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Hi all, 

Any suggestions (short of putting up cameras and counting inventory the unit) that may help regulate the amount of product employees eat/drink in the warehouse and on the road.  I have zero issue with them drinking a water or soda or two during the day and having a snack etc.....however, drinking expensive energy drinks, ice coffees and 3 or more snacks a day is not acceptable.   I know the practical answer is that there needs to be a common understanding and its basically all on the honor system (that's this business in general) but I was wondering if anyone does anything clever to keep it all  under control?

 

thanks!

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I think I am one of the few that has this ideology here... but I would rather have GOOD employees who eat a few snacks rather than bad employees.  Of course, having good employees who don't abuse things is the best situation.  My question is, how do you know they are eating/drinking too much?

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Yes, I 100% agree with you.   It's the abuse I care about.   And I am upfront that I don't mind a drink or two and a snack a day.   What especially annoys me is the "snacking" and when I see half eaten bags of chips, a bite of a rice krispy treat and half eaten sour patch etc after a night of prekitting ...    I know they are eating too much as I find the wrappers all over the place (warehouse, vans, garbage) ..... if you sit and do the math, it adds up over a course of year and of course as the business grows .... 

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I have been in the cracker stacking business a long time. I have had employees steal money, wreak trucks,lock vending keys in machines, lose keys, fail drug test,call out of work with a hang over , I had to fire my cousin  it made a large part of my family mad at me and to this day they will not talk to me. The worst employee was a middle age lady who worked for me we had a sheriff department account. I was called in the the sheriff office to watch a video of  my route lady having relations with a prisoner and guess what I was picking up the machines the next day. vender 4321 let them drink a few drinks and eat a pack of crackers if that is the worst thing they do consider yourself a lucky person.

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I know it adds up.. and trust me when I say this, I think the majority of vendors disagree with me so don't take my opinion as a mainstream opinion.

Obviously, eating 5 snacks and 5 drinks a day definitely adds up.  It certainly does.  It could easily be over $8 if it were something that high, or $40/week or $2,000/year if they had 5 bottles of soda and about 5 various snacks each day.  Having said that, I doubt everyone is consuming that much.  But let's move onto my point...

Eating that many snacks is a big deal, don't get me wrong, but I would assume we are talking about maybe 3 snacks and maybe 3 sodas each day, but again, not my point.  My point is that IF your employees do a great job, you will save SO much more money.  I mean, lets assume that a good employee prevents product from going out of date.  Having 100 cans go out of date can easily cost $30+  Having 20 bags of chips go out of date can cost $6.50 (+/-).  Everything adds up real quick.  But that's just a minor cost.  Losing one account that does $5,000/year in gross sales might cost you $1,000 in profit (wild guess).  Losing one account that does $10,000/year could easily cost you over $2,000 in profit.  On top of losing accounts, your business name can be tarnished, losing out on prospective new accounts because of a bad reputation.  You have to spend time and resources looking for new accounts, etc...

Don't get me wrong, abusing that many snacks and sodas is wrong, but I have always had the mindset that those snacks and sodas might be what really help the drivers get through the stresses of their day.  If they make you lots of profits, then I don't really think it's that big of a deal that they give themselves an extra raise via snacks and soda.  Stealing money is different, but even then... it's difficult to catch a GOOD thief and it's very difficult to replace a very good driver.  So, if the drivers are GOOD, then you have to ask yourself... how much PROFIT do they really generate and how much are they actually consuming?  Let's say you paid your driver $12/hour, 8 hours each day for a total of $96.  They drink 4 cans of soda ($1.40), 2 bags of chips ($0.80), a candy bar ($0.65) and a pastry ($0.55).  That adds up to $3.40.  Yes, if they are drinking 4 energy drinks + a bunch of other snacks, then that will add up much more, but are you more worried about the $100 in profit they made you for the day or the $3.40 they took away from you?  A bad driver can get your profits dropping FAST.

