Do Vending Machines Only Take Quarters? Nickels, Pennies, Dimes
Vending machines offer great convenience when it comes to buying stuff on the go. They’re also becoming more and more flexible with the payment methods they accept as many vending machines these days accept not only quarters and bills, but also credit and debit cards.
That said, not a lot of people are familiar with such advancements and they still think that quarters are the only acceptable way to pay at a vending machine.
This brings us to today’s question: do vending machines only take quarters?
No, vending machines don’t only take quarters. Most modern vending machines are designed to accept various types of coins, paper money, credit cards, and debit cards. Some vending machines will even let you pay using digital platforms such as Apple Pay.
To help you better understand how vending machines work, we’re taking a closer look at the different payment methods you can use and the different types of money a machine can accept.
READ MORE: Do Vending Machines Accept Dollar Coins?
Do Vending Machines Only Take Quarters?
Once upon a time, the answer would’ve been yes as old models of vending machines were designed to accept coins only, particularly quarters.
The reason for this was that most vendors would price their products at a quarter or its multiples. Not to mention, quarters were the most common form of change among the population.
As such, designing vending machines to accept quarters only ensured that most folks would be able to use them. This also meant the machine wouldn’t have to give back change, which made the process generally smoother.
However, with the progress of the economy and the shifting of the public towards the use of bills card payments, and even digital wallets, vending machines had to keep up.
This is why vending machines nowadays accept various coin denominations, bill denominations, credit cards, and debit cards. Some even accept digital payment methods via smartphones.
Do Vending Machines Accept Nickels?
While this depends on the particular vending machine you’re planning to use, the coin slot on vending machines typically accepts nickels as well as quarters.
Also, if you know that the vending machine takes more than one type of coin (for example, quarters and dimes), then it probably takes nickels too.
The chances of successfully paying for products from a vending machine using nickels are especially high when the machine is selling inexpensive items such as soda or candy bars.
Not only can a vending machine accept nickels, but it can also take a combination of nickels and bills if necessary to fulfill the payment. For example, if you want to buy a can of soda that costs $1.10, you can insert a 1 dollar bill into the machine along with 2 nickels to add up the total price.
Do Vending Machines Accept Pennies?
Some old models of vending machines may still accept pennies, but these machines aren’t becoming less and less rare. Newer models of vending machines, however, are designed to accommodate modern forms of payment, so they don’t accept pennies anymore.
As such, if you try to insert a penny into a newer vending machine, there are 2 possibilities:
- The machine will give you the coin back via the refund slot.
- The machine will treat the penny as a “slug” (a fake coin) and will keep the coin without letting you use it. This is the more common case.
Do Vending Machines Take Dimes?
Once again, this depends on the particular vending machine you’re intending to use. Usually, the coin slot on vending machines is designed to take dimes as well as quarters and nickels.
As we mentioned above, if you know that the vending machine takes more than one type of coin (for example, quarters and nickels), then it likely accepts dimes too.
The chances that a vending machine would take dimes paying are higher when the products sold are relatively inexpensive such as sodas, chips, or candy bars.
Not only can a vending machine take dimes, but it can also let you pay using a combination of nickels and bills. For example, if you want to buy a can of soda that costs $1.10, you can insert a 1 dollar bill into the machine along with 1 dime to add up the total price.
Do Vending Machines Take 1 Dollar Coins?
Whether a vending machine accepts dollar coins or not mostly depends on the owner. If the vending machine has a coin slot, then it probably takes dollar coins. However, it’s up to the owner to program it to accept or reject this type of coin.
While the 2005 Presidential $1 Coin Act relays that the dollar coin can be legally used to pay at vending machines, the numbers of vending machines accepting dollar coins are declining since the dollar coin is less commonly used among the public.
Do Vending Machines Take Bills?
Yes, modern models of vending machines accept bills without issues. They’re even designed to take various bill denominations, the most common being the 1, 2, and 5 dollar bills.
That said, more and more vending machines nowadays are programmed to accept higher denominations such as 10 and 20 dollar bills because of the increasing prices.
Any higher bill than that will usually get rejected by the bill recognition mechanism inside the vending machine and will just be rolled back out.
Do Vending Machines Accept Card Payments?
This depends on the model of the vending machine, but it’s becoming more and more common for vending machines to accept card payments since the public is heavily shifting towards not carrying cash around.
Vending machines with card readers installed will typically accept payments via credit cards and debit cards. The procedure is pretty easy to figure out and is surely more convenient than using cash.
Wrap Up
So, do vending machines only take quarters? Not in the slightest.
Most vending machines nowadays are designed to take different coins, bills, credit cards, and debit cards. Some vending machines will also accept payment digital wallets such as Apple Pay
