Ferrous!
Today I was thirsty and went to one of the vending machines here at work. This machine dispenses 20 oz. bottles of soft drinks for $1.00 apiece; this price seems a bit high to me, so I can justify buying exactly one at this price if I am very thirsty. I insert my dollar, press the button for Wild Cherry Pepsi, and hear the clunk as the bottle enters the tray. I pick it up and turn to leave.
As I am turning, I hear another clunk. Sure enough, there is another Wild Cherry Pepsi sitting in the tray. What luck! I am about to leave once more, but I then begin to wonder if the machine is malfunctioning so that it always dispenses two bottles per dollar. There is no way to confirm one way or the other except by trying, but it seems a win-win situation. If the machine behaves properly I get a third Wild Cherry Pepsi, making the bottles $0.66 apiece, which is a reasonable price. But if the machine continues to misbehave, dispensing two bottles, then I will have four bottles at $0.50 apiece, less than what it would cost at the grocery store! We have a refrigerator in one of our labs, so the extras will stay cold until I want them. You will note that at no point in these deliberations did any ethical concerns bother me in the slightest. I put the second bill into the machine.
Care to guess what happened?
That’s right: the machine ate my second dollar.
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