway gasoline station restrooms and lower-rent bars, but I don’t drive and my social life is pretty limited now.
And of course sanitary aids for menstruation and prophylactics occupy different scales of need, so to speak, so the places for the machines have different social issues.
While driving across the US in 1959 with family(I was 15), noticed gas stations in Nevada had condom machines(for prevention of disease only!) in the men’s room. There was also slot machines in the restroom. Fascinating to this city kid.
Condom vending machines are still pretty common in men’s rooms in gas stations, truckstops, and bars / clubs. I rarely, if ever, see them in any other locations.
I used to see them regularly in the 1960s and 1970s in various states, as you say mostly in gas stations and truck stops. Back in those days condoms could be bought in drugstores but weren’t on open display. You had to ask the pharmacist for them. So for a kid that was too embarrassed to ask for them, the machines were the easiest place to get them.
I don’t see many tampon/napkin machines anymore. Usually, the ones I do have been vandalized to the point the establishments don’t stock them anymore. The exception is a few of the restrooms in our two local hospitals.
The only condom machine I’ve seen is outside the restrooms at a local family-oriented pub downtown. Perhaps I’ve seen others waaay back in the day but I honestly can’t remember.
In about the 60s, there was a condom vending machine in virtually every men’s public bathroom in the USA. There were vendors who installed them, and the owner of the public establishment had nothing to lose and a small commission to gain, so it was hard to find a restroom that didn’t have one.
Seems like its been a really, really long time since I’v e seen one. Maybe there were only a few vendors, and it was not a profitable proposition, so they all went broke.
I was just thinking the other day that I hadn’t seen a condom vending machine in a men’s room in a long time. I used to see them in bars and gas stations pretty often. But now that you can get trusted brands in the grocery store or drug store so easily, I guess the demand for condoms of questionable origin in gas stations has dwindled.
I saw them in dance clubs in Dundalk (Ireland) in '83, multiple locations in Spain in the '80s and '90s; some locations had condoms in the women’s section but it was unusual. Nowadays I see those vending machines in the bathrooms of highway rest areas but only if their general store doesn’t have a hygiene section. I think we’ve managed to strengthen our men to the point where the vision of a bightly-colored plastic pack that says EVAX doesn’t make them faint dead any more. That, or they don’t even know what the heck EVAX stands for, which might be.
My observation in the UK is that these vending machines are only found in places with some kind of security. A machine loaded with coins on a lavatory wall is just too tempting for many men, especially if they are drunk.
There is now pressure around the world to put them [free] in High Schools; partly to prevent STD’s and partly in the hope of reducing teenage pregnancy.
My impression is that that most pubs around here have them, though the smarter the premises, the more likely it is to be working and stocked. I’ve seen them in restaurants and hotels, too.
There’s a machine in the gent’s of my local supermarket that sells condoms, lube, “performance enhancement” pills, and vibrating cock rings.
A little off topic, but has anyone seen a cologne dispenser recently? I’m talking about the type where you insert a coin, push a plunger and get a schpritz of Brut or somesuch (they usually had three brands, one of which was always Brut).
Being somewhat late to the party it took me a while to realize that the cologne dispenser was there to boost the chances of using the condom you just purchased from the next machine over. Or at least take your money in the hopes of making it so.
In the 60s I drove through 48 sates, and my observations were not restricted to Eddies Mobilgas station down the street from me. It is not a good idea to tell people reporting what they observed is ABSOLOUTELY NOT TRUE.
Cigarette vending machines have been banned outright in many countries. In other places, including the U.S., they are only permitted in places in which minors are prohibited from entering.
Machines in restrooms are too easily vandalized and stolen from. Nowadays, your local convenience store is likely to have those items out front along with the $3, two pill ibuprofin packs, chapstick and Nyquil.
Also, with the profusion of CVS, Walgreen and other chain stores, it’s just too easy to get for a local store to stock stuff likely to age-out on it’s shelves.
I did a good bit of traveling around the country in the 60s and early 70s, and it certainly isn’t true that there was a condom machine in “virtually every public men’s bathroom in the US.” Many public bathrooms lacked them, and in my experience seeing one was the exception rather than the rule. Your “observation” is contradicted by my observation.
I see condoms and tissue paper packets for sale in men’s room vending machines in Korea, mainly at train stations and shopping centers, less commonly in bars. I don’t recall seeing them in China, but convenience stores that carry them are ubiquitous in both countries.
In the 60s I saw them only rarely in mens’ rooms but the rest room at local drive-in had one, and a cologne spritzer, too.
In 1980 my girl and I saw Little Darlings and there was a scene where the gang of girls who having the contest went into a gas station mens’ room at a to attack a condom vendor, winding up with the while thing coming off of the wall allowing them to haul it off and bash it open at their leisure. There was no dialog in the scene and no close-ups of the machine’s labels when it was intact so my GF asked, “What on earth is that?” I looked at her a moment. “I guess you got only Kotex machines in your bathrooms; it’s for condoms.” A moment later the machine spilled its guts and they gleefully made off with handsful of wrapped rubbers, including an eight-old who blew one up like a balloon.