This is a guide to soda pop vending machine plastic flavor labels.  As with anything you may research, there is a layer of complexity to the subject.  This will cover soda labels and button sizes.  It does not cover price labels or inserts, or other product labels and inserts.  If you have any suggestions to add clarity or subject material to this guide, please write.  Selling plastic vending flavor tabs over the years has resulted in a number of detailed questions from potential buyers, the answers to which are too lengthy to include in each auction description.

In brief, if all you are attempting to determine is which label to buy and which size you will need, the easy answer is for you to measure an existing label and buy that size or something slightly larger than can be cut down without looking bad.  Pay attention to how your label inserts into the button, the side on which your insert tab is located, and where, if there is one, the sold-out hole is drilled.  The objective of using real labels from the authorized label printers is to make your machine appear professional.  There are several printing companies which have the proper authorization to use the various trademarks and service marks of the bottlers, and this does result in some variance in flavor design, and the insert tab and sold-out hole location.  Additionally, labels change based upon when they are printed by an authorized printer.

Bottlers do care how their products are depicted.  If you are a small vendor whose machines are not in public places and not likely to be seen by a bottler’s representative or salespeople looking to place machines, then you can assume the risk of printing some of your own labels.  Otherwise, this is not suggested unless you obtain written permission from each of the bottlers to use their trademarks, service marks, and copyrights.  We had a local vendor here that was selling labels to vendors he had printed, and this caused him and his customers difficulty.  Bottlers change their flavor logo and design on a regular basis, and even the authorized printers have their rights to print prior designs removed, or even have flavors and sizes revoked temporarily or permanently. 

If you are running a business and doing vending for profit, my suggestion is to use authorized labels as they are inexpensive compared to machine cost and other parts and supplies, and just keep a record for yourself of where and when they were obtained should you ever need that information.  If you are a small vendor with just a couple of machines at smaller locations, such as your friend’s business or the lobby of your local daycare, then record-keeping and source is not as important (but I didn't say that :-), unless you plan to grow into more openly public machine placements.

Vending machine buttons and sizes

Over the years, there have been just over a dozen vending machine selection button sizes and shapes made by just under a dozen different machine manufacturers.  Most of the off-brand machine manufacturers used standard parts and sizes, so label selection isn’t too complicated.  Some machines have buttons that have the flavor label inserted into, and others have a little window that holds a flavor label in place next to a selection button.

Over the past 25 years, there have been three standard sizes and five common non-standard sizes for flavor labels.  Additionally, there are another half dozen or so custom sizes that have been available from manufacturers.  The current trend seems to be away from flavor inserts to custom buttons by the bottlers, but it’s probable that generic machine manufacturers will always use flavor inserts.  The three standard sizes are: Long labels are 7 1/16” in length (including the insert tab) by 2 5/16” in height.  Medium sized labels are 3 1/2” in length (including the insert tab) by 2 5/16” high, the same height as the long labels.  Small labels, which currently fit the majority of machines seen for sale on the secondary markets, are 3 1/2” wide (including the tab) by 1 3/8” high.

Non-standard sizes are not often seen, but often the standard sizes can be adjusted to accommodate these.  Coke® had a large button machine several decades back that used a label size of 6 3/4” wide by 5 inches high for one button, with the rest being a standard size.  Dr. Pepper® and 7-Up® have a small size flavor label that is very close to the standard, but the left and right sides are slanted to the right when looking at the front of the machine.  These machines were made by Dixie Narco® and have buttons next to little windows behind which the labels are clipped into place.  Dixie-Narco® also had a machine a while back that used a label size of 5 11/16” long, so we used to cut down the long labels as the height was the same.  ChoiceVend® manufactured machines a long time ago that had buttons that used the medium size label, but inserted from the top, which required a tab on the top that the standard medium size doesn’t have, so back then we used tape to add a tab to the standard medium size if the 2 3/4” high size wasn’t available.  Coke® and Pepsi-Cola® also had machines with top inserts for the buttons.

Button design and size

Based upon manufacturer, the tab location on the label, the placement of the hole for the sold-out light may vary, and some may not have tabs or holes at all.  Usually, labels are inserted into buttons that have a slightly larger area in back for the label than is visible from the front.  These label guides keep the label toward the back of the button.  If the label inserts from the top, a top tab is needed or you need to improvise a tab with clear tape.

Coke® and Pepsi® have sold-out holes drilled on the seven inch labels in different places, because machine manufacturers made the machines differently for each.  Other brands vary, but most water labels like Zephyrhills® have the hole on the left side.  Looking at the label from the front, Pepsi® and Schweppes® normally have their sold-out button hole about an inch from the left, and Coke® normally has their sold-out hole about an inch to the right of center.  I say ‘normally’ because, to complicate matters even more, one of the label manufacturers started drilling holes in the same place for all because they didn’t want to invest in a different drilling jig for the other type, which meant they were wrong for one manufacturer completely.  Another used to offer them either way, so what you find in auctions will vary.

The standard medium size label that’s 3 1/2” wide, has the tab on the right side when looking at the front, with a sold-out light hole in the top center.  This is true for both Pepsi-cola® and Coca-Cola® flavors, as well as the other bottler flavors.  This is also the most common size used for post-mix machines, but post-mix varies on where the tab is located (if it is inserted) or don’t use a tab, and the sold-out light hole doesn’t apply even though it will be on all of the standard medium labels.

The small size labels, 3 1/2“ by 1 3/8”, are the most common on later model soda pop machines.  This size varies by whether there is a sold-out hole or not, and Coke® and Pepsi® have their respective insert tabs on opposite sides.  The standard authorized printed Pepsi® flavor tab, when looking at it from the front, has a sold-out light hole drilled into the upper left-hand corner.  The standard Coke® and Schweppes® flavors do not have any holes at all.  For single-price machines, a hole is needed for the sold-out lights to shine through.  Multi-price machines normally do not have sold-out lights behind the buttons, so no hole is needed.

Conclusion

Each manufacturer of vending machines wants there product to look unique, so, in addition to the variances seen between Coke® and Pepsi® designs, you will see differences by machine.  There are also custom brands of machines out there that have or will appear in secondary markets as used equipment.  This includes branded machines from water companies, juice companies, Gatorade®, energy drink bottlers, and others.  Some have custom internal parts in addition to modified doors with various label sizes.  You’ve probably seen the newer soda machines that use custom molds for their oversized selection buttons.  Changing a flavor on one of those will require changing the buttons once those hit the used machine markets.

I had thought about including some of this in each of the auctions because each area has generated detailed questions over the years, but it is much too long for that :-)  If you need advice on label selection, or you have a suggestion on improving this guide, please write.  I hope this helps…

All Trademarks, Registered Trademarks, and Service marks are trade names and intellectual property, with brands owned and administered by their respective companies.