An article dispensing apparatus includes: one article discharging apparatus; and another article discharging apparatus, the one article discharging apparatus and the other article discharging apparatus being capable of being combined in a back-to-back manner. The one article discharging apparatus includes: a driving source; an output gear configured to rotate by a driving force from the driving source when a discharging instruction has been given to the one article discharging apparatus; link levers where each link lever is provided rotatably about an axis of the link lever; and a controller configured to perform return processing including rotating the output gear in another direction or one direction to return the output gear to a standby position when the output gear that has been rotated in the one direction or the other direction from the standby position by the discharge instruction does not return to the standby position within a preset time.