There’s no getting around the fact that nearly everyone is lazy nowadays. People have automatic car trunks because apparently even closing your own trunk is too fucking difficult. Whether we like it or not, we live in a day in age where convenience trumps all. As a result, everyone looks for the easiest way to buy what he or she needs. Whether it’s using Instacart to deliver alcohol to your door (Ed. Note: RIP the days of Instacart alc, though) or getting pledges to deliver you food, it's clear that the less time and moving something requires, the better it becomes. Nobody wants to wait a long time or walk unnecessarily far just to pick up something as simple and generic as laundry detergent. Luckily for us, Penn has just teamed up with Vengo and has made all of our lives just a little easier.
What is Vengo and how does it work?
Vengo is a startup that made it onto the big stage by becoming successful on the famous ABC TV series Shark Tank. While the name makes it sound like it might be a funky new Mexican restaurant to replace our meager options on campus, Vengo actually just makes vending machines. The company takes your standard, ugly and bulky vending machines and make them much smaller, sleeker and sexier. With only a 21.5–inch screen display, the Vengo vending machines can be mounted onto walls nearly anywhere. In fact, Penn has installed a machine underneath Commons and another in the basement of McClelland in the Quad. Vengo claims that what makes their machines so great are how versatile and speedy they are to use. Vengo’s website shows that the average interaction with the machine is only 33 seconds long. And each machine is like a tiny convenience store. When I went to try out the machine in McClelland, the options were iPhone chargers, Android chargers, portable chargers, laundry detergent, headphones, condoms and bags of chips. One of the coolest things about the machines is that they are all equipped with sensors that detect if you do not receive your item or if your item gets stuck. If this happens, you are instantly and automatically refunded. This finally gets rid of the most classic vending machine experience when your fucking bag of chips gets stuck in those metal rings. As convenient and innovative as this machine is, the only caveat is that the machines do not accept cash. But like, this is the 21st century, no one uses cash anymore anyway.