Putting some kind of camera system will probably only cost you money, and I think a driver would hate the idea of having someone always looking over their shoulder, whether they are honest or not.  It just seems petty (to me) that someone would be upset over an employee getting some snacks.  Now, if they are bringing a boat load of snacks home each day, then that's a different problem.  Plus, are you SURE they didn't buy any of those snacks out of the machine?  I kid you not, I was questioned before about what I had in my trash box way back in the day, and I made it a point to tell them that I bought about half of what I purchased, or I at LEAST put 50% of the retail price in the machine (ie. I ate a $2.00 hamburger and put $1.00 in the machine).  I was allowed to have stuff for free, but I figured no one would care if I paid the actual cost of it.  In hindsight, I probably cost the company less than other people did.  I just don't like it when someone is worried about what *I* cost the company and not worried about all of the profits I bring in.

On a final note, let me rant you about the most infamous of gripes I ever had.  My former employers would occasional question WHY it took me 4 hours to service one account.  From this account alone, I collected at least $1,200 in 3 hours.  That was for bottles that cost $1.00 mostly.  I usually brought in something like 24-30 cases of BOTTLES into one single account and I personally serviced something like 11 accounts at this location alone.  I worked my butt off here, and they were upset because it took me 3 hours to restock $1,200+ worth of retail product.  They ALSO got upset with me because it took me about 1.5 hours to restock $700 worth of product at another location.  They ALSO got upset because it took me about 5 hours to service a campus that had 11 snack machines (no soda) in 7 different buildings in a campus that was 30 minutes away from the nearest location.  In one day, I would often collect as much as $1,500 when I had a regular route and it took me about 10 hours to do it all, including about 3 hours of highway driving and loading my own vehicle every morning.  I felt offended whenever they would question why it took me so long.  Why were they questioning my time? Because they felt like they paid me too much as I was getting paid overtime.  Because of those past experiences, I can understand how a good driver could get upset knowing that he/she restocks hundreds and hundreds of sodas and chips and candy bars every day and you're worried about if they had more than 2 sodas.  Again, don't get me wrong, abuse is abuse, but focus on how good of drivers they are.  If they aren't good at it, then you should replace them regardless, but if they are really good, perhaps just let it fly.  Just think about it.

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Georgia -- you were not understanding what I was saying.  I am not claiming that this is the worst thing in the world... I DO NOT MIND them eating and drinking a few things a day.....its the excess...... 

AngryChris -- that was a excellent, well thought out  response.  It's funny, I actually just re-read your response to another post I made on employee compensation and you told the same story.   

A lot of food for thought here and I have gone through the same math and do have priorities straight as far as good driver/bad driver vs. this actual cost.   The main frustration lies in the fact that I ask for there not to be excess and it remains a problem.  Honestly, I  would care somewhat less if everything was perfect on the route and up to my standard but unfortunately I uncover too many small things that I do not think is good for the business (things that cost money over time) that I could completely ignore this issue.  Also, as the business scales and you have 3,4,5 employees the absolute $ amount imo becomes material.........thanks again, I am going to give this more thought.........

 

 

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Everything we pay for is a real, legitimate expense here.  I know that.  You know that.  But bear in mind that we HAVE to pay employees, and sometimes we pay above and beyond their typical salaries.  I am in a spot where I am on the cusp of possibly growing a little more and hiring a part-timer (first employee).  Obviously, I don't have the same overhead as a 4+ person route would have.  I operate completely out of my truck and virtually nowhere else.  Some employees get only a wage.  Some employees get a wage + a healthcare plan that they pay for (but it's with a "better" rate).  Some employees get wages + benefits where a large portion of the benefits are paid for by the employer.  Some employees get wages + benefts + fringe benefits like a company car.  The point is that you really do have to ask yourself whether the snacks are such a big deal vs. their performance.

I still stand my my ideology that drivers should be given a reward system in which they are supervised regularly BUT they get bonuses for performance.  It should be fair.. like you can't blame them if a validator stops working and they lose money, but they should rotate product, work quickly, and do the job up to par.  If they perform under what you think are reasonable standards, then replace them.  Also, ask yourself this -- if one employee is particularly fast (let's say he can collect $1,200 retail dollars in 7 hours whereas most drivers would do that same route in 8 hours), but you KNEW he/she consumed 3 energy drinks each day, should you be worried about the $4~ in energy drinks they consumed or the 1 hour's worth of wage they saved by being fast?  When you consider stuff like that, you realize that sometimes you really are being petty... but losing ONE SINGLE $10,000/year account because they NEVER stocked the machine right, that will probably cost you more than all the snacks and sodas one driver actually consumes in an entire year.  Definitely give it thought, and make some policies if you have to.  Just keep in mind that the vending business is about providing a service, a service which involves providing cold drinks and fresh snacks and other products from clean, working machines... the business is not about worrying if an employee consumed 2 sodas or 4 in a day.  But DO replace the bad drivers.  That goes without saying.

