Walked into a repair shop in Phoenix and saw a vending machine for soldering tips

Honestly, I stopped by this small electronics repair place off the 10 to grab some flux, and they had a vending machine by the counter. Not snacks, it dispensed solder tips, tweezers, and tiny screwdrivers for $1.50 each. I thought it was a joke until I saw a guy buy a #2 Phillips bit from it mid-conversation. The owner said he got tired of people asking for spare parts while he was elbow deep in a logic board. Has anyone else seen a weird setup like this in a repair shop, or is Phoenix just built different?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_kai27d ago

Vending machines are like the most normal thing in the world now, so this barely registers as weird. Every laundromat and gas station has one, so why not a repair shop? The real question is why it took this long for someone to do it. $1.50 for a screwdriver bit sounds fine, but I guarantee that thing breaks in a week and you end up buying another one. It's a clever way to make money off impatient people, not some genius repair shop innovation. Phoenix isn't built different, it's just another town with a guy who figured out a vending machine is cheaper than paying an employee to stop working.

anna_craig25d ago

Wait, a whole week? I swear my last bit snapped before I even got the screw in the wall.