cashman Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Question for the full line guys ( probably smaller ish route guys) do you ever put a row or a item on sale ? For example you have a bunch if chips that are going out of date soon and it may be quick way to get rid of them. Was thinking about trying one item per machine a week, something like the regular price for this item would be $100 and I'll sell it for .75 please share you thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 RJT swears it works my experiment with it was a failure basically it offset the sales of other items so i wasnt making any more money, in fact i was making a little less because i sold less "premium " items like pastry and jerky which i have marked up much more than chips so basically ymmv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Question for the full line guys ( probably smaller ish route guys) do you ever put a row or a item on sale ? For example you have a bunch if chips that are going out of date soon and it may be quick way to get rid of them. Was thinking about trying one item per machine a week, something like the regular price for this item would be $100 and I'll sell it for .75 please share you thoughts. In my experience they would sell but the other items started going outdated. I would put things in my honor boxes when they were with in a couple weeks of expiring...if you don't have honor boxes no time like the present to put some out. Also I think if you mark your product down to the sale price it gives the buyer the idea of how much you are marking up your products. They wonder if you are making money at the sale price....then mark down the other stuff. Poplady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngryChris Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I absolutely will not sell something at a discount just because it is going out of date. The reason being is that, at a slow location, a lot of people will get used to the idea that "If you wait until it's about to go out of date, it will be cheaper!" and you may find yourself selling things at discounts more often. This problem was discovered at an account where pastries would go out of date and I put the old pastries out for the employees. The employees would then swarm and eat everything pretty much instantaneously. I figured that they either a.) didn't want to buy it in the first place or b.) were just waiting for me to give it away. If the problem is that things are going out of date, it's far better to move the item to a better place ( such as a faster moving location or even an honor box which I have no experience with ) and stop putting things in that are going to go out of date... or downsize the machine.. or move the machine to a new location... etc... Again, I will NOT discount things if they are going out of date, i'll just pull them out and put them somewhere else or throw them away ( or give to my friends and family ). However, I do not have a problem with the discount/sales mode such as a promotional thing that you received and you want to sell it cheap in return for feedback to see if people would buy it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Never had much luck with discounting. Depending on the location I usually give or throw away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snack dude Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 I absolutely will not sell something at a discount just because it is going out of date. The reason being is that, at a slow location, a lot of people will get used to the idea that "If you wait until it's about to go out of date, it will be cheaper!" and you may find yourself selling things at discounts more often. This problem was discovered at an account where pastries would go out of date and I put the old pastries out for the employees. The employees would then swarm and eat everything pretty much instantaneously. I figured that they either a.) didn't want to buy it in the first place or b.) were just waiting for me to give it away. If the problem is that things are going out of date, it's far better to move the item to a better place ( such as a faster moving location or even an honor box which I have no experience with ) and stop putting things in that are going to go out of date... or downsize the machine.. or move the machine to a new location... etc... Again, I will NOT discount things if they are going out of date, i'll just pull them out and put them somewhere else or throw them away ( or give to my friends and family ). However, I do not have a problem with the discount/sales mode such as a promotional thing that you received and you want to sell it cheap in return for feedback to see if people would buy it again. Totally agree with all of the above. Ive had the exact same experiences. IMO you are much better off trying to change your selections and price points or quantities in the machine or other ways to cut down on stales. I think we all move almost out of date product from slow locations to locations where they will eat everything in the machine. By doing this we have cut our stales down to almost 0. I have an account I took over from another vending company. They said that it was a real dog even though the account was running three shifts. My first month there sales are almost triple what the other company claimed to be grossing. After some investigating with the employees and office people, I found out the route guy was marking down stuff and throwing the stales on the table in the break room. Thats all I needed to know. From then on I have always said "you are getting my best price and I am not backing up from that". What I do is take the stuff thats a little out of date or almost out of date and I give to the local boy scout troop for their meetings or the kids choir or after school programs at our parish. Soup kitchens or food banks almost wont take it anymore because the damn lawyers told them they are going to get sued if somebody gets sick. Sorry fell off the soap box again. