Vending machines—those metallic friends which got you through many a long afternoon of jury duty or school or waiting for your wife to have that stupid baby, already—are having a hard go of it, these days. Americans just don't love them as they used to. From the WSJ:

Traditional vending machines disappeared from 134,000 locations between 2007 and 2010, according to the latest available data from Vending Times, an industry publication. Sales from vending machines sank more than 11%, to $42.2 billion in the same period.

Gee. First you people stop liking soda. Then you stop liking vending machines. What is next for crying out loud, you stop liking Cheez™?

Has anyone tried putting soda inside a vending machine? Maybe that would help.

[WSJ. Photo: ashish joy/ Flickr]