An apparatus for dispensing discrete items into a multiplicity of containers such that each of the multiplicity of containers contains at least a predetermined number of items, the apparatus comprising: a conveyor for transporting items from a feeder to a location from which the items fall into the container; a counting mechanism for counting a number of items that have fallen off the conveyor into the container during operation of the conveyor and due to inertial forces after the operation; an actuator for operating or stopping the conveyor in accordance with control commands; and a computing platform for receiving a count from the counting mechanism and generating the control commands to be provided to the actuator.