# Newspaper dispenser **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501 "2005-08-24T22:19:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/1 "2005-08-24T22:19:05Z")
Not being american, I have never physically encountered one of those Flip-up newspaper dispensers that I’ve seen in movies and TV. Are they still used today? I could never see what there was to stop someone stealing loads of newspapers. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/2 "2005-08-24T22:21:20Z")
I’ve never seen the kind you describe (except in movies & TV shows). I’m used to the ones where the door opens downward. There’s no way to prevent the theft of all the papers in those, either. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/3 "2005-08-24T22:23:24Z")
Yes, they are still used almost everywhere. While I have seen some fancy ones that only allow you to take one paper, the vast majority don’t have that mechanism. You can take the whole pile if you wish but most people have little need for more than one copy and are aware that they would be stealing directly from the person that fills the machine rather than a large corporation. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/4 "2005-08-24T22:25:21Z")
Yes, they are still around. I’m not sure how many newspapers one holds- so I’m not sure that one could take “loads” of newspapers from them for the price of one. Mostly I think the thing that keeps people stealing additional papers is a lack of interest in acquiring more than one daily paper at a time. If the owners of the machines didn’t find that most people take the number of papers they pay for- I doubt they’d keep using them. (Or else they’d change the locations). On preview- I’m used to the door opening down like \*\*Mr. Blue Sky[/b} said, so maybe I don’t know the OP asked about. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/5 "2005-08-24T22:30:06Z")
I wasn’t clear on the “flip up” thing either. All of the machines I know of have a door that flips down. It is still the same idea I believe. ---
**Author:** ![JimMacMillan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JimMacMillan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimMacMillan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/6 "2005-08-24T22:32:34Z")
I see [these](http://www.kjack.com/kj200.htm) in one form or another from California to Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/7 "2005-08-24T22:38:44Z")
[Here’s the kind I see most.](http://www.veniceflorida.com/features/images/newsvending.jpg) [The kind used by USA Today](http://www.kjack.com/coin_racks/kj25_big.jpg) [I’ve seen one of these recently.](http://www.creativemag.com/images2002/cwbellatrix.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/8 "2005-08-24T22:49:22Z")
Yes, they’re all around here certainly. I read the _Washington Post_ about every other day, and usually buy my issue from one of these machines, next to the diner where I’m having breakfast or lunch. Aside from restaurants, they’re also fairly common in front of grocery stores. My only complaints about these machines are: [ul] [li]Like other vending machines, they sometimes refuse to acknowledge that you’ve paid the right fare, and are now perfectly entitled to receive your purchase. Unlike most vending machines, they don’t seem to be very good about returning your fare when you push the “Return” button. Very frustrating. I get ripped off about one time in thirty, I would guess.[/li][li]The _Post_ dispensers say that you can use “any coin combination” — although I note that they don’t accept pennies, dollars, or half-dollar coins, nor do they make change.[/li][li]When the machine is opened, the papers aren’t very well shielded from the elements. And so on a rainy day the papers become wetter and wetter as the door is repeatedly opened. Bad luck to you if you get stuck with the last paper, the one on display in the door, which will probably be an illegible slab of disgusting mush by the time you get to it.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/9 "2005-08-24T22:55:00Z")
It’s the honor system as far as not taking more than one. I know of one case where it was OK to take several. I was a paperboy when I was a kid…it was still a kid’s job. The newspaper treated you as a contractor so they had no problems with child labor or minimum wage laws. Anyway, we were managed by a “district manager”. Same guy filled the retail machines and collected the money from them. Occassionaly a bundle would be short 1-2 papers. And sometimes the less-than-a-bundle papers would get miscounted when delivered to me. You had to pay for each paper, so you never wanted any extras. (customers payed set monthly rate, but paper-boy paid for each paper, and premium for sunday extras) So we could call the district manager, or the newspaper, and they’d fix it…3 hours later somebody’d show up with the papers, meanwhile customers are calling me. OR we could go to the local 7-11, pay for one paper, take however many we needed, and then leave note for DM next day telling him what we did, and he’d leave money for the paper we had to buy. Much faster for us, and much less hassle for him. Anyway, if you ever saw a kid on a paper bike pulling 4 papers from the machine, he was probably NOT stealing them. Even though most of the carriers seem to be adults now, I imagine they mostly use the same system. ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/10 "2005-08-24T23:12:21Z")
