Vendo
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The Vendo Company is a large retailer of cold beverage vending machines. Founded in 1937 in Kansas City, Missouri and now based in Dallas, Texas, Vendo is one of the largest manufacturers of vending machines in the world.
Before there were coin-operated vending machines, soda bottles were distributed from coolers packed with ice, and payment was based on the honor system. Capitalizing on the lack of effective payment collection, brothers Elmer F. and John T Pierson of Kansas City developed a coin-operated locking lid to be placed on common ice chests. This, in effect, created the first vending machine. The brothers continued to develop this technology after establishing The Vendo Company in 1937. The Vendo Company built and maintained Coca-Cola machines throughout the Midwest until 1956 when it merged with Vendorlater, a former Pepsi-Cola bottling company, and moved to California.
