I genuinely love Japanese vending machines — not just the boxes and the variety of wares themselves, but the fact you can be cheerily zigzagging through the streets of Tokyo late at night after several drinks and suddenly find yourself drinking a can of actually quite tasty hot corn chowder and all seems right with the world. I’ve literally never consumed that vending machine corn chowder while sober so I have no idea if it’s actually good but I know for certain it is amazing.

Turns out, that’s the sort of impulse buy that helps fuel a $44 billion industry. Forty-four billion dollars!

I was also surprised to learn the machines themselves are fairly low-tech and only a small percentage even keep track of inventory. “Companies usually have no idea what’s in stock or out of stock until someone opens the machine, adding to logistical costs.”