Stir stick dispenser for a beverage vending machine

A stir stick dispenser for a beverage vending machine, the stir stick dispenser comprising:

• a stir stick magazine configured to contain a stack of stir sticks arranged to rest on a support surface;
• wherein each stir stick of the stack of stir sticks can be affected by an upward or downward warping, with respect to the support surface, resulting in an increase of an overall transversal footprint of the stir stick up to a predetermined maximum transversal footprint;
• and
• an extractor arranged below the stir stick magazine to extract individual stir sticks from the stack;
• wherein the extractor is operable to move transversally to a longitudinal axis of the stir sticks from and to a rest position, in which the stack is arranged to rest on the support surface, and to extract, at every back-and-forth movement, the stir stick arranged on the bottom of the stack;
• wherein the stir stick magazine includes a counteracting member, a lower edge of which defines, together with the support surface, an outlet of the stir stick magazine having a height of the same thickness of a stir stick to allow a single stir stick to pass through the outlet at every extraction;
• wherein the support surface is so sized that only a central portion of the stir stick at the bottom of the stack is resting on the support surface, while leaving side portions of the stir stick protruding cantileverly from the support surface;
• wherein the counteracting member has a width, at least at a lower edge thereof, substantially equal to the width of the support surface, and the stir stick magazine comprises a lower end spaced apart from the support surface, in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal axes of the stir sticks, by a distance greater than a height of the outlet of an extent that, during extraction of a stir stick, the counteracting member and the lower end of the stir stick magazine do not interfere with the side portions of the stir stick, even when the stir stick resting on the support surface, is affected by such a warping as to result in an increase of the overall transversal footprint of the stir stick within the predetermined maximum transversal footprint.