COCONUTS – May 21 – Rather than dispensing fluffy toys, figurines or candy, the pink plastic tower, for HK$20 ($2.5), spits out the information of single men and women looking for love. The concept was brought to Hong Kong by the owner of BT Reptile, Ben Tang, who, after seeing it gain popularity in Taiwan, decided to set up a machine outside his store three months ago. Since then, he's sold ~1k capsules, primarily to customers in their 20s, and has had ~2k people sign up online to have their details put into the machine, which has different compartments for men and women. People who want their details in a capsule can leave their info – name, age, height, weight, hobby, self-introduction, contact – in a Google document. He then adds them one by one on WeChat to verify that they are real. He also follows up with those whose capsules have been sold to check if they've met someone they like. If not, they can choose to have their details put back into the machine, which holds 50 capsules at a time. There's usually a two-week waiting period for men to get their details back in the mix, though, for women, it's a bit quicker, as fewer have signed up.
by Mandy Zheng
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