> the benefit is that it's automatic

I wouldn't trust this automatic data for shit. When's the last time you used a vending machine that did not have any problems? The classic meme of people beating on a machine because something got stuck. How is that inventory managed? Does the inventory decrement every time someone pushes buttons to vend an item? Is it tracked by weight? Who enters the weight?

This seems like a system ripe for abuse by the manufacture on needing maintenance like the McDonald's soft server machine.