System for dispensing a consumer product

A system for dispensing and containing a consumer product to a customer comprising the receiving a purchaserequest for the consumer product; presenting at least one question to the customer wherein the customer is asked if the customer will pay an extra fee to receive the consumer product in a toy container machine shaped like a model airplane with a moveable cargo door for accessing the consumer product; receiving an answer to the question from the customer, and; dispensing the consumer product in the toy container machine shaped like a model airplane with a moveable cargo door for accessing the consumer product if the answer indicates that said consumer agrees to pay the extra fee. Alternatively, no fee may be charged and a logo for or a business may be included on the toy container machine shaped like a model airplane. The system is particularly useful in airports.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In general, upon review of FIGS. 1, 2 , and 3 the system of the present invention is shown. Vending machines are established as useful sales tools. However, there is a constant effort in the industry to improve the level of sales which occur atvending machines. Also, there is increased need to increase brand awareness in aviation and other competitive industries. In FIG. 1, a vending machine 10 is shown in accordance with the system of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 - 3 . FIGS. 3 - 4 show the container machine shaped like a model airplane 40 of the present invention with a moveable cargo door 45 connected thereto at a pivot point 47 . Although this is the preferred embodiment structure, other standard access door structures are envisioned to be within the scope of the present invention. A consumer product 60 is enclosed within the container machine shaped like a Model airplane 40 of the present invention for sale to a customer. A brand logo So maybe included on the container machine shaped like a model airplane 40 of the present invention. In the preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 1 , the customer selects a consumer good 60 from a typical selection of consumer goods offered at a vending machine. For example, the consumer good 60 may be, but is not limited to, a puzzle, a game, a food, a vacuum packed T-shirt, a novelty item, a magazine, an article of arts and crafts, or book. All of these items are typically purchased in an airport for in flight supplemental entertainment by consumers including air travelers. The vending machine 40 contains the usual means for viewing and selecting the consumer product 60 including display windows (not shown) and push buttons 21 and 18 . Any number of push buttons or goods, as practical, can be provided. The push buttons may be electronic or mechanical in operation. Data from the push buttons may be sent to an electronic processor (not shown) for transformation via a standard marketing algorithm (not shown) into reference table of data (not shown) for future use in marketing or in stocking the goods sold in the system. The system may also be provided with a landline or wireless data transceiver (not shown) with a processor for communicating with a central station (not shown). A typical operation of the preferred embodiment is described below. The customer selects a consumer good to be purchased by selecting the push button for the desired consumer good, i.e., push button 18 to select an air travel crossword puzzle. Next, the customer pushes either push button 19 to receive the consumer good 60 in the container machine shaped like a model airplane 40 of the present invention by paying an extra fee or the customer selects at pushbutton 17 to receive the consumer good 60 in a regular package(not shown) for consumer good 60 . Next, the customer confirms the order and pays at pay station 20 which may be any standard bill, coin, or credit card acceptor with a keypad or pushbuttons (not shown). Alternatively, another embodiment of the invention does not require the customer to pay a fee to receive the consumer good 60 in container machine shaped like a model airplane 40 of the present invention. Rather, the customer is asked if they would accept the consumer good 60 in the container machine shaped like a model airplane 40 of the present invention. Alternatively, the consumer good 40 may also be simply automatically provided to the customer for no additional charge. Either way, the container machine shaped like a model airplane 40 of the present invention may include a brand logo 50 . According to the system of the present invention the brand logo corresponds to a brand for a company which may pay for a fee to cover the supply costs of providing the container machine shaped like a model airplane 40 of the present invention as a marketing expense to promote brand identification and business goodwill. FIG. 2 shows the basic flow of the logic of the system of the present invention described above. First, a purchase request 30 is received. Second, the customer is a asked a question from the point of sale terminal which is a vending machine 10 in the preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 1 . Third, a “yes” answer is received and processed (and the consumer product 60 is paid for(not shown)). Fourth, The consumer product is dispensed in toy container machine shaped like a model airplane with a moveable cargo door for accessing said consumer product at location 22 for example. One skilled in the art will realize that variations on this disclosure are possible and envisioned by the inventors.