1920s
spare some change?: menstrual product dispensers debut in public bathrooms
With the newly-popular disposable pads came the genius idea to sell them in restrooms, where you'll often hear the girl in the next stall say, "Oh crap! I have my period?!"
Thank goodness for those clunky coin-operated sanitary napkin dispensers in the school restroom. How many times have those saved you? You can thank Kotex and its partner, the West Disinfecting Company, who first installed these vending machines in the 1920s.
So, how much did a modern disposable pad from a new vending machine cost in the '20s? Ten cents! New technology is always so expensive at first...
