An electric motor gearbox for a vending machine has four main parts: a housing, a minimotor, a printed circuit board, and an assembly of gears. An output pinion and an output gear are so strong that they permit the minimotor to stall before the assembly fails in response to jamming of a product item in the vending machine. Also, the motor gearbox is less prone to failure caused by constant starting and stopping, excessive flexibility of a gearbox housing cover, intermittent vibrations, and the like.