origin of the vending box?
 

The term "vending box" has always seemed odd to me, and so has the purpose of said item. Were they originally just intended to be loaded into trading card vending machines? If so, it seems they far out-lived that use, as growing up in the 80s, I don't ever remember seeing a card vending machine that was loaded with one set's worth of cards, rather they were always assorted cards from different years/brands.

Can anyone enlighten me on the origins of the trading card vending box?

Yes, they were.

The vending machines that I remember were on a stand and had 3 racks (columns or whatever they're called) that were loaded with cards. Each dispensed cards, so you would just put your coin in one of the dispensers, pull the lever and out came the cards.

I remember seeing them up to the early '90s. Some card shop somewhere probably still has one.

Here's a pic of a newer one.

http://www.vendweb.com/images/Used%2...%20Machine.jpg

The K mart near where I lived in Jr High had one of those machines. It was cool, but the cards were more expensive than buying packs. Plus it usually had non-sports in it and football cards well into summer.

I'm pretty sure the machines are still around as the machines that dispense stickers in a cardboard folder. The folder is about 2 cards thick. I don't recall how many cards we'd get but I think it was about 2-3 for a nickel.

Steve B

We still vend here in the woods
 

We still have a vending machine in town at the card shop. Several chase cards are added. The kids pump quarters into them. The parents empty their pockets. The owner smiles.

Question which is better? A $10 modern pack with nothing of value inside or a $10 roll of quarters put into the slot with the same result. I'm not sure, so I stick to vintage cards.

So were some of the earliest vending machines the Exhibit and Mutoscope machines? I bought a set of the Mutoscope pinup cards that came from a "vending" box. I assumed these cards were dispensed from a machine. Is that true?

Here's some pics of the exhibit machines being offered in Legendary's latest.
Was there anything before these?

I personally don't remember those vending machines showing up until the late 80's and the vending cases were printed much earlier than that.

It sure would be nice to now how and why these vending cases were made. Did Topps have vending machine that they controled and sent out to hold the cards, otherwise seems strange that they would package the cards such as this with out having a way of knowing they would sell as vending cases.

It wasn't til the late 80's when I started seeing vending machines that offered sportscards and they were made by independent companies.

I think it would be fun to know the exact reason why vending cases were made. Is there a forum that is heavy into Topps?

Lee

Old vending & exhibit machines make a great display. The 2 merged in this refurbished one that I picked
up from Huggins & Scott auctions, it fits nicely into my crowded office.
Its about 5' tall and weighs over 50lbs

http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1967806_n.jpg

The one at a K mart I mentioned above would have been 74-77.

The machines could sell other stuff in the folders, so they weren't always card vending machines, and I'm pretty sure weren't controlled by Topps.

Typically someone would buy the machine, either a store owner or more often a person or company that operated the machines. The machine operator would find places to set the machines up and the owner of the location would get a cut, usually 50%.

A difficult business to get into, as most operators guarded their territory somewhat agressively. By the late 70's many of the same places were doing videogames too. And some operators had ....ahem... connections.

Most of the gumball machine trinkets etc came from wholesalers, and they were probably the primary customers for vending boxes.

I remember going to a wholesaler with dad to get prizes for a church fair game. A whole business built on thousands of plastic kazoos, spider rings, etc.
They're still out there. One of the card shops I used to go to had a primary business of selling that sort of stuff.

Somewhere I have an empty vending box from the 60's. I've wondered sometimes if the vending companies were the reason behind smaller cards in 57.

Steve B

Interesting stuff guys, I knew the Exhibits were out of vending machines but had never seen or hears of Topps cards coming out of vending machines until the late 80's.

Steve, Those type of vending machines have been around as long as I remember but usually had stickers in them. It would be cool to see a picture of the inside of a store from the 60's with one of these machines dispensing the cars.

Lee

Here is a card from a vending machine w/ a bonus vending star stamp.
When disbursed, it could be cashed in at the store for a prize, probably an ice cream, candy bar or a pack of cards.
SGC wasn't familiar w/ it to label it as such, so they lowered the grade because of the stamping.

http://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/1251327062.jpghttp://www.qualitycards.com/pictures/1251327062b.jpg

Neat stuff Jay, but how do you know it is not some childs stamp? Is there an article or anything that tells about these vending machines in stores?

