Popular Post fyver Posted May 21, 2012 Popular Post Share Posted May 21, 2012 This just might be the most useful thread ever... Well done kandyking. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 22, 2012 Author Share Posted May 22, 2012 Day 20: Day 19 was a sunday so no action. Today we learn how some of the locators deal with replacement locations. To me, that is a key component to a quality locator. Kickstart: Nothing new from kickstart today but I gave them 2 locations to replace and they readily agreed. Locators R Us: After a slow start due to phone issues, the new and improved LRU has been shot out of a cannon and roaring toward the finish line. 2 more quality locations delivered today puts them at 10 out of 10 and me begging for a re-order. I must admit, I was skeptical at first but LRU really delivered. I hope they can keep this sprinters pace up forever. LRU, wear your crown proudly, it is well deserved. Let's hope the 2nd order of 10 goes as well as the first did. Take a bow. First Choice: No new locations from First Choice yet. They currently placed 5 out of 10 and fading fast. Eddie Bauer: Nothing new from Eddie today but they lost a location and are down to 2 out of 6. In their defense, they readily agreed to replace the location. Rising Star: After the crippling blow of losing a location that yielded $17 in 2 days, I reported the loss to Rising Star and am happy to say that they ALREADY replaced the location. This puts them at 2 out of 5. Below is the contact information for these locators and it is placed in order of best to worst as of todays date Locators R Us Phone: 954-671-5050 Email: info@locatorsrus.biz http://www.locatorsrus.info/index.php First Choice Locators Phone: 407-341-2430 Email: help@firstchoicelocators.com http://www.firstchoicelocators.com/ Rising Star Locators Phone: 870-203-9005 Email: alexbarlow@risingstarlocators.com http://risingstarlocators.com/ Kickstart Locations Phone: 800-640-3598 Email: sales@kickstartlocations.com http://www.kickstartlocations.com/ Eddie Bauer Phone: 877-216-4601 Email: eddiebauerjr@gmail.com http://www.eddiebauervending.com/ Please send me more locators! LRU can't do it all single handedly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 Day 21: No action today from anyone and a much needed day of rest for the Kandy King. The rankings remain the same until tomorrow. Rankings as of today 1st - Locators R Us 2nd - First Choice 3rd - Rising Star 4th - Kickstart 5th - Eddie Bauer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 23, 2012 Author Share Posted May 23, 2012 UPDATE: I spoke too soon. Locators R Us comes with their best day yet showering me with not one, not two, not three but FOUR quality locations. This puts them at 14 out of 20 and clearly the best locators on this list. LRU has earned my business for life. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerformaVending Posted May 23, 2012 Share Posted May 23, 2012 UPDATE: I spoke too soon. Locators R Us comes with their best day yet showering me with not one, not two, not three but FOUR quality locations. This puts them at 14 out of 20 and clearly the best locators on this list. LRU has earned my business for life. There's the Cinderella story we were all hoping for! Great to hear Kandy King! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 24, 2012 Author Share Posted May 24, 2012 Day 22: No action today aside from one of the four LRU locations from yesterday was rejected by the owner. It was bound to happen and they warned me before I got there that it was iffy. With nothing on the plate for the first time in weeks, perhaps the Kandy King will actually get come home at a decent hour tomorrow. Even God had a day to rest. The rankings remain the same until tomorrow. Rankings as of today 1st - Locators R Us 2nd - First Choice 3rd - Rising Star 4th - Kickstart 5th - Eddie Bauer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donovon Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 How many location u have now......?.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post kandyking Posted May 24, 2012 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 24, 2012 UPDATE: As I awoke this morning, I found another FIVE locations in my inbox from Locators R'Us. They are almost finished with the order of 10 that I gave them a couple of days ago. Ladies and Gentlemen, I must say without a shadow of a doubt, Locators R Us are the best locators currently working and will be awarded the lions share of my business from this point onward. I will continue the thread just in case they have a dip in service, which happens from time to time, and another locator takes the lead. This thread will become a real time report of who is the best choice for a locator on any given day so we never have any guess work as to if a company has dipped in quality or where a new company will rank should it emerge as a contender. At the end of the day, it is all about results. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 25, 2012 Author Share Posted May 25, 2012 The King is taking a much needed and well deserved vacation until Tuesday so all placements will be put on hold for the next 4 days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
How2vend com Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Are you locating some machine yourself......... If not... I bet if you were you would be in the lead... ) For the time and money nothing can beat being able to land vending machine locations on your own. Plus there is too much gray area were miscommunication can happen and you loosing locations as a result. Just my two cents also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onecent@atime Posted May 25, 2012 Share Posted May 25, 2012 For the time and money nothing can beat being able to land vending machine locations on your own. Plus there is too much gray area were miscommunication can happen and you loosing locations as a result. Just my two cents also. Time is money, depends on what your time is worth to you, even the big boys hire staffing agencies they have hr dept's too but they want to focus on other areas of there business. I could knock on doors but i use direct mailers and locators to build my business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 In one week my locators have garnered