r/WeirdSideHustles • u/KazuKazu_hyperbowl • 16h ago

Sharing My Sidehustle I make money checking if forgotten vending machines are actually abandoned

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I honestly didn't know this was a thing until a few months ago. From what I know, there are a lot of vending machines that are just sitting around in old laundromats, apartment buildings, repair shops, and other places where nobody really pays attention to them anymore.

What I do is basically check if those machines are still being maintained or not. Someone sends me a list of locations and I go there, take pictures, see if anything changed, check if the machine is still plugged in, and report back what I found.

Some people might think it sounds boring, but it is actually interesting because you find some weird stuff. One machine I checked was behind an old car wash and it looked like nobody touched it for years. There were weeds around it and the drinks inside looked really old. I honestly could not tell if it was still active or if everyone just forgot it was there.

From what I know, the owners need the information because sometimes it is hard to know if a machine is still being serviced or completely abandoned. My part is just collecting the information and sending it over.

Last weekend I checked 17 machines and made about $146. I never thought driving around looking at vending machines would make me money, but somehow it does. :PP

It is definitely one of the weirdest side hustles I have ever heard of, and now it is one of the ways I make extra cash.

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u/AmbitiousPotential74 9h ago

The person who creates a user friendly, all encompassing (like Reddit) social media platform that somehow prevents bots, will change the world

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u/Unlikely-Ear626 8h ago edited 8h ago

Truth social

Edit: /s

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u/MajorHasBrassBalls 8h ago

Is literally none of those things

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u/hypercosm_dot_net 6h ago

Reddit has a contributor program, and allows API and automated access.

The bot problem isn't going away. The platform is only going to get worse from here.

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u/baconboner69xD 31m ago

Hell it even allows obvious bots to spam the front page for a long time before quietly banning them. See u/veshaad

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u/Veshaad 20m ago

So sorry to disappoint you and go against your narrative here but I am not a bot, nor do I use bots.

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u/Exact-Employer-2089 5h ago

I created my own Mastodon instance and since I have access to all the data I setup an AI to filter out the AI. It exists, it's just not easy for the average end user. I guess you did say user friendly... but I think some of the user friendliness comes from being for-profit because you can use that to MAKE it more user friendly, but then when you go for profit you want as much engagement as possible and you allow stuff like this, so it kind of contradicts itself in a way?

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u/ParticularGuava3663 3h ago

How'd you see this post?

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u/space_hitler 3h ago

Plot twist, he's a fucking bot lol.

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u/DMmeprettyplantpics 4h ago

Only way to do that is require insane user verification. Like ID's and similar.

People, especially redditors would probably refuse to use it.

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u/CaptainCurly95 3h ago

That's treating the symptoms instead of the cause. People bot on Reddit to make money. Take away the contributor program or instantly remove links that lead to a store front and people will bot somewhere else.

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u/space_hitler 3h ago

Also need a real modding system where mods are paid employees.

The current system allows for too much manipulation by outside interests with the insane amount of power mods have on this site.

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u/space_hitler 3h ago

Nobody has done it up to this point so it's never going to happen unless society has some major shift away from Capitalism.

Also anyone that tries will likely get destroyed by people like Zuckerberg.

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u/invaderpixel 2h ago

Nextdoor KIND of seems like it has bot protection with the full name and address requirement but definitely leans towards older people and homeowners. But I’ve started to love it more as the rest of the internet is bot filled even though it really hasn’t changed at all.

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u/Gamer_Anieca85 1h ago

Nextdoor has it's perks but it is mostly boomers and genX complaining about everything, A few nasty people i had to block too, but overall it's not the worst. Good to find items for sale