If a vending machine accidentally releases 2 of the item you paid for instead of one, is taking the second one considered theft?

It malfunctioned, you can’t put it back. I don’t see how it could be theft. Looks like it’s buy one get one free. What happens just as often is you pay for something and it does not dispense. You really don’t have anyone to complain to most of the time so usually you end up losing your money. It all averages out.

Same as if a mail order company sends you more than you ordered. It is yours, no charge. We had fifteen DVD ‘s delivered we didn’t order, we only order and paid for one DVD not the set.

Also had a piece of furniture called to tell the company it was defective, checked their records, they said okay we’ll send out a replacement. When I asked if they want me to return the bad piece they said, “No, keep it.”

Nope, the machine gave it to you.

No

I’d call it luck.I got double $20 bills from an atm once and it only accounted for one. Luck. I’ll take it. There’s enough of the opposite in life.

I would keep it.

What if instead of giving you 2, it only gave you 1, but 1 of something you really hate?
Would you take it? To what end?
Were you technically robbed?

Yeah I’d take them both and probably give #2 away.

I call it karma for all the times it took my money without giving me the goods.

I’d take it. The machine gave it to me, not my fault.
If you still felt bad about it for some reason, you could give the extra to the person behind you waiting to use the machine, if there is a person.

Theft, no. At least, I highly doubt it. From my time in German law school, I remember:

For someone to be accused of theft, it is necessary for both actus reus and mens rea to apply. The former describes the elements of offence: A personal object which is taken and removed with the intent of depriving the rightful owner of it. We have all those.

With mens rea, it gets more tricky. We need to believe we are stealing. As the thread proves, a judge would have trouble arguing that this is the case here, provided there is no additional evidence. (If, for example, the “thief” was guilty of manipulating the machine to acquire extra candy, things would change).

As it is, my guess is you are only looking at unjust enrichment, which is civil law, and as the case of a single candy bar would get rejected by any judge alive – yeah, I would take the chocolate.

I’d consider it a gift. I would then thank the vending machine. “Thank you, vending machine!”

I consider this as the Universe compensating for all the times I’ve lost money in those machines. The Universe is still heavily in arrears on this account as far as I’m concerned.

Finders keepers losers weepers.

As someone who used to own a run of vending machines I didn’t mind the odd malfunction. I have plenty of stories that were outright vandalism and stealing though. One very clever boy dug up a pile of old pennies in his back yard, the large English pennies. He tried them in my machine and they worked. He could only drink so much soda so he came up with a scheme to sell the pennies to his classmates for half the price the drinks cost. I had an empty machine and a box full of worthless currency and he got caught. Rather enterprising but that was theft. I tore the manufacturers a new ear hole when I told them about it, too.

I always reconciled the stock left in he machine to what the take was so I could see if any machines were taking without dispensing or vice versa. These were in dorms so I encouraged the kids to leave notes for me or call. My number was on every machine.

Technically it probably is. I’ve lost money in machines, so I guess it balances out.

If the machine is malfunctioning all day long daily the person who services it will catch the mistake and it will eventually get corrected.

There was a soda machine, when I was a kid, which would give you the soda you chose, and then, if you had the presence of mind to press the coin return lever, it would return your money. If anyone before you had not returned their own coins, it would give you those also. You didn’t even need the correct amount. It would release a soda if only one coin was inserted. Pennies would not work. Many times we had no money, would try the coin release, and get some. Then we could get a soda, and have some coins to pocket. I don’t recall how long it was before they repaired the machine, but it did go on for several months.

Karma, payback for some good I have done in the world. Now, when it gets stuck and gives me nothing, well, that is just a breakdown in technology.

No, not theft, a bonus item. You could say it is an intermittent reward situation, like a rat pushing a lever. haha

If you attempted in any way to get the machine to dispense double from the same coinage, theft. If the machine somehow grabbed or released more than one because of a mechanical malfunction or human error in loading the machine, it is a blessing pocket the extra item. If you really feel like you should not take it, go bless someone else who doesn’t have with the extra item, done deal.

The vending machine owners/operators, like pretty much anyone else who operates a business, have accounted for a certain amount of loss (such as, in the case, the occasional double dispensing).

You figure if they charge 2 dollars for an item that they get for about 50 cents, they can absorb a loss of one every now and then.