This family has a vending machine that dispenses free drinks for delivery people

Heads up, food delivery people, postmen (or women) and refuse truck drivers. If you happen to be at Yarrow Gardens in Siglap and are feeling thirsty, feel free to help yourself to the complimentary drinks from the vending machine set up just outside House No. 13.

The vending machine is the brainchild of Eric Chiam and his family, who wanted to show their appreciation to delivery staff and drivers for their services.

Before setting up the “pre-conditioned vending machine from Japan” this January, the CEO of a healthcare group “would try to meet the delivery man at the gate with an offer of a cold drink”, he wrote in a LinkedIn post. But that practice has its limitations as he couldn’t catch every delivery person.

“The first idea was to have a drinks fridge at the gate, but we met with significant difficulty trying to customise a shelter for it,” he continued.

“A vending machine made sense because it could handle the outdoor environment and keep drinks cold. And thus @tyvmdrinks was born as a project at home.”

From the sounds of it, the whole Chiam family was roped in. “Son #1 popped open a gdoc and inked first ideas and key considerations. The logo and vending machine sticker were designed by son #2 using Canva. Daughter is in charge of IG posts, copy and likes. Mommy orders the drinks and old man me agreed to seed the project.”

The vending machine has been a hit, going by Chiam’s account. “We did well! A total of 637 drinks were dispensed during our first month of operations, yielding a daily average of 21 cans. Green tea and 100 Plus were clear favourites, and nobody liked hojicha haha.”

The TYVMDrinks (short for “thank you very much”) project has reaped the Chiams some great family bonding time as well.

“The best part of the project is the time spent with the kids topping up drinks. Whilst simple and mindless, it was compact good fun always. We learnt that a well patronised vending machine needs tops ups twice a week,” he wrote.

The complimentary beverages have certainly gotten the attention of some delivery staff. "The Singapore Post Ltd postman and Sembcorp Industries Ltd refuse truck guys use it daily," Chiam wrote.

"The Grab and Lalamove guys were in two camps, some took the drinks but others were in too much of a hurry to notice its presence. We reckon news of the drinks machine has not gone around in their WhatsApp groups much yet."

Now that you know, be sure to spread the word. 

Read this story in Bahasa Melayu here.