I remember seeing one in Dumb ANd Dumber, which always sticks in my mind; Jim Carrey tries to buy what I believe is a porno mag, but drops his wallet into the machine, trapping it. If such a nudie-mag dispenser existed round here,the “Mischievious” little devils would rob every one, selling them on to their mates. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/11 "2005-08-24T23:17:36Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > I remember seeing one in Dumb ANd Dumber, which always sticks in my mind; Jim Carrey tries to buy what I believe is a porno mag, but drops his wallet into the machine, trapping it. If such a nudie-mag dispenser existed round here,the “Mischievious” little devils would rob every one, selling them on to their mates. Well, perverts run free on both sides of the ocean you know. That is why we don’t have have our nudie magazines in those things either. That was just a movie gag. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/12 "2005-08-24T23:42:23Z")
What it basically comes down to is that, since most people don’t steal extra newspapers anyways, the expense (including, presumably, extra maintinance required) of a more theft-proof machine is not worth the cost of the papers stolen (remember, they sell them to the consumers for around $0.75, which means it probably cost them a lot less to produce, especially since folks pay them to put advertisements in the paper to begin with) ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/13 "2005-08-25T00:42:59Z")
FWIW the newspaper for whom I worked referred to these dispensers as “Honor Boxes.” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/14 "2005-08-25T00:50:11Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > FWIW the newspaper for whom I worked referred to these dispensers as “Honor Boxes.” Quite a few places in Britain, particularly at rail stations, operate genuine honour boxes…take your paper from the shop, and drop the money into the box as you leave. They’ve figured that the loss from dishonesty is minimal. ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/15 "2005-08-25T00:58:26Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > Are they still used today? Yes in one form or another. > [@](#): > > I could never see what there was to stop someone stealing loads of newspapers. You have to buy one to get the door open. Why steal more as they would be hard to sell and you arent going to read a second copy! ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/16 "2005-08-25T01:40:57Z")
> [@Bytegeist](#): > > Yes, they’re all around here certainly. I read the _Washington Post_ about every other day, and usually buy my issue from one of these machines, next to the diner where I’m having breakfast or lunch. Aside from restaurants, they’re also fairly common in front of grocery stores. Bytegeist, Does the Post still have a little stamp saying ‘If newspaper not purchased from vending machine, call 202-XXX-XXXX?’ When I was still living there we had a few enterprising young men who raided the boxes and sold the Post at the bottom of the Dupont Circle station escalators. They usually sold out pretty quick. After all, they provided change and when you paid a quarter, you always got a paper. Unfortunately the business folks felt that selling out two dozen newspapers for a quarter was not terribly profitable and put the stamp on the papers to discpurage the activity. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/17 "2005-08-25T02:06:03Z")
Way back when I was living in the back woods of Westchester I used to get the _Wall Street Journal_ from the honor box at the train station and read it on the way to work. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/18 "2005-08-25T02:11:20Z")
I forgot to add that my local corner store across from my apartment has stacks of papers out front in the morning, with a bucket to throw your change in to pay for them. Seems to work pretty well, although one time a local crackhead attempted to abscond with the bucket. The shopkeeper thwacked him over the head with a broom. Never tried that again. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/19 "2005-08-25T04:18:12Z")
Since someone else started, I’ll mention another scene from a movie that features a paperbox. In _Roxanne_, Steve Martin’s character, C.D., is happily walking down a street. He sticks a coin into a paper box, and pulls out a paper. He reads the headline, screams in horror, hurriedly puts another coin in the box, and sticks the paper _back in_, then continues his walk. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501/20 "2005-08-25T09:42:39Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Well, perverts run free on both sides of the ocean you know. That is why we don’t have have our nudie magazines in those things either. That was just a movie gag. I saw nudie mag dispensers in Las Vegas. Then again, they were all empty. Hmm… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/newspaper-dispenser/318501.md?page=2)