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P.S.  I may have told the same story before but my numbers might be off.  That all happened almost a decade ago and my memory of it all gets fuzzier and fuzzier lol.  Plus, I didn't actually count the money so I am not exactly sure what I collected.  I just know that the secretary or boss would sometimes tell me how much the account did that day after I got back and dropped the money off.  Sometimes the boss would say "Hey, xxx account did $757 today" so I got kind of used to how much those accounts did.  However, my memory of being offended remains clear!  I even found out one time that my coworker was fired because they thought they caught him stealing.  Turned out, he was spreading money around from one good account to two slower accounts so that it looked like he serviced the machines when, in fact, he would service one machine and take a 30-minute nap instead.  They still fired him because sleeping on the job is just as bad as stealing in reality.  But I soon found out that they had set me up too, but I checked out perfectly.  I was upset that they set me up but I let that go because they checked everyone.

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You know, we snack in the warehouse as well, and often are just pulling from the "stales" bin rather than consuming saleable product.  It's already a write off anyway.  I let my driver take stales home as well.  I do watch so that stales aren't being "created" just to take home, so far it's not a problem...

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You could also put a snack and soda machine in your warehouse and price the cans and bottled water at 25 cents and the snacks at a low price. We have a snack and soda machine set up at very low prices and the drivers buy 4 or 5 drinks before they leave for their route and put them on their candy cooler to keep them cold for the day. It works for us.

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I let my drivers, packers, office and sales snack for free.  Most of the time, they only eat a snack or two, but I don't really mind.  A .40 bag of chips or a .65 candy bar may add up over time, but I look at it as a "perk" of the job.  As long as they don't make a mess and clean out their trucks, I don't really care about the snacking.  As far as drinks go, we did set up a glassfront pop machine which I sell the pop just below cost.  I did this because I was tired of half full cans and bottles of pop and water all around the warehouse.  I figured if they had "a little skin in the game" (paid for their drinks), they were less likely to grab a drink just to grab one.  My employees appreciate it and I APPRECIATE THEM!  I would rather have an employee eat a few bags of chips, than steal from me, mishandle my accounts, or do anything else that could hurt my business.  Besides, most employees, after a few months, back off the snacks because they are tired of snacks.  I see peaks in the snacking when I bring in new items, and then EVERYONE has to try them...lol.  But that's alright, because my drivers tend to share that with the accounts.  They will point out a new item and even tell them it's really good.

In this day and age, hiring is a BEAR!  And if a few snacks eaten is the worst problem to face, you're in great shape.  I would address the half-eaten bags of chips and treats with a meeting.  Just explain that snacking is a perk, but let's eat what we take and not make a mess.  Tell them that "you would hate to change this because of a few half-eaten snacks laying all over."  If you set the guidelines for free snacking, your employees will appreciate it and will even start "police-ing" each other.  Just my 2 cents.  :) 

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On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 11:32 PM, AngryChris said:

I know it adds up.. and trust me when I say this, I think the majority of vendors disagree with me so don't take my opinion as a mainstream opinion.

Obviously, eating 5 snacks and 5 drinks a day definitely adds up.  It certainly does.  It could easily be over $8 if it were something that high, or $40/week or $2,000/year if they had 5 bottles of soda and about 5 various snacks each day.  Having said that, I doubt everyone is consuming that much.  But let's move onto my point...

