A method of vending a containerized product using multiple fillings of the same container. The method includes the steps of placing machine-readable indicia on the container indicative of the price charged for both the container and the product contained therein, and at the time of placement of said indicia, or subsequently to such placement, including at a location adjacent said indicia, a stimulus-responsive machine-readable indicator capable of responding to a stimulus to undergo a change of state which is readable, conjunctively with said indicia, by a machine, to indicate a price to be charged solely for the product in the refilled container. After initial vending of the container and the product, the container is refilled with product at least once, while concurrently, during each such refilling, stimulating said indicator to cause it to undergo said change, whereby the customer buying a refill of product is charged, on the basis of the subsequent machine reading, only for such product as is placed in the container during the refilling thereof.
According to the process, each returning bottle is examined for the presence of a predetermined level of fatigue damage. If this level has been reached, the bottle concerned is marked with a mark enabling further trips of the bottle to be counted. When the count has reached a predetermined value, that is when the bottle has undergone the predetermined number of fillings, the bottle is removed upon its next return. It has been found that the life of the bottle can be anticipated with high accuracy in this way, thus enabling bottles to be withdrawn from circulation before failure occurs.
In a store, a method of using a processing unit for marking down a package having an associated package specific price and an associated special package specific price is provided. The method includes the steps of (a) in the processing unit, receiving identifying information regarding the package; (b) identifying a discount for the package; (c) applying the discount to establish both a reduced package specific price and a reduced special package specific price; and (d) printing at least one discount label by a printer associated with the processing unit, including printing on the label each of (1) a scannable discount bar code, (2) the reduced package specific price and (3) the reduced special package specific price. The "identifying information" could be any of a variety of pieces of information such as, by way of example, a PLU, a package specific price, a special package specific price, a package serial number, a package weight, a price per unit weight, a special price per unit weight, or various combinations of the same.
The invention relates to a commonplace object with an outer surface (4) that encircles the commonplace object (2) and with at least one cylindrical section (6) of the surface (4), in which the technical problem of specifying a commonplace object to whose surface a relatively large amount of information can be applied is solved in that the cylindrical section (4) of the surface (6) consists of a material which can be changed optically, and in that a data bit sequence is written along at least one track (8) on the cylindrical section (4).
A container filling apparatus includes at least one source container that contains a substance and a reading mechanism capable of reading data from a data indicator on a receiving container wherein the data indicator identifies data about the receiving container. The apparatus also includes a controller that is connected to the reading mechanism. The controller is programmed to determine when a dispensing condition is satisfied. The apparatus also has a dispenser for discharging the substance into the receiving container in response to a signal from the controller. The dispensing condition can be a match between data from the data indicator and the data stored for access by the controller. The source container can also have a data indicator. The dispensing condition is then satisfied when the data from the source container data indicator matches the data from the receiving container data indicator.
A method and apparatus for cleaning, sanitizing, and refilling reusable containers in order to reduce the non-biodegradable waste and environment contamination. The apparatus and process allows a person/consumer to refill the containers with any fluid dispensed by an apparatus such as a vending machine. The vending machine sanitizes the container before any fluid is dispensed into the container. Further, the machine provides the branding of the container depending on the consumer selection allowing people and consumer recognition of the product and enticing manufacturers to participate.
