Vending Machines & Telemetry

For over a decade telemetry technology has been one of the fastest growing areas aimed at streamlining the vending industry and its many diverse operators. It is important for a number of things to be considered when looking for who may offer the best cash and cashless payment systems and telemetry products and services. An operator should not only be looking to fulfill their immediate short term cash,  cashless payment systems and telemetry needs, but also be looking at their potential long term needs as well.

There are a great number of prominent companies who are leading the charge in telemetry technologies and services. It is for this reason that you should make it a point to look at all of them in order to get a good and basic understanding of what each and every one have to offer now as well as in the future. It is really a jungle out there and so by educating yourself you will save a tremendous amount of time, effort and potentially a lot of money.

For entry level and small vending companies who would like to get positioned with cashless payments and some basic telemetry services one should look to companies such as InOne Technology, MEI, USA Technologies, and Coin Acceptors to name a few. Some of these companies are capable of offering multiple solutions with an all in one unit such as a Bill Recycler and a Credit/Debit Card Reader. The recycler gives you the ability to accept $1 – $20 bills and retune change in smaller bills and coins, and using the same unit you will have the ability to accept the credit cards which may be swiped through a slot in the same unit. This in itself is a very powerful tool. You can then take it a step further and for a few dollars more per month sign up for additional telemetry services which are over and above those which come with some of the basic plans.

Most of these companies have the capability of offering more expanded services such as the Coin Acceptors Arrow Credit Card Reader. These offer your customers more ways to pay and more incentive to spend and offer features such as:

  • Multi-vend capability allows for more purchases.
  • Only system with voice prompting for enhanced consumer experience. 
  • Multi-lingual capabilities make communicating easier. 
  • Most payment options for convenient purchasing. 
  • Most flexible choice of merchant bank options supports your banking preferences.

They also offer the Arrow Connect (Remote Data Collection System) which takes the guesswork out of inventory and restocking through 24/7 monitoring and other features such as:

  • Immediate alerts increase machine uptime.
  • Best DEX data- Accurate & reliable machine information.
  • Only solution that grows with your business needs. 
  • Installs in less than 10 minutes.
  • Adjusts prices remotely to maximize revenue.
  • PCI (Payment Compliance Industry) Level 1 compliant meets the highest DSS (Data Security Standards).

Should you decide your company is at the point where it needs even more services, you may then add the Arrow Vision Management Software which gives you an accurate view of your operation at all times, so you can focus your efforts on aiming higher with your business plans.  Manage your inventory needs to reduce costs as well as the following benefits and services:

  • Most comprehensive alerting system gives you peace of mind monitoring.
  • Provides dynamic scheduling and pre-picks to increase your operational efficiencies.
  • Streamlined web-based software eliminates hidden costs like upgrades and updates.
  • VDI compliant for route management software.

This is one example of how this and other companies are able to serve you and your vending business. The thing is that once you settle in with one of them, then you want to stick with it and have one uniformed system solution for your entire business.

Another big name in the world of Vending Machine Route Management and Remote Monitoring is a company by the name of Cantaloupe Systems. Their systems and programs include such things as the following.

“Seed Platform” which is the industry leading Cloud-based application which is designed for vending operators to help track, manage and improve operations to become more efficient and profitable just to name a few of its benefits.

“Seed Cashless” is designed to increase vending sales volume and maximize profitability by using their cashless offering which fully integrates with its Seed Platform.

 “Consulting Services” includes what it called (CSMs) Customer Success Managers to provide consulting services beyond the implementation of Seed technologies.

“SeedSync” provides an integrated solution to synchronize your Seed application and Vending Management System (VMS), allowing for optimal performance across your vending operations.

“OpenVDI” (Vending Data Interchange) is an affordable service that transmits DEX data from your vending machine to your VMS in real-time—ensuring accurate data to help you manage your business effectively.

To gain more in depth knowledge about Cantaloupe Systems please visit their website.

As you can see, there is much to learn when looking for vending telemetry. Do not get locked in to just any telemetry programs or systems by some vending machine sales person just to find out later it was a big mistake. Do your homework so you can make informed decisions as to what will be best for you today, tomorrow and into the future.