Coin and Dollar Bill Jams

Today has been a frustrating day on the soda route. Three of my machines were malfunctioning. It is amazing that they always seem to malfunction at the same time.

The first machine I went to this morning had a major coin jam. It had been jammed for a while because there was more coins in the shoot than in the coin collection box. Someone had put pennies in the machine and then someone else put a popsicle stick in it. No one called me even though I have my number and a complete refund policy posted on the machine. I really do not like taking people's money. I would rather the machine function properly and have satisfied customers. Now it will take a while to regain the customers' trust.

The second machine I went to also had a coin jam. Again someone had put pennies in the machine. Pennies just cause jams. They are supposed to fall through, but a lot of times they get jammed. As I was fixing the machine, a lady from the rental office came over and said that they had lost three sodas worth of money. That is frustrating because they have my number and their phone is just 50 feet from the machine. Many times the office will call me when there is a problem, but for some reason they didn't. She said a lot of residents had complained. Since she was new, I explained to her that all they have to do is call and I will repair the machine within a few hours. If they take the names of the residents down, I would also return their money to them. A gentleman called and told me the machine was broken. I returned his money to him. He was surprised, but happy. Customer service is very important to me.

The third machine just had a dollar bill jam. Fortunately, when that happens only the person who put the jammed bill in loses money. No one else can use the dollar bill exchanger. They have to use coins. They might be frustrated with the inconvenience, but at least they don't loose money and they will generally come back with change if they are thirsty.

All of the problems were easy to remedy. They are also to be expected. It is just a thing you have to be willing to deal with when working with mechanical equipment.