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Comment by hereforphone | Hacker News Reader

Spoiler alert: it was the locksmith in front of whose shop the machine was allowed to exist (rent free)

There's photos confirming it's not the locksmith himself doing it, but they're presumably the owner who oversees management of the machine.

https://twitter.com/saeofdoom/status/460157462197198849?s=20

I live in the neighborhood and have bought a few sodas from the machine. I always assumed it was locksmith, they are powering the machine and I've never seen nor heard a reason to believe it was anyone else.

It was a cute novelty, and if you're not picky it's a fast soda, but honestly it was just stocked with cheap, off-brand gross soda. Would have been genius if occasionally it gave you something interesting (or at least good).

It certainly used to! That machine introduced me to a weird variety of things when I lived near it almost 20 years ago. Cheap thrills as a broke young 'un.

Thanks to it, I still have to try strange sodas when I am traveling--especially abroad. It's not always good, but it's always fun.

Have you visited the Coca Cola museum in Las Vegas? Not sure if it still exists, but I went in 2000. They had about 100 different sodas from around the world.

These days, I haven't had any soda in years. 35+ grams of sugar per can is a terrible idea.

There's also one in Atlanta, and I think maybe Orlando as well. Always fun to see the tourists getting surprised by the one bitter drink in the whole collection (Beverly, from Italy). Wikipedia claims it was discontinued 12 years ago, except for the Coke museums.

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