Not Enough Employees to Warrant a Vending Service?

Too often offices and small businesses in general who may only have a few dozen employees have a difficult time finding a vending machine service. If this sounds familiar to you, then this will most certainly be a great article to read as it will save you a tremendous amount of time and money.

Unlike an Office Coffee Service and the equipment used in such service, full line vending machines and compact vending machines are much more expensive and cumbersome to handle and place. It is for this reason, among others, that most vending companies are reluctant to place equipment in most small companies. Space is usually another factor as many small companies usually have very little space to spear for vending machines and may only be able to accommodate smaller more compact size vending machines. These smaller more compact vending machines usually come in the form of Snack & Soda/Drinks Combination units as these are the most popular. This is where the snack machine usually sits on top of the beverage machine. Even these snack and soda/beverage combination vending machines come in many different sizes, makes, shapes, models, configurations, and capacities.

Larger vending companies do not usually operate such machines and only service larger companies with the larger full size vending equipment such as soda machines, snack machines, full house coffee machines, cold food machines, frozen foods/novelty food machines, dollar bill changers and much more. There are a few decisions a small company must make when deciding what type of vending connection and relationships they need to pursue and establish. Smaller vending operators may best suit your needs, therefore one must call a number of vending service providers to see which ones may be a good fit for your particular circumstances. Before moving forward it is important to understand that there are mainly two types of vending services available. They are as follows:

FULL SERVICE FULL LINE VENDING. With this type of service the vending company will install the vending machines at no cost to you the customer. Certain product prices are agreed upon and some may ask that you sign a one year contract. The complexity of the contract and services may vary based on the size and scope of the company and number of employees. They will keep the machines full, clean and working at all times. The only thing the employees need to do is purchase the goodies from the machines.

OWNER OPERATOR VENDING SERVICE. In this case it is the actual business or an individual who purchases the vending equipment and services it themselves. This style of vending service usually means that the company will get to keep all the profits from the machines and may place the items which the employees would most like to have available for purchase. There is never the threat of a vending company pulling the machines because they are not happy with the sales and revenues in which the machines are producing. Therefore, for those of you who have had a revolving door of vending services in and out of your facility for one reason or another, this may be the best and most effective solution.

Today with a wide range of products readily available and with good reliable vending machines to choose from, it makes it easier than ever before to service your own machines IT IS VERY CRITICAL to understand why so many vendors have been in and out of your facility with their vending services and why they end in failure. Most of these companies are basically new start ups in the vending business who have been lured in by very smart business opportunity marketers who usually promise them ‘pie in the sky’ get rich quick deals. Often time these are marketers who are peddling snack & soda combination vending equipment in a one fits all solution program. These snack & soda combination machines may often include a food machine add-on in the mix.

These marketing and business opportunity companies usually sell new start ups a large number of machines and also offer to get them the location accounts to go with the deal. The new potential start ups fall for this opportunity only to find out that they over paid for inferior equipment and end up in locations where the machines were not going to pay off for some time. Not quite the results of the get rich quick pitch they were sold on. We have met and heard for decades the stories of such people who have lost their life savings and/or very large sums of money to such schemes. Many such victims are often smart folks, such as executives of large organization, bankers, attorneys and many others too numerous to mention. However, this problem continues to run ramped and one MUST be careful and be COUSCOUS of companies which usually POP UP in searches on the internet for “vending machines” or even just the word “vending”, who only offer a one type of machine solution fits all program. They may have fancy web sites with impressive references of whereby their machines were on some TV station or some cable network program and things of that nature. Such companies may also be found on sites such as Craigslist and many others who just simply cannot control the volume of listings being posted on their sites as hard as they may try, but for the most part do a good job. However, such marketing companies have the time, money and resources to continue to outsmart such advertising venues as the payoff is extremely rewarding. Even our company has tried to have a presence on such venues to counter these marketing operations but find it difficult to do so on a consistent basis. It is simply impossible to protect everyone from these types of operations.

THEREFORE, ITS BUYER BEWARE. In conclusion, if you decide to purchase your own vending machines for your company as an employee benefit, please follow these simple guidelines. Find companies who have a wide range of new vending machine choices to offer. Make sure they have been around for a very long time and that they are knowledgeable in the vending business itself and are not just out there peddling vending machines like so many others. Be sure that they can offer a full spectrum of backup and support for the equipment as well as to guide you in every step of the way in making your “Owner Operator Programs” a full and complete success from A to Z for many years to come. Avoid equipment which are not made in the U.S.A. if you are a U.S.A. based company. Always shop and compare price and equipment features and make sure that the supplier is able to explain the differences between one vending machine to the other. Therefore, you can make sure that you may be a part of the decision making process, and that they sell you the equipment which will best serve your needs based on facts.

Many companies may also choose to buy the larger equipment in new or completely refurbished condition for those with larger numbers of employees and space. By doing so, the profits derived from the vending sales often go toward funding office coffee, flower funds, company picnics and other employee and company related activities and benefits.

For more information, please contact us and we will be happy to answer your questions and concerns and offer the best solutions to your individual vending needs. www.onlinevending.com Toll Free: 855-282-8363