Honestly, should i feel any shame for disliking servicing my u turns?

[JLM Vending]

I think about vending all the time. I have no problem driving, no problem dealing with customers, no problem filling the machine. However, with my u turns i am so getting tired of all the coins falling out every single time. I spend sometimes 10-15 minutes on good spots collecting all the lost quarters for just one location, especially with the Terminator 8 selects. One of my spots i had to pick up 300 spilled coins. good spot but took an hour to service the machine. And the worse part i dread is the night before, calculating which products to pack and how much im gonna bring, since i have about 13 different products that Im using. You know that saying, ''Why would you pay for a job?'' That is how i feel about the Terminators. I paid lots of money for a bad low pay job thats hard to pay back. And it's a job, they are kind of stressful to me. Or maybe Im just tired. Been spending a lot of time servicing these things the last couple weeks. And i think the coin system sucks and is a big hassle.

At the same time i do feel a little bit of guilt, the fact that i dread stopping by some of these locations. Knowing that for the decent spots, its going to be a long time collecting all the spilled coins, then servicing all 4 or 8 of the products, carrying the heavy bag. Then i have to accept that with these machines, it wont get any easier. My pal from LA tells me he has 10 times less stress just servicing his gumball singles. He started off just like me, thinking more is better. I believe him, but at the same time I don't want to just think singles are easier just to make some excuse with myself. I believe they are, i mean anything that doesn't take 10 minutes a stop to collect the spilled coins. Im just being honest with myself though. I like vending and think about it all the time when im not doing it. But it's the spilled coins and the complicated factors of managing all the different OVERKILL of products. My pal went through the same thing i went through 4 years ago and sold off his Terminators and started keeping things simple. I have to admit. Im tired of picking up the coins and spending hours at spots. When i first started i thought the more the better. I thought people who want it simple are just trying to be cheap and take the easy way out. But now i realize that i have put myself in a route that is a little hard to keep track of with all the products that don't sell at certain spots, and constantly trying new products. I have no idea how the company could not have come up with a better more functional machine.

Having said that, Im not buying anymore U turns. I will test the market and use my pals approach (singles, gumballs) and see if that really does do okay. I used to always think the more choices the better, but these days Im starting to believe in that less and less. I do like the look of a spin around multi layer machine. but then again, its all about the business model, not the look.

[Big Mike]

I think about vending all the time. I have no problem driving, no problem dealing with customers, no problem filling the machine. However, with my u turns i am so getting tired of all the coins falling out every single time. I spend sometimes 10-15 minutes on good spots collecting all the lost quarters for just one location, especially with the Terminator 8 selects. One of my spots i had to pick up 300 spilled coins. good spot but took an hour to service the machine. And the worse part i dread is the night before, calculating which products to pack and how much im gonna bring, since i have about 13 different products that Im using. You know that saying, ''Why would you pay for a job?'' That is how i feel about the Terminators. I paid lots of money for a bad low pay job thats hard to pay back. And it's a job, they are kind of stressful to me. Or maybe Im just tired. Been spending a lot of time servicing these things the last couple weeks. And i think the coin system sucks and is a big hassle.

At the same time i do feel a little bit of guilt, the fact that i dread stopping by some of these locations. Knowing that for the decent spots, its going to be a long time collecting all the spilled coins, then servicing all 4 or 8 of the products, carrying the heavy bag. Then i have to accept that with these machines, it wont get any easier. My pal from LA tells me he has 10 times less stress just servicing his gumball singles. He started off just like me, thinking more is better. I believe him, but at the same time I don't want to just think singles are easier just to make some excuse with myself. I believe they are, i mean anything that doesn't take 10 minutes a stop to collect the spilled coins. Im just being honest with myself though. I like vending and think about it all the time when im not doing it. But it's the spilled coins and the complicated factors of managing all the different OVERKILL of products. My pal went through the same thing i went through 4 years ago and sold off his Terminators and started keeping things simple. I have to admit. Im tired of picking up the coins and spending hours at spots. When i first started i thought the more the better. I thought people who want it simple are just trying to be cheap and take the easy way out. But now i realize that i have put myself in a route that is a little hard to keep track of with all the products that don't sell at certain spots, and constantly trying new products. I have no idea how the company could not have come up with a better more functional machine.

Having said that, Im not buying anymore U turns. I will test the market and use my pals approach (singles, gumballs) and see if that really does do okay. I used to always think the more choices the better, but these days Im starting to believe in that less and less. I do like the look of a spin around multi layer machine. but then again, its all about the business model, not the look.

From the day we bought our first route we have been picking up dud locations and swapping out junk machines. We started pickiong up SSF machines, other single run junk singles, Mismatched doubles, 4 in 1 carousels. You name it we have had every type of machine on location. You just have to accept that they are not good machines and move on.

Mike

[dperry]

Is it at all possible to remove the top layer of heads from a terminator and just turn it into a 4-way? That might cut down your product selection quite a bit.

I really like the single gumball model, since that is how I started out. But it has some drawbacks too. For you, going from 13 selections to 1 might be a bit extreme. Maybe you should just buy some cheap triples and swap your terminators for those. Then you can sell your u-turns off on ebay.

[antoniocinisi]

cut a piece of styrofoam into a square and slide it down the center rod.this will help keep the coin boxes in place.they now have taller coin boxes , that helps reduce the coin spills.you are better off getting rid of the machines as you said.I saved a couple of machines from my uturn days in case I get a location with very little room but other then that they are gone.

[Jax Snacks]

Don't get so stressed out man! We all have to start somewhere. I started with 10 Uturns back in 2000. In the short run, convert all your 8 selects to 4 selects. Then sell them off over time. Determine your business model going forward. Determine a simpler candy/gum product standard and stay with it. I really don't care what candies a location will ask for - they get what I give them! No big deal really.

Vending IS evolutionary!

[JLM Vending]

Don't get so stressed out man! We all have to start somewhere. I started with 10 Uturns back in 2000. In the short run, convert all your 8 selects to 4 selects. Then sell them off over time. Determine your business model going forward. Determine a simpler candy/gum product standard and stay with it. I really don't care what candies a location will ask for - they get what I give them! No big deal really.

Vending IS evolutionary!

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.