New Locations

Last year, I bought a soda route that included 7 machines on location. Most of the route has done as expected, but I lost two of the new locations. They were at apartments that got bought out. Although my service was excellent, the new owners had their own vendors they wanted to use. So now I am looking for locations again. Today, Dustin, Isabella and I are going to start the search for new locations. I have chosen to take my children with me as I search for locations because they will be with me when I fill up the machines. Originally, I had thought that having them with me would be a detriment, but I realized that not taking them with me would be a lie. I don't want anyone surprised when I show up to fill machines with a parade of little helpers. Dustin will hand out my business card and little Isabella will hopefully smile big. I think finding locations is the hardest part of the vending business. I find it hard to just show up at an apartment leasing office and ask if they need a soda machine. It seems like it would be easier to just get someone else to do it, but it is much better to do it myself. Then I know what the apartment looks like, who the people are in the office and how they responded. I used a locator for the first 2 machines that I had. I still have one of the locations, but the other one turned out to be a very poor producer. I know what I am looking for better than anyone else, so I will take the responsibility of finding the locations myself.

Time Flies

I am amazed at how time has flown by. I now have a new baby and 7 new machines. Isabella Jubilee was born in September. I had to contract with someone to help me with my machines through a difficult pregnancy. Isabella and I are doing great now. She is "helping" me with with my business by riding on my back. She has finally gotten use to the snugli and doesn't cry too much when I carry her to fill up the machines. As long as her tummy is full she is great. She usually just takes a nap while I work. The "helping" part is she acts as extra strength training so that I get back into shape faster.

Locaton Search Reload

Valentine's Day is over, so it is now time to start searching for soda vending locations again. I helped prepare a wonderful banquet for the couples in our church. That took up all of last week.

Also, the temperatures are a balmy 70 degrees this week. The last two weeks we have had snow and ice. The schools were out 4 days and then one day. Besides making it difficult for stocking the machines, the snow days actually ended up being fairly profitable. I suppose that everyone was trapped at home and needed their soda. I only had one machine problem related to the snow. The heater didn't work on my multi-priced bottle machine. The sodas seemed to make it through the cold OK. No one has complained. I should have opened a soda to make sure it wasn't flat.

This week was recovery from last week. I ended up with a sinus/ear infection and a broken filling on one of my teeth that had to be taken care of.

Now I don't have any more excuses not to contact some of the prospective locations again. Out of 68 apartment complexes that I originally contacted, there are 16 that have not said no outright. I will continue to work on them until they take my machines, or tell me NO.

Snow Day

Wow, did we get some snow. There is about 5 inches of snow outside. This is the first time I have been snowed out, I think. I did not get to go to service the soda machines today. I am hoping to get to them tomorrow. We have been out of school three days this week. It has given me time to get some accounting done.

The new location is doing well. I am excited that we got the machine placed. There is only one more machine in my backyard. I will get back to my search in a week or so. I don't think that soda is on anyone's mind when there is snow and ice on the ground.

Enjoy the snow.

New Location

I finally found a location. I am so excited. I found out a week ago Wednesday that I had a location. I moved the machine to the location on Monday morning. There was a little glitch. The person I use to move the machine had alternator trouble on his moving truck. He got it fixed and I got the machine moved. The kids and I got it filled. Then while I was testing it, I found that there was a jam n the Sprite selection. We unloaded all the Sprite and got it reloaded. Then the dollar bill exchanger did not work well. I changed it out with my backup bill exchanger. I also had to replace the light and starter and drill one of the locks bigger. Every time I move a machine it seems like the locks do not line up properly.

The machine is working properly so far. I have checked it twice since placing it. I am so excited to finally have that machine on location. It has been sitting idle since November 10th.

I have been helping Evan sell the World's Finest Chocolate for his school this past week. We went out all day on Tuesday and Thursday and half a day on Wednesday with his class. It was a lot of fun. The kids were troopers. They are learning a lot of valuable lessons. He is learning to sell things early in life. I think it will serve him well. He has already gained a lot of confidence.

Business cards

I finally broke down and ordered business cards today. I designed my own logo. So far, I have been printing the business cards from home, but I needed to buy some more paper. I decided to check out some web pricing and found that Vistaprint had reasonable prices. They do a great job in up-selling. I ended up getting 250 cards, 25 magnets, and 140 address labels for less than $20.

Cold or Hot

Cold weather is not the best for soda sales. The kids and I braved the cold again today to fill up our machines. Dustin does not like to be cold. His poor little hands were so red. He cried and cried today. My kids are definitely Texans.

I can dream of summer. At least my back is getting a break from all of the lifting. I am so glad that we are in Texas. I don't know how soda vendors do it in colder climates.