Integrated column wall for a vending machine

A vending machine comprising:

• a cabinet frame including top, bottom, side and rear walls that collectively define a central cavity;
• a door pivotally mounted to the cabinet frame, said door being selectively movable between an open condition, wherein access to the central cavity is permitted for loading of product containers into the vending machine, and a closed condition, wherein dispensing of product containers is permitted;
• a plurality of column walls arranged within the cabinet frame and separating the central cavity into a plurality of product stack areas, each of said plurality of column walls being formed from a material sheet having top, bottom and side edges that define a substantially planar wall surface, said planar surface being defined by a storage region and a dispensing region;
• and
• a decoupling element extending fore-to-aft across the planar surface in the dispensing region, said decoupling element separating the bottom edge from the dispensing region such that the dispensing region is only connected to the storage region through web members defined about the decoupling element, wherein a transfer of any bow force from the storage region to the bottom edge is substantially eliminated.

A method of forming a column wall used to form a stack area for product containers to be dispensed from a vending machine comprising:

• providing a substantially rectangular metal sheet having top, bottom, and opposing side edges that define a substantially planar wall surface;
• forming a plurality of vertically spaced stiffening elements out of the wall surface;
• and
• creating an alignment member along the wall surface for positioning product containers for proper dispensing purposes.