Fehmarn. It is Friday afternoon, a family is cycling through a residential area in Landkirchen. The three holidaymakers stop, pull out their cameras and wallets. In their sights: Fehmarn’s Tüdelautomat at Ringstraße 10. It is located on private property and is run by Sabrina Hasenberg and her family. What started as a joke has now become a real internet hit.
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The Fehmarn woman has the Discarded machines 2017 online and promptly set it up in front of her house. Since then, it has been lovingly filled with bracelets, necklaces, key rings and festival wristbands, which are then wrapped in small balls. “At first, people thought I was crazy,” says the 44-year-old, laughing. “But I thought the idea was cool.”
Here new balls are filled: Sascha Schönefeld, Sabrina Hasenberg and their son Bastian Trunk (l.) at work.
Source: Maike Wegner
And she is not alone in this. Over time, the machine became more and more well-known. At first, only a few customers came, but during the Corona period, the islander switched to “Tüdeltüten” (gift bags) that were sent out. And then came the breakthrough. “This year, things really took off,” says Hasenberg. She owes her success to her fans, who post the Tüdel successes on Facebook and thus help to make them more and more well-known.
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How the Tüdelautomat works
The principle: Customers insert a two-euro coin and turn a lever. The machine then randomly ejects a ball. These were previously filled by hand by Sabrina Hasenberg and her partner Sascha Schönefeld (36). They designed the silhouette of Fehmarn and used it to print things like key chains and bracelets. But leather necklaces with maritime pendants or even a Rubik’s Cube can also be found in the balls.
Instructions on how to proceed are provided directly on the machine.
Source: Maike Wegner
There is no such thing as a classic tinkerer, says Sabrina Hasenberg. All generations are equally fascinated by the machine. Nowadays, people even swap things if, for example, someone else has drawn the bracelet in the desired color.
Men often stay in the car and initially appear uninterested while the woman tests the device. “But then the pendant is quickly attached to the men’s keys. Then they find it useful,” says Sascha Schönefeld, laughing. Sabrina Hasenberg has made another observation. “And then there are the night owls and the morning owls who don’t want to be seen,” she says.
Idea generator wants DIY machine marriage
The family is delighted that the idea has already led to so many contacts. “When we’re in a bad mood, we just go outside,” says Sascha Schönefeld. The atmosphere at the Tüdel machine is consistently positive. “Now all we need is a real Tüdel couple who met through the machine,” says Sabrina Hasenberg, laughing.
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Despite all the fun, the machine is of course also a bit of work. Above all, the family has to pay close attention to when supplies are due. On Wednesdays, this is almost certain. That’s when a group from the Katharinenhof campsite regularly comes by and has now made the machine a regular stop on a bike tour. “Everyone in yellow safety vests and then rushing to the machine, it’s always a wonderful sight,” says Hasenberg.
To make the whole thing sustainable, customers are asked to only take the contents with them. To increase the incentive to return the ball, Sascha Schönefeld has made a mini basketball hoop through which the ball falls directly into a tube. “Since then,” he says, “we’ve gotten significantly more balls back.”
LN