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDERSONVENDING Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Question for the full line guys ( probably smaller ish route guys) do you ever put a row or a item on sale ? For example you have a bunch if chips that are going out of date soon and it may be quick way to get rid of them. Was thinking about trying one item per machine a week, something like the regular price for this item would be $100 and I'll sell it for .75 please share you thoughts. I tried that in a location and found that sales dropped off.It turned out they were waiting for them to go out of date to go in the discount row. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djkeller3 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 I guess I'm the odd one here. I sort of agree with those who don't discount, but just sort of... Here's my experience... the smaller the location, the less likely I am to discount anything for the same reasons already stated. The larger the account, the more beneficial it is to mark down your stales and at least recover your cost. It doesn't happen very often, but occasionally I have product I know I won't be able to sell before the stale date. I have one large account that I know I can transfer all that product to and it will sell without cannibalizing other sales. This is something you just have to learn about your accounts. This account generates between $400 to $500 per week, maybe a little more, between soda, snacks and cold food, with emphasis on snacks. That is why this works. It is the only account I have where this idea actually works. The short answer is that it can work, but you have to have the right accounts in order for it to work out right. That takes a willingness to experiment, and to learn the buying behaviors of your customers. They are not the same across the board and it's a mistake to assume they are. Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieMac Posted November 24, 2011 Share Posted November 24, 2011 I tried that in a location and found that sales dropped off.It turned out they were waiting for them to go out of date to go in the discount row. John This is exactly what happened at two of my locations. Now, I just take it with me. What I did was lower the par level for most items in the machine, then when something does go out of date, I take it out with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 RJT swears it works my experiment with it was a failure basically it offset the sales of other items so i wasnt making any more money, in fact i was making a little less because i sold less "premium " items like pastry and jerky which i have marked up much more than chips so basically ymmv Let me explain a little more about why I know it can work. Their is a local company to my area that has two rows in all their machines that are discounted one is a "daily special" the other is a weekly special". Another company has a promotions called the "nifty fifty" which has an item in every machine at .50 Keep in mind both these companies are LARGE multi million dollar operations.These guys have been at vending for a LONG time and do a good job at it. The "nifty fifty" company is one of the best independents I have ever seen and their accounts are VERY hard to get. These companies doing "discounts" says a lot about offering it and that it works. My personal experience is #1 it can be used as a selling tool to get accounts. "We offer a promotional products in all our machines that sell for .50 or less" The accounts like to hear these type things offered that maybe their current vendor is not. I have a hotel that I pay no commission at and have a .25 slot I put bag pop corn in that I pay .14 for. The manager likes it bacause it allows his employees to buy something cheap to eat. #2 reason is it allows you to move close dated products. I find it funny that people on here have said that "people just waited till things were discounted to buy" snacks are not short sleve shirts or coats. People buy when they are hungry not a week or three later when something gets discounted.Maybe you had an off week or so when you discounted product but it was not because people was waiting for the items to go to a discount price. #3 is when people are first starting out in vending with just one or two machines they buy the variety packs for Sam's because they cant buy case quainty of snacks. ALWAYS in those variety packs you will have some slow sellers like pop corn, ranch doritos, etc. So to combat this I tell people to put those odd ball snacks at a discount when they start getting close. I tell them to go buy those bright colored yard sell stickers and just put them on the shelf under the product they want to get rid of. After they are gone take the sticker off and go back to normal price. #4 is if you have cold food machine and have close dated cold food throw in a bag of chips/crackers, etc with it and it will sell. While not a true discount it allows you to move it instead of throwing it out. Also I sell this when getting the account as we offer "combo meals" in our cold food machines. Everyone loves a deal and it sells accounts on doing business with you. Be creative and it helps land you accounts. Just put the "discount" in you sales model when proposing accounts and make it work for you...