What can you possibly think of that dispenses from a vending machine? Maybe a snack, a drink or even an umbrella? Well for this new innovation you will need more than just a few bucks to make a purchase. Recently, China has introduced their first gold dispensing vending machine in the popular Wangfujing Street. Even though other countries such as the United States and Britain are already familiar with the gold vending machine, the Chinese are extremely fascinated with this invention. Customers can buy various gold items by inserting direct cash or a bankcard. With the gold prices constantly sky rocketing, the demand for this commodity will also increase because gold is a solid investment that will unlikely depreciate in value. I believe by presenting this machine, it can provide consumers with a convenient way to purchase gold, while enhancing gold liquidity. With advancing technologies and mind-blowing gadgets like these, I will not be surprised if they soon introduce a diamond dispensing machine.
This piece of gold dispensed from the vending machine is worth around $156,500 U.S.
You may also check out this news video on this royal vending machine: 
Click here for source.
This seems like a quite interesting concept and also a novel one to me. At first glance of the title of your article I felt very skeptical. Vending machines are build for convenience but I think for something such as a bar of gold it seems a bit too casual. Maybe if the machine dispenses small quantities of gold in forms of souvenirs but then it would not be an investment for such amounts of gold is worth very little. Also, would security not be an issue? As you said, the machine takes cash as well as cards, so it holds not only gold but also a bounty of cash I’m sure so it seems somewhat risky.
So my question is, if you had an opportunity to invest in such a machine or the developer/supplier of these machines, would you?
Long Wang
PS. I quite enjoyed your article (:
Really interesting post! I was shocked to learn that there existed gold vending machines and decided to look into this subject further!
Here’s my response: https://blogs.ubc.ca/peienthong/2011/11/20/response-to-china-unveils-its-first-gold-vending-machine/