More PPE vending machines added at McCarran, rental car center
Additional vending machines selling personal protective equipment were launched Friday at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport as passenger traffic ramps up with the reopening of resort properties along the Strip.
Five new machines were added inside the airport, including by the baggage claim areas and near different security checkpoints at McCarran. The new machines bring the total of PPE machines at McCarran to eight.
One machine was also installed at the McCarran Rental Car Center located off Warm Springs Road and Gillespie Street.
Travelers can find gloves, masks, disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer and more in the machines.
The addition of the new machines comes on the heels of the success of the first three machines installed at the airport last month, according to Marcos Modiano, co-founder of Prepango, the San Diego area based company behind the vending machines.
“It’s been received very well,” Modiano said. “We knew the basic concept made sense, but I didn’t know it was going to get as much attention.”
Other airports across the country are ordering the machines, Modiano said, including airports in Sacramento, Long Beach and Ontario, California and in New Jersey and New York.
In addition, some Las Vegas resort properties and transportation centers across the country inquired about them. Prepango also is in talks with operators of large meeting spaces in Las Vegas.
“Anywhere where people are on the move and there’s a need for PPE and it’s not readily available,” he said.
Since the machines operate 24 hours, they’re a convenient option for those traveling amid the mass closures at McCarran, Christine Crews, McCarran spokeswoman, said last month.
“With airlines now requiring people to wear masks on board and that sort of thing, I think it makes more sense for them to bring in the units,” Modiano said. “For us it was to help provide a sense of security. That itself we feel would help bring people back to travel at the airport.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.
