DyDo Group Holdings reported a record net loss of ¥30.3 billion for its fiscal year ending January 2026, and announced plans to cut 20,000 vending machines by fiscal 2026 from the roughly 270,000 it operated in fiscal 2024. The news sparked a thread on 5ch’s “Entertainment & Sports News+” board, triggered by an article introducing commentary from a vending machine enthusiast who appeared on the TV show “Matsuko’s Unknown World.” While some posters said “I haven’t bought from one in like 20 years,” plenty of others countered with “I buy a ton in summer” and “I still use them at work, in the office, or on walks,” revealing a split in usage depending on price and location.
No wonder they’re disappearing from the streets… A vending machine enthusiast who appeared on ‘Matsuko’s Unknown World’ explains the rise and fall of the vending machine business
Plenty of people probably can’t remember the last time they bought a drink from a vending machine.
“This past March, DyDo Group Holdings, whose core business is vending machines, announced its consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending January 2026. It posted a record net loss of 30.3 billion yen. The company has also announced plans to cut 20,000 vending machines by fiscal 2026, down from roughly 270,000 in fiscal 2024,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s business desk.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
sometimes costs 200 yen at the vending machine right out front.
If you can buy it cheaper elsewhere, nobody's gonna buy from the machine.
That's because they attract illegal dumping.
It'd be fine if people only threw away containers from drinks bought at that specific machine, but people dump other trash in there too.
Other seasons I just stock up cheap at the drugstore though.
Oh wow, amazing.
What are you even talking about.
They raise it early just because the machines can't take 1-yen coins.
I get going from 100 to 110 yen, but
if it's really about not being able to use 1-yen coins, there was no need to raise it at the 5% or 8% rate hikes —
it could've stayed at 110 yen until the rate actually hit 10%.
Nice, I like that.
There's something special about canned coffee.
I like drinking it too, taking a break at some scenic spot out in the countryside.
100 yen is my limit for vending machines.
If it's over 100 yen, I'm not buying.
In summer, it's nice to still be able to buy a soft drink for 100 yen without having to go to the supermarket.
You can save a bit with stamp cards or prepaid charges too.
so naturally I end up using vending machines a lot.
Lately it's annoying because even vending machines are mostly PET-bottle only.
I'm not walking a long way just to save a few dozen yen.
The rise of gachapon machines is more about convenience for businesses than consumer demand.
Simple mechanism, doesn't even need electricity.
Works fine unmanned or with minimal staff.
During COVID, not having close contact with other people was also a plus.
Gachapon is the last thing I'd spend money on.
It's just junk.
Especially on winter nights, hot coffee or cocoa from the machine tasted great and doubled as a hand warmer, which I really appreciated.
Now that I don't walk a dog anymore, I've definitely drifted away from using them.
I don't get why a vendor would bother going out just to restock it.
Didn't shops used to just restock the machine from their own stock back in the day?
Restocking and maintenance are left entirely to the vendor — the shop just provides the space and electricity and takes a cut.
They can't even open the machine themselves.
I often use coupons I've won to buy from them.
The Coke app?
I bought from one several times just this summer.
These days you don't even need coins, it's convenient.
That reminds me, before the price hike I used to use them a lot just to turn 10-yen coins into cans of Pepsi.
The per-can price wasn't that different from buying a case on Amazon.
Isn't that because your employer is subsidizing it as a benefit?
Now I'm living in fear of when the 210-yen Monster Energy is going to go up too.
I like buying some random no-name 100-yen energy drink from the neighborhood machine and drinking it while smoking.
The bad energy drinks really don't taste good. You can just tell by the flavor that it's basically sugar water with barely any nutrients.
Vending Machine Maniac!
https://hondana-image.s3.amazonaws.com/book/image/10152109/6d2af2d3-02b9-4f9d-a98b-3734ab23ec34.jpg
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The report behind this article concerns DyDo Group Holdings, whose core business is vending machines, cutting 20,000 of the roughly 270,000 machines it held as of fiscal 2024 by fiscal 2026, according to its fiscal 2026 January-term earnings. Note that this means reducing the fleet *by* 20,000 machines, not *down to* 20,000 — a misreading also pointed out in reply 10 — so it’s worth keeping in mind that the headline alone makes the scale easy to misunderstand. The underlying issue is that the traditional model, which relies on on-site restocking at the cost of electricity and labor, increasingly looks overpriced compared to the low-price competition from convenience stores and drugstores, the shift to cashless payments, and a history of price hikes timed to every consumption tax increase. Opinions in the thread were split between mostly urban voices saying “I haven’t bought from a vending machine in years” and others countering that they “still use them regularly at work, on the highway, or while out on walks,” suggesting the experience varies a lot depending on location and lifestyle.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “Have you bought a drink from a vending machine lately? No wonder they’re disappearing from the streets… A vending machine enthusiast from ‘Matsuko’s Unknown World’ explains the rise and fall of the vending machine business.”
