I was reaidng one of those Cool Russia blogs at one point because i was researching something and it was on epidemiology in the USSR. The article was titled something like “The USSR conquered disease, but is that the whole story?”. It basically talks about soviet immunization campaigns, and then at the end complains that in the USSR the soda fountains only had 2 glass cups people shared.
Nah it’s actually a real thing, it was a real thing in the United States too. My mom’s side of the fam hated the public soda fountains because they thought sharing cups with half the city was gross.
Imagine a Coke Freestyle Machine that only serves seltzer, but instead of plastic cups you have 2 glasses. This machine is a vending machine that’s just installed on the street. There is nowhere to wash the glasses.
This is an older design, but it shows the glasses well.
This is the “classic” design that’s Sovietana
This is a modernized replica that you’d use with paper cups
The example machines in the first picture are type AT-101 SM which meant they had the glass rinser which is true. The problem? No soap. So you’d often find lipstick on the glasses, not really a “wash”.
But the risk of infection is minimal and nobody really got sick from them in any noticeable way, it’s just icky. Drunks stole the glasses all the time tho.
There’s a bunch of glasses on the tops of the vending machines from the one picture up above, I’m honestly kinda curious in how it actually worked vs the weird western pearl clutching.
I was reaidng one of those Cool Russia blogs at one point because i was researching something and it was on epidemiology in the USSR. The article was titled something like “The USSR conquered disease, but is that the whole story?”. It basically talks about soviet immunization campaigns, and then at the end complains that in the USSR the soda fountains only had 2 glass cups people shared.
Under communism everyone shares the same 2 unbreakable DDR glasses
Nah it’s actually a real thing, it was a real thing in the United States too. My mom’s side of the fam hated the public soda fountains because they thought sharing cups with half the city was gross.
As long as they were washed after each use it sounds fine. They were washed after each use right?
Imagine a Coke Freestyle Machine that only serves seltzer, but instead of plastic cups you have 2 glasses. This machine is a vending machine that’s just installed on the street. There is nowhere to wash the glasses.
This is an older design, but it shows the glasses well.
This is the “classic” design that’s Sovietana
This is a modernized replica that you’d use with paper cups
Looks like on the right there’s a thing to rinse the glasses, but I doubt it’d do very much. So I guess people just trusted their immune systems lol.
The example machines in the first picture are type AT-101 SM which meant they had the glass rinser which is true. The problem? No soap. So you’d often find lipstick on the glasses, not really a “wash”.
But the risk of infection is minimal and nobody really got sick from them in any noticeable way, it’s just icky. Drunks stole the glasses all the time tho.
Here’s a museum talking about the soda machine inside of the GES-2 power plant.
There’s a bunch of glasses on the tops of the vending machines from the one picture up above, I’m honestly kinda curious in how it actually worked vs the weird western pearl clutching.