No Snacks For You

English: Snack Machine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The other day, I was browsing through some of email news alerts that I subscribe to at work.  These alerts are usually related to the retail industry, with a heavy emphasis on the convenience store industry.  I was going to delete most of the emails, but one of the articles caught my eye and I had to check it out further.

The article was about a new vending machine that they have developed in Europe.  This vending machine uses facial recognition and can detect your age, build, and mood.  It will then go through a series of calculations, including past purchases, before the machine decides whether or not to allow you to complete the purchase.  So if you are stress eating your 4th Snickers bar of the day, good luck.  It also has the capability to tie into your medical records in the approval process.

This disturbs me on so many levels.  I know junk food is bad for me but sometimes I just need, no, want a Reese's Peanut Butter cup.  The machine doesn't have any idea what I have had to eat that day so how can it make an educated guess as to whether or not to sell me the product?  I might not even be buying the product for me.  Perhaps my son or a friend is with me and I am treating them to a snack.

Let's also talk about the fact that the machine has the potential to tie into my medical records.  That just blows my mind.  There are somethings that nobody should have access and medical records is one of those.  That info should only be accessible by me, my doctor, and my insurer.  I would not trust that the info would be safe from other eyes that have no business seeing it.

Of course my geeky side thinks that the technology is very neat.  However, that doesn't override in the least the objections I would have about it.  Way too much Big Brother for my liking.  I'd like to know what others think about it.  Would you want a soulless machine to deny you a snack because it doesn't like the look on your face when you try to make the purchase or would you like a machine making decisions for you?

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Pelosi's Health Care Bill and Vending Machines

Image via Wikipedia

Seriously.  Is there any end to the nanny state mentality of idiots like Nancy Pelosi?  I don't think there is anybody who does not think some reform of the health care system is needed.  You keep hearing how premiums are too high, people turned down for pre-existing conditions, and such.  Those are the types of things that one would expect to see addressed in any type of reform.  However, would you expect to see regulation of an industry not associated with health insurance or health care?

Pelosi's monstrosity of a bill (HR 3962) has a provision in it that will regulate the vending machine industry.  Section 2572 of the bill states:

“In the case of an article of food sold from a vending machine that – (I) does not permit a prospective purchaser to examine the Nutritional Facts Panel before purchasing the article or does not otherwise provide visible nutrition information at the point of purchase; and (II) is operated by a person who is engaged in the business of owning or operating 20 or more vending machines, “the vending machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article of food or the selection button that includes a clear and conspicuous statement disclosing the number of calories contained in the article.” (See page 1,515 of H.R. 3962 Section 2572 (H) (viii).

The Congressional Budget Office has yet to determine what this provision of the health care bill will cost the vending machine industry, but the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) has provided the CBO with an estimate of the cost for their members.  NAMA estimates that in the first year, the regulation will cost over $56 million.

The industry itself has seen their same store sales drop 17% in the past year, so the business is already suffering.  These provisions will negatively impact the industry even further.  Most vending machine operators are small businessman who own their individual sales routes.  Pelosi and company stand to drive more small businesses out of business, adding to our current 10.2% unemployment rate.  Not to mention what the other provisions in the bill will do to small business in this country.

Why is this regulation needed, and more importantly, why does it need to be in a health care bill?  Show of hands everybody, how many people when standing at a vending machine are concerned with the nutritional value of that Snickers bar they are about to buy?  Don't most people buying a snack from a vending machine already have an idea of how nutritious an item is?  I already know that the candy bar or bag of chips I am buying out of that machine isn't the most healthy choice I can make. 

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