Not to question what you have offered, this subject just has perked my interest.

Lee

Lee, that's the thing, there is no definitive proof, and even if there was.
Anyone can replicate the stamp and create their own. I won it in a Sterling lot
for low $ because I've heard about those vending stamps years ago and thought it would be cool to have.
I have not seen any listed anywhere since. If legit (which it probably is) the majority would have been cashed in to the retailer.

Thanks for the input, Jay. The story makes sense.

lee

And I'll bet most of the prize cards got reused.

When a place had a vending machine/videogame onsite there would be occasional problems with a machine not accepting a quarter, especially one that was badly worn or damaged. Later on with videogames the game could have a problem and need to be restarted.

And the business would usually have a handful of marked quarters as replacements. Usually painted or covered with nail polish. The machine operator would remove these and return them to the shop and not count them as part of the take the machine made. Good operators would also use it as a way of telling if the machine had problems.

Steve B

And I'll bet most of the prize cards got reused.

When a place had a vending machine/videogame onsite there would be occasional problems with a machine not accepting a quarter, especially one that was badly worn or damaged. Later on with videogames the game could have a problem and need to be restarted.

And the business would usually have a handful of marked quarters as replacements. Usually painted or covered with nail polish. The machine operator would remove these and return them to the shop and not count them as part of the take the machine made. Good operators would also use it as a way of telling if the machine had problems.

Steve B

I can tell you that vending was every bit as big a part of the marketing for Topps as retail when they started selling gum and then cards in the 1930's and 40's. After WW2, when raw materials and distribution networks were flowing again, around mid 1949, vending machines and distribution for them (automatic merchandising in the parlance of the time) were proliferating at exponential rates.

There are known Topps vending packs from as early as 1949 and as pointed out above, other companies, especially ESCO, were into this for a long, long time. The market though started to change only a few years after once nickel gum packs began supplanting penny packs and the single card penny venders were deemed not as profitable, although vending still was a big piece of the pie for many years after. Then vending in the 1960's started to cater more to after market dealers.

I certainly remember buying cards from vending machines in 1970-72.

I think in the later years.....1980's.....the vending cases were bought by the larger dealers like Renata Galasso and others as they were great for making hand-collated sets as well. I bought a vending case of 1987 topps and made sets out of it to sell at shows and the break was really pretty good overall. There were 24 vending boxes of 500 cards in there, 12000 cards for the case and it made about 13-14 sets. Overall, they would usually net me 25-40% profit over and above the cost of the vending case. Was my time sorting and building sets worth that 25-40% profit? I'm not gonna go back and do a cost/benefit analysis on it but that was at about 20-21 years old, so it was extra money to buy cards and comics with ultimately..........

When I first started collecting large dealers were buying vending cases from Topps in the late 60's & early 70"s and selling complete series and sets in their catalogs. I usually would have to buy the last series or two through the mail because they never came to the local stores in my little burg. For some reason in 1971 we never got the 2nd series and I remember ordering one from Card Collectors Co.

The first vending case I bought was in 1974 along with a group of other small time dealer/collector types in Michigan. They came through Charlie Brooks who used to publish the Sport Hobbyist and also had a store. I think they cost us around $50 a pop. The next couple years I did the same and in 1977 or 1978 I bought direct from Topps for the first time. You had to have a sales tax license to order and there was a five case minimum. Did this for many years.

Topps Vending Machine
 

Saw this thread and thought I would add the Picture I posted earlier this week of My Topps Veding machine. It was purchased from a local Woolworths that went out of business in about 1979. Starting in 1975 The Woolworth's manager would sell us the leftover stock of Wax each Fall and that last year he pulled this out of the storeroom. We happily loaded it in the back of the 69 Pontiac Wagon Dad poped the clutch on the 3 on a Tree and we have owned it ever since. Five hundred views on my original Post and I cannot belive No one else here saved one of these from the scrap yard? Weighs in at about 45 pounds and still works. You open the front and load up each slot with about a Thousand cards.

Enjoy
Jonathan

Thanks for the photo Jonathan very nice piece.

By the way, nice last name! :-)

Lee Behrens
Sterling Sports Auctions