I make money checking if forgotten vending machines are actually abandoned

[u/KazuKazu_hyperbowl]

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.

[u/Mission_Store_9252]

That's the only thing I still don't understand either. I know that they (the illusive they) will make accounts to build karma and then sell the accounts. I guess the karma makes people feel better that it's a real person? Other than, I've got no clue.

[u/Occidentally20 → u/Mission_Store_9252]

There's a handful of people making bots that only post in the stardew valley sub. They all get downvoted there and go into negative karma, but dozens of new ones pop up each day.

I dont think I'll ever understand what they're trying to do. You can get 10k+ upvotes there easily by just posting a picture of a nicely decorated shed - the bots could just steal pictures from online or repost old content. But they don't, they use text only and it's obvious theyre a bot every time. Confusing business.

[u/send_nooooods → u/Occidentally20]

Selling accounts is the answer. That’s it.

[u/Occidentally20 → u/send_nooooods]

Who is going to buy a one week old account with negative karma?

[u/send_nooooods → u/Occidentally20]

For every one getting negative there’s another dozen getting upvoted like this post. And it’s still going to learn from the “failed” accounts to improve itself

[u/Occidentally20 → u/send_nooooods]

That is not my experience on the stardew sub whatsoever, they're banning between 40 and 60 bot accounts each day, all with negative karma and none of them learning anything - the posts are often identical for weeks or months at a time. No OC, one sentance title and a blank post body.

Some of them don't even make posts, just make a random comment thats incorrect on every post until they get banned as well.

[u/subtoPinkZR → u/Occidentally20]

Look at this account. It’s 5 years old with a good amount of karma. And it will be sold on the dark web if it does not get banned by Reddit.

[u/Occidentally20 → u/subtoPinkZR]

This account is not one of the ones my comment is talking about. Im talking exclusively about the ones on the stardew valley sub posting/commenting weird nonsense, almost universally with an account age under a week and negative karma.

[u/Hunting-Duck → u/Occidentally20]

They are training bots while also selling accounts. So at some point you have no clue who your talking to in the version of human or robot.

Dead internet theorie

[u/ParticularGuava3663 → u/Mission_Store_9252]

I've never checked someone's karma

[u/Common_Belt → u/ParticularGuava3663]

This is the thing I’ve never understood. I’ve been using Reddit for 20 years now. I have never once, not a single time, looked at someone’s profile karma. I legitimately do not understand the point.

[u/benzado → u/Common_Belt]

Mods look at karma. A lot of anti-spam measures look at account age and karma to detect spam. Some subreddits require minimum karma to post. So spammers make dull posts and comments in other subreddits to earn enough karma to post in the protected ones. Either for themselves or to sell the account to someone who doesn’t want to wait.

[u/AgreeWithMeOrDie → u/Common_Belt]

I'm in the same boat. I think it has to do with someone self validating their own opinions by disreguarding others based off a number on their profile.

Which is weird because how does a number represent someones thoughts/opinions

[u/kogarou → u/Mission_Store_9252]

They're practicing tricking people.

[u/Street-Sweeper213 → u/Mission_Store_9252]

The same as a politician, accounts are bought to push propaganda.

[u/THEBHR → u/Mission_Store_9252]

If you want to advertise a product or "grass roots" a movement or political campaign, you buy a Reddit account to make it look "organic".

Accounts' values are based on a few factors. How old the account is. How much Karma it has. If it's been banned from any subreddits. And how natural the post history looks.

And you've seen the advertisements. A popular one is done in r/mildlyinfuriating . Someone will post household gadget that failed due to obvious user error, and title it, "The Way My Wife Used The [Thing]". And then people in the comments will be like, "Ohh, I have that! It works really good when you use it right 😂".

[u/Odenhobler → u/Mission_Store_9252]

Marketing, product recommendations. Astroturfing. That's why people pay for accounts with karma.