Long gone are the days when vending machines only offered bubble gum, candy, soda and trinkets.

Pueblo County residents now can renew their vehicle registration in a flash using a self-service terminal that has been placed inside the South Side King Soopers at 3050 W. Northern Ave.

The Colorado MVExpress, which has been in operation for about two months, is designed for customers who need their vehicle registration card and license plate tag immediately.

Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert “Bo” Ortiz said 76 transactions had been processed through the new terminal as of Wednesday.

Ortiz posted a photo and a brief summary of the machine on Facebook last week.

“People are saying that it only takes about five minutes to complete the transaction. Usually there is no wait. It is going really well,” Ortiz said.

He said he wanted to slow roll the opening to give his staff time to figure out the accounting of the system.

Boulder County and La Plata have similar machines.

“You would have to put in a whole new substation or branch office together to be able to do what this machine can do,” Ortiz said.

He said his office is looking at adding another machine in Pueblo West. He has not determined where it will be placed.

“We put the one at the South Side King Soopers because most of the 66,000 residents of the city of Pueblo live in the South Side area. And if you have ever been to that King Soopers, it’s jampacked all day and all night,” Ortiz said.

“There’s another big chunk of our county population in Pueblo West.”

The machine is privately owned by Intellectual Technology Inc. in California. The company has an agreement with the county for services.

There is a $4 convenience fee to use the machine.

The terminal has a touch screen where people can type in their license plate number or they can scan the bar code on the side of their renewal card.

Users can review the vehicle record and make payment for taxes and fees by credit card, debit card, check or cash.

The machine produces a registration, license plate year tab and a printed receipt of the payment transaction.

“The machine will ask for your driver's license because there’s a state law of secure and verifiable identification that says that the person who is renewing the plates and getting the tags has to be the person who owns the vehicle,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said the new machine is really taking off.

“I think it’s a great idea,” he said.

amestas@chieftain.com

@mestas3517