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Let me explain a little more about why I know it can work. Their is a local company to my area that has two rows in all their machines that are discounted one is a "daily special" the other is a weekly special". Another company has a promotions called the "nifty fifty" which has an item in every machine at .50 Keep in mind both these companies are LARGE multi million dollar operations.These guys have been at vending for a LONG time and do a good job at it. The "nifty fifty" company is one of the best independents I have ever seen and their accounts are VERY hard to get. These companies doing "discounts" says a lot about offering it and that it works. My personal experience is #1 it can be used as a selling tool to get accounts. "We offer a promotional products in all our machines that sell for .50 or less" The accounts like to hear these type things offered that maybe their current vendor is not. I have a hotel that I pay no commission at and have a .25 slot I put bag pop corn in that I pay .14 for. The manager likes it bacause it allows his employees to buy something cheap to eat. #2 reason is it allows you to move close dated products. I find it funny that people on here have said that "people just waited till things were discounted to buy" snacks are not short sleve shirts or coats. People buy when they are hungry not a week or three later when something gets discounted.Maybe you had an off week or so when you discounted product but it was not because people was waiting for the items to go to a discount price. #3 is when people are first starting out in vending with just one or two machines they buy the variety packs for Sam's because they cant buy case quainty of snacks. ALWAYS in those variety packs you will have some slow sellers like pop corn, ranch doritos, etc. So to combat this I tell people to put those odd ball snacks at a discount when they start getting close. I tell them to go buy those bright colored yard sell stickers and just put them on the shelf under the product they want to get rid of. After they are gone take the sticker off and go back to normal price. #4 is if you have cold food machine and have close dated cold food throw in a bag of chips/crackers, etc with it and it will sell. While not a true discount it allows you to move it instead of throwing it out. Also I sell this when getting the account as we offer "combo meals" in our cold food machines. Everyone loves a deal and it sells accounts on doing business with you. Be creative and it helps land you accounts. Just put the "discount" in you sales model when proposing accounts and make it work for you...... i keep the slow sellers (cheetos) at 0.50 already ...if i go any lower i may as well just not buy them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 @dogcow, I have an account I cant keep Cheetos full of a twice a week stop... LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparta_Automation Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 @dogcow, I have an account I cant keep Cheetos full of a twice a week stop... LOL Cheetos is one of my best sellers. I keep 2 columns in most machines for Cheetos as well as Jalapeno chips! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 Let me explain a little more about why I know it can work. Their is a local company to my area that has two rows in all their machines that are discounted one is a "daily special" the other is a weekly special". Another company has a promotions called the "nifty fifty" which has an item in every machine at .50 Keep in mind both these companies are LARGE multi million dollar operations.These guys have been at vending for a LONG time and do a good job at it. The "nifty fifty" company is one of the best independents I have ever seen and their accounts are VERY hard to get. These companies doing "discounts" says a lot about offering it and that it works. My personal experience is #1 it can be used as a selling tool to get accounts. "We offer a promotional products in all our machines that sell for .50 or less" The accounts like to hear these type things offered that maybe their current vendor is not. I have a hotel that I pay no commission at and have a .25 slot I put bag pop corn in that I pay .14 for. The manager likes it bacause it allows his employees to buy something cheap to eat. #2 reason is it allows you to move close dated products. I find it funny that people on here have said that "people just waited till things were discounted to buy" snacks are not short sleve shirts or coats. People buy when they are hungry not a week or three later when something gets discounted.Maybe you had an off week or so when you discounted product but it was not because people was waiting for the items to go to a discount price. #3 is when people are first starting out in vending with just one or two machines they buy the variety packs for Sam's because they cant buy case quainty of snacks. ALWAYS in those variety packs you will have some slow sellers like pop corn, ranch doritos, etc. So to combat this I tell people to put those odd ball snacks at a discount when they start getting close. I tell them to go buy those bright colored yard sell stickers and just put them on the shelf under the product they want to get rid of. After they are gone take the sticker off and go back to normal price. #4 is if you have cold food machine and have close dated cold food throw in a bag of chips/crackers, etc with it and it will sell. While not a true discount it allows you to move