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The public food dispenser was not invented in SanSan - but like public toilets, sinks, drinking fountains and rest areas (not the 20th century automobile parking - think 'public beds'), you see them _everywhere_.
A "dispenser" is the size of a small kiosk, typically 3 meters by 4 meters, with service windows in the center of the long sides. Any dispenser has two types of signage. One sign indicates the variety of food (burrito, hot dog, pita, pizza, sandwich, etc.) and contents available, with ingredient lists. There is always a vegan option. The other sign has the word 'FREE FOOD' in about thirty languages, with a pictogram of a stick figure eating something held in the hand. The signs (actually, media paint) are visible from all directions. If the dispenser stops working (rare) or runs out of food (almost unheard-of, except in disasters), the signs go dark.
The actual food is stocked by robot deliveries for automated preparation and serving. Typically thermoelectric cooling and convection microwaving is used. If the food on offer exceeds its shelf life, it is transferred back out, typically for use as animal feed or compost to fertilizer. Typical wastage ranges from 30% to 90%. If wastage is below 30%, additional dispensers are established in the area.
If wastage is above 90% for a six month period, the need for a dispenser is that area is re-evaluated. However, there are dispensers with consistent wastage rates of 95% to 99%, which are still maintained as active for special applications, to guarantee coverage in remote areas, or for historical purposes. (Donner Party of ten... of eight... of five... of two... never mind.)
The entire purpose of the food dispenser network is to eliminate the potential for a human being to go hungry involuntarily. Therefore there is no payment system. If you can read the sign and press the button, you get food. The miniscule costs of the program are paid for out of public utilities budgets.
Everyone has eaten from a dispenser now and again. However, the only habitual users of dispensers are those who have completely run out of funds (which in a post-scarcity economy is surprisingly difficult), street addicts to drugs or VR, and mentally ill people who are in the tragic narrow range between "competent to refuse treatment" and "threat to themselves or others."
Therefore, the foods dispensed are designed to be nutritious enough to support life and tasty enough to enjoy eating, with enough variety that someone could subsist indefinitely from public dispensers.
At first restaurants objected strenuously to the food dispenser system, feeling that it would take away their customers. This didn't happen. No money meant no sale; junkies preferred spending money on drugs or VR access to eating, which shortened their already tragically short lives; and the mentally ill were not that big a market, and often problem customers in any case.
A relatively recent trend within the last decade has been for restaurants to offer a handful of 'free' menu items, negotiated with SanSan to meet food dispenser standards. Fresh steamed vegetables and peanut-butter-jelly sandwiches are typical. Applicable signage must be posted and the free menu item is listed with the 'free' pictogram. Any free items given out are billed to the SanSan food dispenser system, not at markup value but at actual cost. Not all restaurants bother.
Ordinary folks go to restaurants for social and emotional reasons that transcend the mere need for sustenance.
The food dispensers and the restaurant free items are a means of guaranteeing social wealth and meeting the basic needs of human beings. SanSan is an arcology where no one ever has to miss a meal.
One objection is that illegal immigrants and fugitives can eat from public dispensers without being tracked. The counter-argument is obvious - we would feed them at public expense once they are taken into custody, so why not feed them _before_ we take them into custody? If they are nourished, they are more likely to surrender themselves or obey commands when located and confronted.
Every now and again someone proposes to reduce or eliminate the food dispensers. The petition rarely gets enough signatures to be voted on. The last major vote on food dispensers was back in the 2040s and over 90% of those voting wanted to keep them.
Even if the dispensers had a 99% wastage rate, I think I'd vote to keep them. I see them as a form of bragging -- look, we are so _rich_ that we have this last-resort measure of guaranteeing that yes, we really do meet the basic needs of any human being that enters our jurisdiction.
A "dispenser" is the size of a small kiosk, typically 3 meters by 4 meters, with service windows in the center of the long sides. Any dispenser has two types of signage. One sign indicates the variety of food (burrito, hot dog, pita, pizza, sandwich, etc.) and contents available, with ingredient lists. There is always a vegan option. The other sign has the word 'FREE FOOD' in about thirty languages, with a pictogram of a stick figure eating something held in the hand. The signs (actually, media paint) are visible from all directions. If the dispenser stops working (rare) or runs out of food (almost unheard-of, except in disasters), the signs go dark.
The actual food is stocked by robot deliveries for automated preparation and serving. Typically thermoelectric cooling and convection microwaving is used. If the food on offer exceeds its shelf life, it is transferred back out, typically for use as animal feed or compost to fertilizer. Typical wastage ranges from 30% to 90%. If wastage is below 30%, additional dispensers are established in the area.
If wastage is above 90% for a six month period, the need for a dispenser is that area is re-evaluated. However, there are dispensers with consistent wastage rates of 95% to 99%, which are still maintained as active for special applications, to guarantee coverage in remote areas, or for historical purposes. (Donner Party of ten... of eight... of five... of two... never mind.)
The entire purpose of the food dispenser network is to eliminate the potential for a human being to go hungry involuntarily. Therefore there is no payment system. If you can read the sign and press the button, you get food. The miniscule costs of the program are paid for out of public utilities budgets.
Everyone has eaten from a dispenser now and again. However, the only habitual users of dispensers are those who have completely run out of funds (which in a post-scarcity economy is surprisingly difficult), street addicts to drugs or VR, and mentally ill people who are in the tragic narrow range between "competent to refuse treatment" and "threat to themselves or others."
Therefore, the foods dispensed are designed to be nutritious enough to support life and tasty enough to enjoy eating, with enough variety that someone could subsist indefinitely from public dispensers.
At first restaurants objected strenuously to the food dispenser system, feeling that it would take away their customers. This didn't happen. No money meant no sale; junkies preferred spending money on drugs or VR access to eating, which shortened their already tragically short lives; and the mentally ill were not that big a market, and often problem customers in any case.
A relatively recent trend within the last decade has been for restaurants to offer a handful of 'free' menu items, negotiated with SanSan to meet food dispenser standards. Fresh steamed vegetables and peanut-butter-jelly sandwiches are typical. Applicable signage must be posted and the free menu item is listed with the 'free' pictogram. Any free items given out are billed to the SanSan food dispenser system, not at markup value but at actual cost. Not all restaurants bother.
Ordinary folks go to restaurants for social and emotional reasons that transcend the mere need for sustenance.
The food dispensers and the restaurant free items are a means of guaranteeing social wealth and meeting the basic needs of human beings. SanSan is an arcology where no one ever has to miss a meal.
One objection is that illegal immigrants and fugitives can eat from public dispensers without being tracked. The counter-argument is obvious - we would feed them at public expense once they are taken into custody, so why not feed them _before_ we take them into custody? If they are nourished, they are more likely to surrender themselves or obey commands when located and confronted.
Every now and again someone proposes to reduce or eliminate the food dispensers. The petition rarely gets enough signatures to be voted on. The last major vote on food dispensers was back in the 2040s and over 90% of those voting wanted to keep them.
Even if the dispensers had a 99% wastage rate, I think I'd vote to keep them. I see them as a form of bragging -- look, we are so _rich_ that we have this last-resort measure of guaranteeing that yes, we really do meet the basic needs of any human being that enters our jurisdiction.
