The Unique Vending Machines That Provide Easy Access To Fresh Eggs

It seems like every time you go to the airport there's new vending machines stocked with items you would never expect to see trapped behind the glass — like cupcakes or a custom order of coffee — but now that idea has been expanded even further to include farm fresh eggs. 

Now, if the thought fills you with horror as you imagine eggs released from a spiral coil to free fall and splat to the floor of a machine like the world's most fragile Snickers bar, fret not. These vending machines are more like hotel safes or gym lockers — or even an old-fashioned Automat — where money can be inserted and a door will pop open, allowing you to (carefully) slide a carton of eggs from its own little shelf. This system sounds a lot more efficient than grabbing a carton of eggs from the precarious stack at the grocery store, but where exactly are these mysterious vendors of eggs, and how did they come about?

Egg vending machines come to us via Wise Acre Farms in Windsor, California, where fresh eggs have been available in an air-conditioned vending machine since 2016. Glaum Egg Ranch, also in California, offers a similar vending machine process, with a built-in chicken puppet show that plays music and includes seasonally-attired chicken puppets when you insert your cash. Aside from California, most of the known egg vending machines can be found in Japan, where they have been in operation since at least 2014, and the British Isles, thanks to the egg vending machines company, Eggspress.

Some egg vending machines allow you to choose your own eggs, like Mummy Barrow in the UK, which uses a vending machine with clear glass windows. Others, like Oona Eggs in Northern Ireland, will pop open the next available door when you insert money, as shown in the TikTok below. The doors are even marked with the name of the chicken who laid them!

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#eggvending #eggvendingmachine #northernireland #ireland #countytyrone #eglish

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In some ways, it's like a tech version of an honor system farm stand... without the honor system.

Egg vending machines got a lot of press in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made every trip to the grocery store feel like braving the open battlefield. Shoppers began looking to alternate grocery shopping experiences that would minimize contact with others, and contactless delivery services or vending machine-style grocery endeavors boomed. The eggs in these machines are more sanitary than ones you might find at the grocery store, since the only person touching each carton is you and the farmer, who washes the eggs before they go in.

Egg vending machines also benefit local economies by connecting farmers directly with their consumers, without the need of a grocery store middleman. As Wise Acre Farms owner Tiffany Holbrook told SonomaMag.com, "This farm is such a positive thing in the community, and people see that. The business is owned by myself and my husband, and we're all about keeping money in the local economy."