Eating that many snacks is a big deal, don't get me wrong, but I would assume we are talking about maybe 3 snacks and maybe 3 sodas each day, but again, not my point.  My point is that IF your employees do a great job, you will save SO much more money.  I mean, lets assume that a good employee prevents product from going out of date.  Having 100 cans go out of date can easily cost $30+  Having 20 bags of chips go out of date can cost $6.50 (+/-).  Everything adds up real quick.  But that's just a minor cost.  Losing one account that does $5,000/year in gross sales might cost you $1,000 in profit (wild guess).  Losing one account that does $10,000/year could easily cost you over $2,000 in profit.  On top of losing accounts, your business name can be tarnished, losing out on prospective new accounts because of a bad reputation.  You have to spend time and resources looking for new accounts, etc...

Don't get me wrong, abusing that many snacks and sodas is wrong, but I have always had the mindset that those snacks and sodas might be what really help the drivers get through the stresses of their day.  If they make you lots of profits, then I don't really think it's that big of a deal that they give themselves an extra raise via snacks and soda.  Stealing money is different, but even then... it's difficult to catch a GOOD thief and it's very difficult to replace a very good driver.  So, if the drivers are GOOD, then you have to ask yourself... how much PROFIT do they really generate and how much are they actually consuming?  Let's say you paid your driver $12/hour, 8 hours each day for a total of $96.  They drink 4 cans of soda ($1.40), 2 bags of chips ($0.80), a candy bar ($0.65) and a pastry ($0.55).  That adds up to $3.40.  Yes, if they are drinking 4 energy drinks + a bunch of other snacks, then that will add up much more, but are you more worried about the $100 in profit they made you for the day or the $3.40 they took away from you?  A bad driver can get your profits dropping FAST.

Putting some kind of camera system will probably only cost you money, and I think a driver would hate the idea of having someone always looking over their shoulder, whether they are honest or not.  It just seems petty (to me) that someone would be upset over an employee getting some snacks.  Now, if they are bringing a boat load of snacks home each day, then that's a different problem.  Plus, are you SURE they didn't buy any of those snacks out of the machine?  I kid you not, I was questioned before about what I had in my trash box way back in the day, and I made it a point to tell them that I bought about half of what I purchased, or I at LEAST put 50% of the retail price in the machine (ie. I ate a $2.00 hamburger and put $1.00 in the machine).  I was allowed to have stuff for free, but I figured no one would care if I paid the actual cost of it.  In hindsight, I probably cost the company less than other people did.  I just don't like it when someone is worried about what *I* cost the company and not worried about all of the profits I bring in.

On a final note, let me rant you about the most infamous of gripes I ever had.  My former employers would occasional question WHY it took me 4 hours to service one account.  From this account alone, I collected at least $1,200 in 3 hours.  That was for bottles that cost $1.00 mostly.  I usually brought in something like 24-30 cases of BOTTLES into one single account and I personally serviced something like 11 accounts at this location alone.  I worked my butt off here, and they were upset because it took me 3 hours to restock $1,200+ worth of retail product.  They ALSO got upset with me because it took me about 1.5 hours to restock $700 worth of product at another location.  They ALSO got upset because it took me about 5 hours to service a campus that had 11 snack machines (no soda) in 7 different buildings in a campus that was 30 minutes away from the nearest location.  In one day, I would often collect as much as $1,500 when I had a regular route and it took me about 10 hours to do it all, including about 3 hours of highway driving and loading my own vehicle every morning.  I felt offended whenever they would question why it took me so long.  Why were they questioning my time? Because they felt like they paid me too much as I was getting paid overtime.  Because of those past experiences, I can understand how a good driver could get upset knowing that he/she restocks hundreds and hundreds of sodas and chips and candy bars every day and you're worried about if they had more than 2 sodas.  Again, don't get me wrong, abuse is abuse, but focus on how good of drivers they are.  If they aren't good at it, then you should replace them regardless, but if they are really good, perhaps just let it fly.  Just think about it.

Hey Chris, I take it that they paid you hourly.  That always surprises me that so many vendors pay hourly.  I pay my drivers on a commission.  They earn a percentage of the route.  Now they are working on their time.  Not that time is a big factor to me, but I don't want drivers out past 6:00pm.  They run their routes and most are done by 3:00-4:00.  They really manage their routes well, because it has a direct impact on them and most of them are earning between $35,000 - $50,000 annually plus benefits (health and 401k), and of course, all the FREE snacks they want to eat....lol.  That may be something you might want to consider if you hire an employee.  Sounds like your former employer was a real putz.  :) 

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