The Real Reason Vending Machine Snacks Are More Expensive Than Ever

Perfect when you are thirsty, but in a rush, zooming through a bus station or airport and craving some sugary carbonation, or when you have a hankering for a cheap and easy salty snack on your break from work — the vending machine. Most of us have memories of feeding coins and dollar bills into one of these machine's hungry mouths, picking out the alphanumeric identifier for our soda or single-serve package of chips or cookies, pressing the buttons, and watching the mechanism release system drop our prize behind the pickup flap. 

Vending machines, of course, are most popular because of their convenience, but the low cost of items in said machines is another main reason we decide to stop at them when we do not have an overabundance of money or time. However, the low prices we often take for granted at the vending machine may be going away, at least for the foreseeable future. Find out why below.

According to Business Insider, vending machine prices are up by 2.3% between the months of May and June, which is the highest increase in prices over a single month ever seen. The main reason prices are increasing goes hand in hand with rising inflation rates across the country. Due to the pandemic, there have been labor shortages, rising material costs, and higher delivery wait times and costs. All of these costs add up and have increasingly been passed on to the consumer.

Hugh Johnston, the CFO of Pepsico, admitted that production costs have gone up and that the prices of their products will be affected. The CFO of Conagra, which makes delicious salty snacks like Slim Jims, also admitted "continued increases in the cost of edible fats and oils, proteins, packaging and transportation" will bring the prices consumers pay for their foods higher than usual (via Axios).

Fortunately, expert economic analysts believe increased food prices will be short-lived and come back down soon as the economy stabilizes (via Business Insider). For now, you might need to spend a little bit extra on your convenient vending machine snack.