Patent ID: 7885852

Claim:
A method for providing products, the method comprising: receiving, at a first automatic product/service dispensing machine at a location in a micronetwork of proximally located diverse automatic product/service dispensing machines, a request for an item by a user; receiving at the first automatic product/service dispensing machine, a payment device of the user, wherein the payment device includes identity information; responsive to a determination that the item is unavailable at the first automatic product/service dispensing machine, providing the user with redirection information regarding a location of at least one alternative automatic product/service dispensing machine in the micronetwork at which the item may be obtained; requesting the user to select a second automatic product/service dispensing machine among the at least one alternative automatic product/service dispensing machine; responsive to the user selecting the second automatic product/service dispensing machine, providing the identity information and notice of a discount value to be given to the user for the item to the second automatic product/service dispensing machine; and responsive to receiving the payment device of the user at the second automatic product/service dispensing machine, the second automatic product/service dispensing machine dispensing the item and deducting the discount value from a price of the item, wherein the user is charged a reduced price for the item at the second automatic product/service dispensing machine.