Patent ID: 7515989

Claim:
A goods sales management system, comprising: a plurality of vending machines, the vending machines comprising a container for storing a plurality of goods; price setting means for setting a sales price of each of the plurality of goods sold by each of said plurality of vending machines; and a vending machine management apparatus for controlling the plurality of vending machines, the vending machine management apparatus being associated with each of the plurality of vending machines, wherein said vending machine management apparatus is configured to manage time as time information and to communicate the time information to each of the plurality of vending machines, wherein each of said vending machines comprises: time adjustment management means configured to manage time as managed time information by making the managed time information coincide with said time information from the vending machine management apparatus; information management means for managing sales information, the sales information including at least one of a kind and number of goods as delivered from the container, a sales price, and a sales time; transmission time setting means for setting a transmission time when said sales information is transmitted to said vending machine management apparatus; detecting means for detecting an item quality of at least one of the plurality of goods, said item quality including at least one of a temperature and a humidity in said container of said vending machine; and information transmitting/receiving means for transmitting said sales information managed by said information management means to said vending machine management apparatus at said set transmission time, wherein at least one of the plurality of vending machines transmits said time information and said sales information to said vending machine management apparatus through said information transmitting/receiving means, wherein said vending machine management apparatus transmits said time information managed thereby to said one of the plurality of the vending machines when said sales information is received, wherein said time adjustment management means of said one of the plurality of the vending machines makes said time information managed thereby coincide with said time information transmitted from said vending machine management apparatus, wherein said sales information transmitted to said vending machine management apparatus includes information of said temperature or humidity detected just before said transmission of said sales information, and wherein the price setting means sets the sales price of each good based on the sales information.