Further reduction of onboard wagon sales by JR East
 

JR East has announced that starting July 1 there will be no longer sales of hot coffee on board Shinkansen (*note: Tokyo-Shin Osaka portion of Shinkansen is operated by JR Tokai, which does not apply in this case) and Express trains on their JR East trains.

Currently hot brewed coffee is sold on wagon service on Shinkansen and Express trains on JR East using large thermos pot, Shinkansen trains even has brewing machine onboard and brew freshly onboard. JR East has given same reason as JR Hokkaido gave, as Konbini became standard at many train stations passengers are buying drinks, foods, snacks, etc. at stations before boarding a train.

Starting July 1 JR East will no longer sale bento, sandwich, ice cream, boxed souvenir sweets, newspapers, magazines, hot coffee, etc. onboard. Items sold on JR East onboard wagon service starting July 1 will be bottled soft drinks, alcohols, and snacks.

JR East trains with onboard wagon sales service effected starting July 1 are:

Shinkansen:
Hayabusa, Hayate, Tsubasa Komachi (no wagon sales on Morioka-Akita portion), Kagayaki, Hakutaka, and Toki.

Express Trains:
Azusa, Kaiji, Hitachi, Supre View Odoriko, and Inaho (wagon sales on Niigata-Sakata only).

Sign of the times. I remember back in the 1980s when JNR ran a full dining car with waiter service. It was always packed.

The last time I had coffee from one of those carts it was awful. I've never ordered it since. Will miss the other options, though.

Good to see alcohol sales will continue. Sometimes you don't have time to grab a cold beverage when rushing onto a train after a business meeting goes long. The work day ends the instant I step onto the shink back home!

And keep selling the dried squid to go with the beer/booze. Oh yeah.