Monday, December 24, 2007

Protecting Your Vending Business Trucks And Drivers

While on the road, you vending trucks and drivers always face the threat of robberies, hijacking and vehicle break-ins. This is a common problem faced by many vending machine operators in running their vending business and may also result in losses.

In order to avoid such threats and problems, there are several measures that can be used to reduce the chances of occurrence of accidents and thefts as well as to provide a reasonable amount of safety to the route drivers and vending cargo.

For evolving a driver security plan, you will have to use a combination of tools and procedures for communication and security awareness. These tools include:

• Door lock hardware
• Safes
• Alarms
• Digital software security systems

Don’t ignore the need for training employees of your Planet Antares business operations regarding security mechanisms and procedures. However, it may not be easy to determine the relationship between the training imparted and the benefits derived by the employees. Many times, the cause of robbery and other incidents is the lack of adherence to safety practices by route drivers.

To avoid such ignorance, you must ensure that safety practices are instilled in drivers from the beginning. The route personnel should understand the importance of security measures for themselves as well as for the company.

Your vending business trucks will usually contain merchandise for stocking of vending machines, spare parts for servicing and the cash from collection trips to various locations on the vending route. The driver must always remain alert about his surroundings while on the road or stopping for a location’s servicing.

Ensure that the route drivers are ware of the risks involved. It’s best for them to begin their route early in the morning and exercise caution while driving through questionable areas so that there are lesser chances of break-in and theft. Most vending vehicles have a sign of “vending services” that can make them a potential target for crime. If you can change the sign on your vehicle, it may difficult for robbers to detect whether it’s a transport vehicle or not.

Your task is to schedule and plan the activities of route drivers in the most effective and safe manner possible. Look for alternative, secure routes and avoid having the same drivers at the same place each day. You should also ask the drivers to take note of the nearest police station, hospital and phone booth on their route. During emergency, this information can help them greatly.

Planning is not just limited to prevention methods. You must be prepared to handle any unforeseen problems and emergencies. It may be a small issue such as lost keys or a bigger one such as a robbery. You should give instructions that can help the driver handle any problem safely and without panicking.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

How To Get Rid Of “Exact Change” Vending Situations

How many times have you faced the “exact change” situation in your vending business?
Vending operators with coin operated vending equipment have to work with machines that accept a single or certain number of coins only. This may restrict the number of customers that buy vending products as some of them don’t have change.

With advancement of vending technology, you have the option of adopting new currency payment systems that allow customers to pay for desired products through different modes of payment, such as coins, bills and credit or debit card. Some of these machines even recycle bills and have multi vending facility.

Planet Antares vending machines allow you to satisfy maximum possible number of customers by giving them the ability to use whatever currency change they have at the point of purchase. This can not only increase sales but also enhance business profitability while providing convenient payment tools.

A wider variety of price points can be introduced in the vending machines without fear of consumer resistance due to the technological improvements. These have increased the reliability and durability of bill validators, currency acceptors and changers. So, customers are encourages to make impulse purchases rather than stop for finding the right number of coins or bills for the same.

When you offer multi payment options, there are various benefits from the same. The first and most obvious one is the ease of payment for customers. The second one is the ability to sell a larger variety of vending products for you. There is no restriction on the price either. Credit card users can easily pay for higher priced items without thinking twice. For example, vending machines that dispense digital products such as iPods are expensive and able to accept credit cards from customers on the run.

For vending equipment accepting dollars, there should be a dollar sorter installed therein. Dollar coins are given out as change while accepting $1 and $5 notes. Be careful about keeping the vending machines filled with coins to return as change when customers insert more than the exact amount of the purchase price. There’s the benefit of carrying lesser coins to the bank for you.

Once you have bought reliable and effective vending equipment like Antares vending machines, there will not be much difficulty in convincing location owners for keeping your vending machines. Such multi payment vending machines will not only enhance your business profits but also keep the location owners happy.