In Ireland, An Egg Vending Machine Provides Farm Freshness Any Time

Vending machines are typically a quick way to get a sub-par snack or drink at a public place, but some of these contraptions have really stepped up their game. For example, Sprinkles Cupcakes offers ATMs across the country, where you can buy fresh-baked cupcakes 24/7 by simply pressing a few buttons, and you also can find Moët & Chandon Champagne vending machines in various hotels. Plus, while Japan boasts a plethora of food novelties that leave Americans in awe, its vending machines are truly next-level. Not only does the country have one vending machine for every 23 people, but you can get everything from soup to toys to sake from these devices.

But not every vending machine is as fancy as these ones. In fact, in some countries, they're just convenient vehicles for some of the simpler foods you may buy at the grocery store. In Ireland, there are vending machines that sell strawberries, potatoes, and eggs. You may be wondering how eggs can sit for hours, or even days, in a vending machine — don't they need to be refrigerated? In the U.S., eggs need to be stored in the fridge, but Irish eggs are typically safe to sit on grocery store shelves because they aren't cleaned with the same sanitizer that American eggs are. This makes the eggs fair game for vending machine living.

The egg vending machines in Ireland are a pretty genius idea — all you have to do is pop your money in the slot and a door will swing open, revealing a tray of farm-fresh eggs for you to take. This is of course different from an American vending machine, in which your selection drops to the bottom and you grab it out of a slot, but we wouldn't want our eggs crashing to the ground in the same way.

In a TikTok video, user walkingupdates shows how the doors are labeled with different names — there's a "Sophie's," "Ella's," "Jackie's," and more to showcase the owner of the farm from where the eggs come. Once you've finished all your eggs, you can even drop the tray at the "Returns" shelf next to the vending machine.

And although coins are used in the TikTok video, you don't need to bring them, as the machines now use a payment provider for cashless payments. You can get your eggs at any time every single day of the year — so the next time you run out in the middle of baking, you don't have to worry. If you're in Ireland, that is.

These vending machines aren't just convenient for consumers, but they're also a novel way for egg producers to sell their products. (The TikToker reveals that chicken farmers set aside 5% of eggs for vending machines.) The devices can manage customer sales and send text messages to producers when stock is low so they can replenish it immediately, which benefits egg buyers and vendors alike.