Cigarette machine

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Lighted cigarette supplied by a cigarette machine. England, 1931.

A cigarette machine is a vending machine for cigarettes . Cigarette machines are - depending on the country - set up in public spaces or in restaurants . The tobacco products issued in commercially available cigarette packs are paid for using cash , usually coins , or by credit card . Almost all cigarette machines now have the option of cashless payments.

Germany

Cigarette machine in Germany with reference to the GeldKarte system
Device on a cigarette machine for activation via the German identity card or EU driving license

350,000 cigarette machines are in operation in Germany . Due to the change in the Youth Protection Act , all machines had to be converted to a technology that guarantees compliance (since September 1, 2007) with the ban on selling tobacco products to young people under the age of 18. The machine industry relies primarily on the youth protection feature of the cash card . For this purpose, age information stored in the card's chip is electronically read out. Another possibility for age verification is swiping through the EU driver's license or identity card at many machines . An authenticity check is carried out using optical features of the identity document. The date of birth is evaluated for age control. There was a transition period until December 31, 2006 for the conversion of the machines . The control over the free sale at petrol stations or kiosks remains unresolved . Smoking in Germany is only permitted in public from the age of 18. Until December 31, 2008, young people over the age of 16 could temporarily buy their cigarettes from cigarette machines.

Cigarette machines are usually set up and operated by specialized companies, machine operators or cigarette wholesalers. The owners of the installation space (house or property owners, restaurateurs) receive a commission based on the number of cigarettes sold.

The legal question of whether the application for the conclusion of a sales contract originates from the customer or whether the installation of a cigarette machine is an offerta ad incertas personas with the three-fold condition of the functionality of the machine, the availability of goods and correct operation, is controversial.

Austria

In Austria there are cigarette machines both in restaurants and on the street , mostly in front of tobacco shops . The pack sizes are the same as in the tobacco shops. The price of the machines operated by tobacconists is the same as in the tobacco shops (in bars, at least 10% must be added to the retail price by law). In Austria, vending machines are comparatively rare in catering establishments, since retail sales are permitted. Payment is made in coins and, especially after the currency changeover from the schilling to the euro in 2002, increasingly also with bills. The change is paid out in coins. Payment by SMS via Paybox is possible with many machines. When paying with a € 10 note, there is usually an obligation to buy two packs.

Vending machines where you could get your cigars and cigarettes outside the opening times of the tobacco shops have been in use in Austria for more than 100 years. The first public cigarette machine in the form of the existing match machine with the sign “K. k. Tobacco wear machine ”was installed on April 19, 1899 in the 16th district of Vienna Ottakring at the corner of Blumberggasse and Ottakringer Straße. It contained twelve products, including Memphis and cigarette tobacco. For each product there was a separate money slot , whereby 40 hellers were put in for the Herzigowinatabak and 6 hellers were returned. In 1900, several Austrian cities granted Prince Wrede and the Consortium permission to install their machines on public property. Since January 1, 2007 you have to identify yourself as “over 16 years of age” when buying a cigarette machine. This is done either with an ATM card that is inserted into the quick slot or contactless using NFC (Near Field Communication) or by SMS via Paybox. Only Austrian bank cards are valid, in the tourist areas some (specially marked) machines also accept German cash cards. Furthermore, they must be bank cards that can be used as ATMs.

Switzerland

In Switzerland you can find cigarette machines in most restaurants. Tobacco paper and lighters can also be obtained from the latter machines. In addition, until 2007 cigarettes could be obtained from snack vending machines ( Selecta vending machines ), which were often found either at train stations or, if the town does not have a train station, in central locations in these towns. Here the selection was mostly limited to two or three brands. With the discontinuation of the Selecta offer, in contrast to Germany and Austria, there are no longer any cigarette machines on public property, but only in restaurants and similar locations within buildings.

As of January 1, 2016, the sale of tobacco products to vending machines was legally regulated in 22 of the 26 cantons of Switzerland. Only in the cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden , Geneva , Obwalden and Schwyz was the sale or distribution of tobacco products to minors not prohibited at that time. The submission age also varies by canton:

Italy

Usually cigarettes are sold in shops that have a license for “ Sali e Tabacchi ”. There is often a vending machine in front of these shops that dispenses cigarettes, papers and lighters when the shop is closed. In the meantime there are also a few cigarette machines. They are open at all times.

Japan

Cigarette machine with advertising staff in Tokyo

In Japan , there are about 5.5 million vending machines in restaurants and outdoors, a turnover of about 44 billion euros account for a year. The small tobacco dealers that used to shape the cityscape, who limited their sales to the most common brands and had very little space, have often replaced their hatches with cigarette machines. Japanese cigarette vending machines offer special features such as the acceptance of bills, the issuing of change, digital displays for empty compartments and decorative lighting.

In order to protect minors, cigarette machines open to the public do not dispense cigarettes between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. In addition, from July 2008 570.000 of cigarette vending machines were temporarily in a pilot project with a technique by digital camera examined potential customers faces on age characteristics as wrinkled skin and this compares the face of the buyer with a database of over 100,000 people. The manufacturing company Fujitaka assumed that their system could correctly assign 90 percent of the people. However, malfunctions can occur in very young looking adults and very old looking teenagers. Because of this, almost all Japanese cigarette machines have been retrofitted so that tobacco products can only be purchased there with a special, age-confirming “Taspo Card”, which can only be applied for when you reach the age of majority, i.e. from 20 years of age.

United Kingdom

Since October 1, 2011, the UK has banned tobacco products from vending machines as up to 35 million cigarettes are illegally sold to minors through cigarette vending machines each year. Violators will be prosecuted with fines of up to 2500 pounds (about 2990 euros).

In Northern Ireland and Wales , the prohibition since February 1, 2012 in Scotland , the launch was postponed due to a pending lawsuit. From April 1, 2012, the advertising of tobacco products and their free sale in supermarkets is a criminal offense.

Other countries

In many countries there are no or only a few publicly accessible cigarette machines. The reasons for this are mostly legal regulations. In France and Spain (Mallorca) there are cigarette machines, but only in bars to which young people under the age of 18 are not allowed.

See also

Web links

Commons : Cigarette Machine  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files
Wiktionary: Cigarette vending machine  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.bdta.de/der-tabakwarenmarkt/
  2. ↑ For example Dieter Medicus: General part of the BGB . 10th edition 2010, para. 362.
  3. ↑ for example Heinrich Dörner in: Schulze: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch . 8th edition 2014, § 145, marginal no. 6th
  4. ↑ Daily news - The first public cigarette machine. In:  Arbeiter-Zeitung , April 20, 1899, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / aze
  5. ↑ Innsbrucker Nachrichten, July 18, 1900, No. 162, p. 4
  6. ↑ Cantonal tax bans. Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), November 1, 2015, archived from the original on November 17, 2015 ; Retrieved June 29, 2017 .
  7. ^ England bans cigarette machines . Handelsblatt dated October 1, 2011. Accessed March 29, 2012.
  8. ↑ Scotland tobacco display ban to be delayed . BBC January 15, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2012.