Lost Location

I lost one of the locations for my soda vending machine. It is at one of the three apartment complexes. The supervisor told the manager that corporate had a new vendor that they wanted to go with. Apparently, there is nothing wrong with my service, corporate has just made a decision about who they want to have at their apartments. I am disappointed about their decision. I think that they are making a mistake, of course. I provide some of the best service that they will get. There are not many soda machine operators that will answer calls on the weekend or in the evening. I seldom see a machine that has a contact number on it. I know for a fact that their last contract did not even come close to the service that I provided. I had to remove the machine from the property and call the company that owned it to come and pick it up. It took the apartment complex 2 months of calling before I took care of their problem. It took me 2 more months of calling to finally get the vending machine returned.

The complex that I lost is the lowest producing complex. The machine is located in a gym that is closed at 6 PM. Many people want soda much later than that. I had asked several times to move the machine outside so that it had 24 hour access. I think the complex could have been my highest producing one if the machine was outside at a convenient location. I am more worried about losing my other location that is part of the same corporation. I have not heard anything from them and I gave them their commission this morning.

So, now how do I find a new location? It is very hard to drag 4 kids along to a bunch of apartments while I asked the managers if I can place a machine there. People tend to get overwhelmed with the kids. My kids are good, but 4 young children is unusual enough that people don't know what to think.

Plan A: I have decided to pay a finders fee of $100 to any of the apartment personnel that connect me with my next location. This is the first time I have tried this, so I don't know if it will work. I have given a flier to the personnel in each of the three apartment complexes that I have machines at. My hope is that they are impressed enough with my service and could use $100 that they will recommend me to some of their friends that work at other complexes in the area. Several of the women said that they would find me something. I will just have to wait and see. I will move the machine in about 10 days. I am hoping that I have somewhere to move it to. Otherwise, I might have to go to plan B.

Plan B: I know several locations that do not have a soda machine. I will try finding someone to watch the kids while I go over and talk to the managers and see what they suggest.

Plan C: Dropping in on as many of the apartment complexes in the area as I can without the kids, perhaps while my husband is home on Saturdays.

Plan D: Offering a finders fee through fliers placed on the machines themselves.

Right now, I am not too desperate. I will try just plan A. If I loose the location of the sister complex to the one I am loosing, I will be desperate and have to implement one or all of the other plans.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on getting locations that are kid friendly? I have been blessed with falling into the locations that I have now as easily as I did.

Excess humidity a problem for my soda machine

The popping noise turned out to be the fan from the compressor hitting the metal "hat" over the compressor coils in my soda machine. When I got to the soda machine, the compressor was covered with fluffy snow white ice, the sodas were warm, and the fan was definitely hitting something. I had to unplug the compressor and the fan. After some investigation, I found that the flap that lets the sodas fall into the dispenser was lying in the dispenser instead of hanging in the door. This machine has a faulty flap. When I first purchased the machine, the flap was missing and the one they replaced it with isn't the exact match. Every once in a while it comes out and falls into the dispenser. Well, it turns out that the compressor does not like that much warm, humid air entering the cooling chamber. It works over time and freezes up.

Luckily, it is easy to fix a snow white frozen compressor. I unplugged it and the fan while leaving the rest of the machine plugged in so that it would still vend sodas. I left a note on the machine while I came home and got my handy blow dryer. With blow dryer in hand, I heated the ice on the compressor until it melted. Then I repositioned the "hat" so that it wasn't hitting the fan. I reattached the flap and plugged everything back in. I checked the machine the next morning and it was working as good as new.

Now if I could figure out how to get another one of my machines from filling up the water overflow tank in the summer. I have replaced the original tank with one at least twice as large. I have placed extra sponges in it so that there is more surface area for the air to blow over it and evaporate the excess water. Still it overflows by the second week. This is a machine that I really wouldn't have to check but twice a month except for the water overflow problem. In the winter, I do not have a problem. I can go a month or two without having to empty the water. The machine is in an indoor climate controlled location. I have checked the seal and looked for areas that could be leaking warm air and have not found any.

I was called today for another jam at one of the apartment complexes. Someone had put in a handful of coin car wash tokens. I just wonder why they thought that those would work. I am just hoping that it was kids that didn't know better rather than an adult just trying to get some free soda. Maybe I can find the car wash that takes the tokens and wash my van.

Tomorrow is another day in this exciting vending business. I wonder what I will find.

Summer is great for soda vending

Summer is here. Well, not officially by the calendar, but schools are letting out and it is heating up. We should hit 100 F his week. I am so excited. As the temperature rises, the soda sales go up. I love summer time. Already, I can see sales increasing. I noticed that the pools at one of the apartment complexes that I have my soda vending machine opened last week.

As sales increase, so does coin jams and other mechanical problems. I have had to do a lot of monitoring of the vending machines at apartment complexes. I guess the people there have spring/summer fever like my four year old. The last two weeks I cannot get him to stop climbing the walls (literally, as well as trees, furniture, and anything else). Someone put 20 pennies in one of my machines last week. I have been checking one machine every day or two. I always put a sign on the machine that it is working and when it was last checked or fixed. That helps get the customers back faster after a big coin jam or two.

I just got a call about one of my machines making a popping sound. I am really curious about that one. I have to wait until the kids wake up from their nap.

Summer is wonderful for business. Go out and make some money.