Traveling to Japan (~1999) really got me aware of vending machines. Even then, you could buy so many strange things from machines compared to what I had seen in the US. It took a while but the rest of the world did catch up.
Maybe in your neck of the woods but vending machines a relatively rare in the USA (relatively to Japan) because they will be abused, vandalized, burglarized, and destroyed. You generally only see them indoors.
Its interesting that redbox can be found outside in even the sketchiest neighborhoods.