Last updated on March 19th, 2024 at 03:33 pm

The history of vending machines goes back as far as ancient Egypt. The first recorded example was a coin-operated vending device that dispensed holy water in Egyptian temples. There have been quite a number of vending machines recorded throughout history after that point, but it wasn’t until 1867 that the first fully automatic vending machine appeared. Fast forward a few years and we have our first known alcoholic vending machine. The year was 1890, and a vending machine in Paris, France allowed people to buy beer, wine, and liquor. Even still today, beverages remain one of the most popular items to be dispensed from vending machines. But if they’re so popular and everyone loves the idea of alcoholic vending machines, why are they not more common? 

Lack of security measures

As we all know, the legal age to drink alcohol in the United States is 21, thus the problem with alcohol vending machines presents itself. How do you know if the buyer is 21? This is the reason that alcohol vending machines are only legal in certain states. Without having a feature that can validate an ID and match it to the person presenting it, the issue of compliance and selling alcohol to minors comes to the forefront. If caught in noncompliance, businesses are subject to hefty fines, jail time, and losing their licenses. 

How we are changing the game

All of the security deficiencies mentioned above disappear in the blink of an eye with our new Age Restricted Vending Machine. The new age restricted vending machine offered by IDScan.net and their collaborators solved this problem by the integration of a custom software that guides customers via voice prompts through the ID Scanning and Facial Recognition portion of the purchase.

This process starts with a customer inserting their ID into the designated area. Inside that machine is a built-in ID Scanner that scans the ID using white light, UV light, and infrared light to authenticate the legitimacy of the ID. After the ID has been authenticated, these alcoholic vending machines then guide users through the biometric section of the process. The customer is asked to follow a series of commands in order to assure matching to the ID while ensuring liveness and anti-spoofing of the customer to prevent fraud.

While all of this might sound like a long process, the entire age verification process takes less than 30 seconds! That is a much shorter amount of time than it would take for your bartender to take an order, check an ID, make the drink, and then collect payment. Just think of how many more customers you would be able to serve with the aid of this machine. 

And did we mention this machine is fully customizable? You aren’t limited to soda size cans, or chip size bags. Custom molds are created so that you can put whatever age restricted product inside that you desire, including alcohol, tobacco, cigarettes, or even all three at the same time. The possibilities and combinations are endless due to the built in security features mentioned above. 

To learn more about our Age Restricted Vending Machines, be sure to contact us!