The Brains Behind North America’s First and Only Touchless Mask Station
Headquartered in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Cypress Vending has over 20+ years of experience in design and operation of vending machines. Founded by Brad Simon and Travis Grubb, Cypress Vending had been providing many well-known businesses with healthy snack machines, until the global pandemic came into play.
Brad and Travis watched the news, listened to experts and observed social behaviors. They saw an urgent need to help change the culture of mask use.
“When COVID-19 hit we noticed a steep decline in machine sales and a steep increase in demand for PPE in our customers’ existing machines,” says Simon. “We knew we had to pivot, and it turns out that combination was the recipe for The Touchless Mask Station.”
“We were seeing that masks were the thing — people cannot help but be social — masks were going to be needed, and needed for the long run,” says Simon. “People have also been told not to touch anything, which is where our touchless technology comes into play.”
The Touchless Mask Station restores employee and customer confidence. It is a simple, pro-active hygiene solution that can be placed in offices, restaurants, universities, hotel lobbies, hospitals, airports, movie theatres, concert venues, sporting arenas and more.
“Masks do not dispense well in a traditional vending machine — they are too light. So we needed a solution that was touchless and could dispense one mask at a time,” says Grubb. “Vending machines are about convenience — people do not want to buy a 10 pack on the go. They either forgot a mask or did not expect to need one for a retail store or office, and so The Touchless Mask Station is the answer.”
“Our wholesale customers range from the solo entrepreneur, to Fortune 500 companies, to transportation hubs and government officials, to name a few,” says Simon. “Many of these businesses and spaces need to comply with local standards and regulations, and The Touchless Mask Station provides a safe environment for everyone.”
So how does The Touchless Mask Station work? The masks dispense from the bottom and can be retrieved without ever touching the machine. Shipped from Washington State and Vancouver, BC, the station comes stocked with disposable, three layer, non-medical masks, and at 200 masks per roll, they can be reordered directly through Cypress Vending. The machine owner can either set the mask price for a “tap to pay” option, and monitor sales in the cloud, or offer the masks for free, in which case users simply stand in front of the machine and a mask is dispensed.
While there are other mask vending machines out there, Cypress Vending’s solution is the only TOUCHLESS option available. A variety of different price packages are offered for small and large businesses, based on volume and machine requirements.
The machine is portable and easy to install with options to mount it on the wall or on a stand. “Our customers have the option to customize their machine branding with us as well, allowing for it to seamlessly blend in with its surroundings,” says Simon.
Cypress Vending foresees masks becoming a permanent part of everyday life, even post COVID-19. “The use of masks could very well have become the norm in offices and public — the polite thing to do — when you have a cold or flu. There is a large portion of the planet where this is already the etiquette and could very well become the thing in many more countries,” says Grubb.
The Touchless Mask Station is currently available in both the U.S. and Canadian markets.