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Hey again all. Today I have pictures of a really cool vending machine I found outside a convenience store around the block from a job I was working on back in June. I went back to get some pictures (and more packs) to show everybody. At the end I will spin it into a contest.
I like to refer to this as the "Vend-O-Pack Machine"
Here is a shot from the street while I am in my car.
A bit closer. (click on the picture to enlarge and get a better look at all the different packs inside)
Even closer, the reflection off the glass is getting brighter. If you look close you can see me and some of my car.
A close up of two of the seven shelves. Each shelf has nine rows of packs. Here you can see the row of 2005 Topps Rookie Cup packs that I got for a post I have up now on BA Benny's Pack Rip Cafe and another one on A Pack To Be Named Later. Keep checking back to those two blogs as I now have a bunch of different pack ti rip from a few trips to the Vend-O-Pack machines.
There are actually two of these machines on two different sides of town so depending where I am working or even shopping I can check them out. This one is in front of a convenience store and the other on is in a supermarket. I can only guess that the owner is a dealer of some sort who has these old candy machines loaded with old stock he wants to move as the prices are very reasonable and there is quite a selection from old 80's wax to the new 2010 releases from Topps. I would estimate 40% to 50% is baseball and the rest is split up between football, basketball, hockey, wrestling, and kids non-sport packs. It's always fun to see what new stuff he adds every couple of months or so and I can get some different packs from stuff I didn't have the chance to collect when they were original released.
Leave a comment about odd places you find packs to rip or just a general comment and all who do comment will be entered into a contest for a Strat-O-Matic computer game and some cards from a team of your choice (baseball or football). One entry for a comment, another entry for being a follower, and another entry for promoting it on your blog and yet one more entry if you also follow my Pack Rip Cafe blog. (Yes I know it's a cheap way to get followers but I want to get more people to join over at the Cafe). That make a possible 4 entries per person. I will keep it open for a little bit so spread the word.
Thanks for Reading!
15 Comments:
That's a way cool vending machine. There are even single cards in there? Some sort of reprints?
I would cringe as the pack plummets down hoping that it doesn't land on a corner.
The strangest place that I've purchased cards is Cracker Barrel. At least I thought it was the first time that I found them there. It appears that they carry Heritage and only Heritage every year since it fits in with the old-timey feel of the chain and matches a lot of the other things that they sell.
Yes, he has a few "hand packed" slots too. I grabbed one of 10 vintage reprints of 1953 Topps, not the greates mix of players for my taste but for a buck I figured why not take a shot.
Dude, AWESOME! The weirdest place I ever found cards was definitely in a quarter machine at a mexican restaurant (aka what I posted on APTBNL a few days ago), but this is definitely even better! Very cool find!
Love this vending machine.
Not too many odd places to find packs these days, but I remember when I was a kid in the junk wax era, packs were everywhere. When I was nine, my family took a trip to Disney World--a 20-hour drive--and I made a point to buy a pack in every state we drove through, which was easy when every gas station had a pack of 1990 Donruss or 1991 Fleer.
Those were the days...
Actually the strangest place I probably ever got cards from would be one of these machines. They had a couple here in the early part of this decade, similar types of cards and for an equally reasonable price. The only bad thing is about 1/5th of the time they got stuck.
I remember when cards used to be everywhere: Gas Stations, Drug Stores, GroceryStores. Now, only at big box stores. No fun!!!
Well...it's not really a strange place but recently, I bought one of those bargain packs of 100 cards at a Walgreen's.
The strangest place I've bought cards was at a Michael's Arts and Crafts store... never knew why they sold cards there, but they were in bubble packs of 100, and they were extremely cherry-picked. Gotta say I got messed over on those as a kid.
They used to have one of those at a bowling alley in my area. I wish I didn't spend all my quarters on video games now.
Probably the oddest place I ever purchased baseball cards was at an apple orchard farm stand near where I lived. On first glance you would have probably never taken the farmer to be a baseball and sportscard collector and dealer but he had cards in numbers I had never seen before! It was ther first time since childhood when I could just thumb through thousand of old cards and unopened packs. It might be the only placed you could buy various unopened packs, stars and commons, a bushel of great apples and a homemade pie!!
There was an upscale sandwich cafe downtown when I was a kid that, for some reason, would have a box of cards from time to time, I guess because nothing says expensive sandwiches like junk wax.
I added a link to the contest on my post this morning.
I would have to say 5 below.
Lately I've found some nice dollar packs at Dollar Tree stores (2008 UDX, 2008 Documentary) and pulled some nice trade bait from them.
Back in the late 80s I remember a liquor store in town having them. I used to walk there from our church and buy packs. How many kids can say they skiped Sunday School to go to the liquor store to buy ball cards?
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