it instead of throwing it out. Also I sell this when getting the account as we offer "combo meals" in our cold food machines. Everyone loves a deal and it sells accounts on doing business with you. Be creative and it helps land you accounts. Just put the "discount" in you sales model when proposing accounts and make it work for you...... Gallins Foods is a very large company with purchasing power. $15,600,000 last year...http://gallins.com/vending/nifty-fifty/ They are very successful with the Nifty Fifty Row of products but they do not use it for slow sellers. Nothing that has been priced and offered for sale in the machines is then placed in the Nifty Fifty row at lower pricing. All of the products are new products which they are able to purchase with their volume discounts. I think its a great idea but it doesn't really address the question of what to do with slow sellers nearing their expiration date. Poplady1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcron Posted November 29, 2011 Share Posted November 29, 2011 I agree with Angry Chris...you tend to find that some items sell well in one location but not in others. I either keep the par count down on the ones that don't sell well or when I see them getting close, I will replace them with fresh (lower quantity) and move them to somewhere where they do sell quickly. (or if they expire, box them up and hand them out to the homeless) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djkeller3 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Let me explain a little more about why I know it can work. Their is a local company to my area that has two rows in all their machines that are discounted one is a "daily special" the other is a weekly special". Another company has a promotions called the "nifty fifty" which has an item in every machine at .50 Keep in mind both these companies are LARGE multi million dollar operations.These guys have been at vending for a LONG time and do a good job at it. The "nifty fifty" company is one of the best independents I have ever seen and their accounts are VERY hard to get. These companies doing "discounts" says a lot about offering it and that it works. My personal experience is #1 it can be used as a selling tool to get accounts. "We offer a promotional products in all our machines that sell for .50 or less" The accounts like to hear these type things offered that maybe their current vendor is not. I have a hotel that I pay no commission at and have a .25 slot I put bag pop corn in that I pay .14 for. The manager likes it bacause it allows his employees to buy something cheap to eat. #2 reason is it allows you to move close dated products. I find it funny that people on here have said that "people just waited till things were discounted to buy" snacks are not short sleve shirts or coats. People buy when they are hungry not a week or three later when something gets discounted.Maybe you had an off week or so when you discounted product but it was not because people was waiting for the items to go to a discount price. #3 is when people are first starting out in vending with just one or two machines they buy the variety packs for Sam's because they cant buy case quainty of snacks. ALWAYS in those variety packs you will have some slow sellers like pop corn, ranch doritos, etc. So to combat this I tell people to put those odd ball snacks at a discount when they start getting close. I tell them to go buy those bright colored yard sell stickers and just put them on the shelf under the product they want to get rid of. After they are gone take the sticker off and go back to normal price. #4 is if you have cold food machine and have close dated cold food throw in a bag of chips/crackers, etc with it and it will sell. While not a true discount it allows you to move it instead of throwing it out. Also I sell this when getting the account as we offer "combo meals" in our cold food machines. Everyone loves a deal and it sells accounts on doing business with you. Be creative and it helps land you accounts. Just put the "discount" in you sales model when proposing accounts and make it work for you...... Excellent. Great information there and some great ideas. I've never done the combo meal idea with my cold food machines, but I'm going to give it a try soon (probably next week... ;-) Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Gallins Foods is a very large company with purchasing power. $15,600,000 last year...http://gallins.com/vending/nifty-fifty/ They are very successful with the Nifty Fifty Row of products but they do not use it for slow sellers. Nothing that has been priced and offered for sale in the machines is then placed in the Nifty Fifty row at lower pricing. All of the products are new products which they are able to purchase with their volume discounts. I think its a great idea but it doesn't really address the question of what to do with slow sellers nearing their expiration date. Poplady1 Yes, I am very familiar with Gallins Foods that why I mentioned their Nifty Fifty program. You say that "all of the products are new" Did you notice the picture with the Nifty Fifty item? (Lance Golden Cheese) I highly doubt that is a "new product" to a 53 year old company. Also Lance Golden Cheese can be bought for around .20 or less. I have seen them run the small bags of peanuts, pork skins, it has nothing to do with new, buying power,etc. It is sales promotion and nothing else. It is a "gimmick" that makes customers feel like you are giving them a deal on something. When in reality their margins are still within their allowed limits. The original poster asked about