Tried it once. I’d been curious and needed a thing.
As billed, I just got my item and left. No confirmation from the turnstile or anything. Just walk out. It was a vending machine in the form of a convenience store, convenient and cheap, and I hated it.
This was downtown after trading hours (fewer people about). It was the layout of any corner store aside from the till replaced by a beverage kiosk. It was clean, well-lit, and well-stocked. But there were no people. It was empty and silent with cameras everywhere, a weirdly dystopian liminal space I was happy to leave.
Back in my hood, I stopped by my bodega for a chop and a loosy for my guy on the corner. The ock’s cat pawed at me for attention and a neighbor chatted me up. I left the change.
Tried it once. I’d been curious and needed a thing.
As billed, I just got my item and left. No confirmation from the turnstile or anything. Just walk out. It was a vending machine in the form of a convenience store, convenient and cheap, and I hated it.
This was downtown after trading hours (fewer people about). It was the layout of any corner store aside from the till replaced by a beverage kiosk. It was clean, well-lit, and well-stocked. But there were no people. It was empty and silent with cameras everywhere, a weirdly dystopian liminal space I was happy to leave.
Back in my hood, I stopped by my bodega for a chop and a loosy for my guy on the corner. The ock’s cat pawed at me for attention and a neighbor chatted me up. I left the change.