• jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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    5 months ago

    I was kinda surprised by the article since almost every vending machine I see takes credit cards. I’ve never used a vending machine in a Ramen shop though

    • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Most vending machines take IC (the NFC-style top-up cards that Japan also runs on), but ALL vending machines take cash.

      It should be possible to swap out the reader, but they might be built in such a way that the entire machine has to be taken away and cannot be serviced on-site for security’s sake. I have never seen anyone servicing a vending machine in public.

      This could be something that causes Japan to rethink its cash dependancy.

      • mbfalzar@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 months ago

        Hey! I know it’s been a couple weeks but I figured I’d say that I went down to the lobby at 10am just now, and there’s two guys in there right now swapping out the cash reader. There’s the regular restocker doing his job and a second guy with one of the handheld firmware loader things, I’m not sure if it just needs a software change or if he needs to be there to swap the actual slot, but it does look swappable