discounts in general and said the following: "Question for the full line guys ( probably smaller ish route guys) do you ever put a row or a item on sale ? For example you have a bunch if chips that are going out of date soon and it may be quick way to get rid of them. Was thinking about trying one item per machine a week, something like the regular price for this item would be $100 and I'll sell it for .75 please share you thoughts." He did not say discount items because of slow sellers, close dated items only, he said as an "example" close dated items. I addressed the slow seller question along with other reasons why a discount can and does work. Not sure what else I could have provided in the way of addressing the original posters question. IMO starting an honor box business with close dated items is not the answer. I believe if I were going to start a honor box business I would have a better plan than throwing close dated stuff from my vending route in some card board boxes and hoping it sells there. Looks to me that people would just pick up on the fact that you were putting close dated stuff and not like that. I have even seen people complain on a regular vending route about putting close dated items in a machine. I have heard it more than once "Your driver keeps putting things in that are getting ready to go out of date". If it is a slow seller in a vending machine why would it sell any better in a box? I think I would have a business plan and business model to follow for my honor box route just like a coffee route, water cooler route, etc..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Excellent. Great information there and some great ideas. I've never done the combo meal idea with my cold food machines, but I'm going to give it a try soon (probably next week... ;-) Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk Thanks, I hope it works well for you. Cold food is tough to make money on but getting creative helps move product. We even used some of the low cost items like the Wise chips that can be bought for .14 to add to the cold food items along with the close dated snacks. The cheaper things like Little Debbie cakes and such work good also. I always try to run combo meals to help sell cold food items. I try having it where the customer saves .10 to .25 by buying the items as a "combo meal". You can even do a complete meal with a entree, snack item and a can drink for one low price. Play with it and see what works and how you can maximize your sales and bottom line out of your cold food machines. Let us know how it goes..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogcow Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 IMO starting an honor box business with close dated items is not the answer. I believe if I were going to start a honor box business I would have a better plan than throwing close dated stuff from my vending route in some card board boxes and hoping it sells there. Looks to me that people would just pick up on the fact that you were putting close dated stuff and not like that. I have even seen people complain on a regular vending route about putting close dated items in a machine. I have heard it more than once "Your driver keeps putting things in that are getting ready to go out of date". If it is a slow seller in a vending machine why would it sell any better in a box? I think I would have a business plan and business model to follow for my honor box route just like a coffee route, water cooler route, etc..... i know we have some other honor box ppl here so maybe they can chime in but i put my longest dated stuff in the boxes because the volume is low at each location. hopefully its clear what i mean. yeah some accts i could do this at but those were the ones with high theft...since im not in the business of giving away free food i just cut those accts anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJT Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 i know we have some other honor box ppl here so maybe they can chime in but i put my longest dated stuff in the boxes because the volume is low at each location. hopefully its clear what i mean. yeah some accts i could do this at but those were the ones with high theft...since im not in the business of giving away free food i just cut those accts anyway. Exactly my point! No way would I put close dated items in honor boxes because of the low volume. Matter of fact it is best to try and find longer dated items like TGI Friday, Wise, etc over the Lays products that are shorter dated. Also, if I was having to take things out of a vending account all the time I would either buy diffrent products, set lower par levels, or move out of the account all together. IMO "discounts" work if done correctly and used to your advantage..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobTHJ Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 i know we have some other honor box ppl here so maybe they can chime in but i put my longest dated stuff in the boxes because the volume is low at each location. hopefully its clear what i mean. yeah some accts i could do this at but those were the ones with high theft...since im not in the business of giving away free food i just cut those accts anyway. My boxes are all over the place just like other snack accounts. Some sell out a 100 count box in less than a week while others sell only two or three items a week. I do use the fast moving boxes to get rid of dated product but no more so than my fast moving snack machines. I don't know if the boxes provide any advantage in this area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.