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From: andrewst@u.washington.edu (Andrew Steinberg)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: Saltwater down coin slot = free drinks?
Date: 10 Mar 1994 09:29:13 GMT

serpas@dopey.cc.utexas.edu (Frank Serpas III) writes:

>I've heard that pouring saltwater down the coin slot of a drink machine will
>release all of the cans inside. I've never seen this done, but I have
>seen a salt-encrusted machine (with all the "make another selection" lights
>lit) that was supposed to be the end product of such an act.

>Any brave soul care to give it a shot? I'm trying to keep my permanent
>record clean.
>
>*****************************************************************************
>Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>"No threat, asexual- I'm going straight to the top!"- Dan C. "Special Skills"

                       Copyright 1992 Star Tribune  
                                  Star Tribune

                         April 17, 1992, Metro Edition

SECTION: News; Pg. 1B

LENGTH: 563 words

HEADLINE: Students face charges in pop-machine caper

BYLINE: Kevin Duchschere; Staff Writer

BODY:

At first glance, it looks like your typical college stunt. But the technique is relatively new and stunningly effective, and the students involved may not get away with just a slap on the wrist.

Coin slots in two soft-drink machines in a Gustavus Adolphus College dormitory were flooded with a saltwater solution, causing them to short-circuit and disgorge 264 cans of pop and about $ 40 in change like bloated Vegas slot machines.

Saltwater short-circuits the mechanism that releases the cans and controlsthe coin return. It also corrodes the contact switches.

Because the vending machines were damaged to the tune of nearly $ 1,100, the four students accused of looting them face felony charges and might have to pay to fix the machines if convicted. They could also be fined and jailed.

The students, all Minnesotans, will make their first court appearance Mondayin St. Peter, Minn., on charges of first-degree criminal damage to property, a felony, and gross misdemeanor theft. They are Alicia Cerwick, 20, of Burnsville;Heidi Rostberg, 21, of Hutchinson; Judd Schetnan, 19, of Fergus Falls, and Todd Winter, 20, of St. Paul.

Only Rostberg would comment. She said the alleged soda theft is nothing but a lot of fizz, that she and her friend Cerwick were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"We were down in the study lounge where the pop machines are when it happened," she said. "We were the ones that were seen by the head residents down there."

But police Sgt. Jerry Yushta said that each student has confessed to helping doctor at least one of the machines. "Each admitted to involvement in a joint enterprise," he said.

The incident allegedly occurred Feb. 9 in the basement of Sorensen Hall, police said. A campus guard allegedly saw the women taking pop from the machinesand alerted St. Peter police, who arrested the students, said Police Chief Brad Kollmann.

Hank Toutain, dean of students at Gustavus, declined to discuss the case forprivacy reasons. But he acknowledged that a similar matter was recently heard bythe college judicial board (a disciplinary group of students and faculty members) and that the students in that case were each assigned 25 hours of community service, placed on disciplinary probation for the semester and required to apologize.

Dave Hermel, owner of Hermel Candy & Tobacco Co. in Mankato, said vandals began using saltwater on vending machines elsewhere in southern Minnesota two years ago. It apparently began in Owatonna and Rochester and has trickled down from adults to teenagers, he said. About $ 940 damage was recently done to vending machines at a public school in Minnesota Lake, Minn., he said. "It's really been a big, big problem," Hermel said.

Kollmann said the technique began to surface in the St. Peter area about a year ago.

Kollmann and Yushta were quick to say that by and large, Gustavus students cause little trouble. The private college has an enrollment of about 2,200 students, and "99 percent of those students I'm happy to serve," Yushta said.

"Sometimes, young adults do things like this, not thinking about the consequences," Kollmann said. "I'm sure they didn't think it would cost them, that in fact they're doing a considerable amount of damage . . . and in fact, putting their careers in jeopardy."

          Copyright 1994 Keller International Publishing Corporation  
                                 Beverage World

                                 February, 1994

SECTION: VENDING UPDATE; Pg. 38

LENGTH: 1674 words

HEADLINE: Global designs

BYLINE: BY ERIC SFILIGOJ

HIGHLIGHT:
In 1993 the world caught vending fever. The boost to equipment innovation ushers in a new generation of vendors in the US.

BODY:

(stuff deleted)

A pinch of salt

Greater placement of vendors, unfortunately, also means greater theft and vandalism. According to John Ongena, director of marketing at Honor Gard (Elk Grove Village, IL) "Since more vendors are going into places like South America and Eastern Europe, more money is being collected in these countries. Consequently, operators there have become more prone to internal theft than ever before."

Theft aside, perhaps the most damning form of vandalism facing vending operators around the globe today is salting. "Sure, salting vendors goes back at least 25 years or more," notes Stanley Parish, president and owner of Dallas-based Mid-South Services. "But in the last four to five years, the problem's really taken off all over the place."

Most likely the technique of how to salt vending machines was carried around the world by students who had visited the US or by military personnel. Colleges and military bases, not incidentally, report the highest frequency of saltings per year. The salting problem is made even worse in countries like Britain and Jordan, says Parish, where coins -- and coin slots -- are particularly large. "The larger the coin slot is, the more salt water a vandal can squirt into the vendor," he says. "This causes even more damage thanwe see in the states."

For years, a few vending equipment suppliers like Mid-South have marketed anti-salting devices to protect against this form of machine break-in. Still, no united front was ever presented to fight salting -- until now.

Last March, says Parish, Coke and its massive US bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) mandated that all vendors the company purchased from then on have some type of salt water protection. Several Pepsi bottlers also made similar demands for any new vendors.

For its part, Mid-South is introducing its long-awaited Series III Vendor Defendor for bill validators.

Expected to be available by the end of spring, Series III differs from other anti-salting devices, says Parish, because it doesn't allow water to enter the unit. "Other systems look to handle the salt water once it's inside the machine," he says. "But it can still do damage that way."

Another company tackling salting head-on is Mars Electronics International (West Chester, PA). According to Tom Hardee, industry manager of bottling for the company, Mars introduced its salt warranty program during 1993. "If a Mars changer or validator is salted, we will replace or repair it free of charge during the first year of ownership," says Hardee.

And at last year's NAMA show, The Vendo Company (Fresno, CA) introduced its new Robo-Door vendor. According to Randy Compton, director of North American sales for the company, Robo-Door features a state-of-the-art saltwater diversion system and a steel DBV plug and plate over its dollar bill validator area.

(more stuff deleted)

Andrew
U. Washington