me 18 quality locations (not counting the 5 I got today which brings my total to 23 in 8 days). I doubt I would have been able to do that while attending to my primary career. For an average of $35 a location (and even less in the case of Locators R Us), I will do this ALL DAY LONG. To me, it is well worth the money to save myself the time and aggravation of being the primary locator for my business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 26, 2012 Author Share Posted May 26, 2012 Day 23: Just when we thought the competition was over . . . they're baaaaaaaack. First Choice brings their "A game" at the zero hour! Kickstart: Nothing new from kickstart today as expected. I am about to request a refund on the 28th once the 2 month window has elapsed with less than 1/2 of my order finished. Locators R Us: Currently sitting at the top of the heap, LRU has placed 18 out of 20 and are going to get all of the locations I am going to repo from Kickstart. I suspect the only reason I did not get 2 more locations today is because I told them I would be on vacation until Tuesday. First Choice: Out of left field, First Choice COMPLETES their order with 5 more quality locations. I think I am going to start fresh with both First Choice and LRU after memorial day and let them duke it out They currently placed 10 out of 10 and specialize in employee break rooms of large companies. Eddie Bauer: I got an email from them today saying it was difficult getting decision makers prior to memorial day and they will start again next week. 2 out of 6 and neither anything to write home about. Rising Star: The replacement they sent me was rejected and has them at 1 out of 5. I am undecided on them at this point. 1st - Locators R Us is still my favorite for speed, quality of location, and unbeatable price 2nd - First Choice is nipping at their heels and will still get orders from me. 3rd - Rising Star has had some bad breaks with 2 rejections (one due to corporate and the other due to machine size) but 2 out of 3 of the locations have been a place that I was excited about. I hesitate to recommend them but they could still surprise me. I haven't given up hope yet. 4th - Kickstart may have been hit or miss but did provide some quality. They would rank higher than Rising Star at this point if not for them charging the most out of any company in this competition and offering mediocre results at best. 5th - Eddie Bauer is really disappointing me due to lack of speed in garnering locations and those locations being the worst out of anyone on the list thus far PLEASE keep sending more locators for me to use in Round 2 of the competition coming up soon. I need people to replace Eddie Bauer, Kickstart and possibly Rising Star. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HHV Posted May 30, 2012 Share Posted May 30, 2012 kandyking--have done any pulls yet? Curious as to how the locations do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted May 31, 2012 Author Share Posted May 31, 2012 I have done a few early pulls but not enough to give a conclusive report. Expect one in about 3 weeks when all of my new locations have had a full cycle to produce results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Just to give a final review before round #2 begins, the following have been my findings in round #1: #1 Locators R Us are the far and away winners in every single category. With a scant price of less than $30 a location, communication within 24 hours, and a quick and constant stream of locations with the vast majority being winners and a 60 day warranty on the duds, all they ask in return is 50% up front and 50% paid immediately upon the final placement. To me, it was a very fair and mutually beneficial arrangement and I hope they keep their sprinters pace up forever. I just made another order for 10 more machines from them #2 No one. There is such a big discrepancy between LRU and the rest of the locators, I felt the need to vacate the #2 spot to show the gap in price and quality #3 First Choice Locators have given me a fairly solid stream of locations and have found their niche getting me into break rooms of large companies, restaurants and department stores. I think 80% of their locations were break rooms. I am not complaining because, thus far, those break rooms have performed at $20/month or better. Their price was $50 a location which is much steeper than LRU (under $30) and a major factor in the gap between them, First Choice also trickled the locations in at a slower pace but still fulfilled my order in its entirety with locations that I was pleased with. #4 Kick Start Locations has probably the fastest correspondence in the game but getting an email from Rob calling me "partner" does not equate to a quality location. Kick Start has been hit or miss for me. They have given me some great locations quickly but also have dried up and given me nothing for more than a month. At the highest price in contest of more than $50 a location, they should be the best as well and, quite frankly, they are not even 2nd best. Perhaps at $30 a pop, I would give them a try again but, as it stands, they are just not worth it. #5 Rising Star gave me one location and 2 rejections and "are still working on it" weeks later. I am not thrilled with the speed at which they perform but their price ($35 a location) is good but when you interact with them, you are left with the feeling that you are in the hands of a man and wife and not a locating company. Their results have been lack luster but they still have more locations to give me so I am still optimistic. For the record, the locations they have given me have been quite good. One was returned to me due to a decision from corporate and was a location I was crushed to lose. They may be slow and have an amateurish veneer but they have thus far given me quality. #6 Eddie Bauer has trickled to me horrible locations. Their price point is fair $150 for 5 + 1 free or $25 a location (Cheapest in the business) but you can't help but feel that you got what you paid for. It looks like they have no quality control standards at all and are happy to ship your machine off to any mom and pop muffler shop in town. If you are looking for blue chip locations, this is not the right stop for you. Their communication is slow, their stream of locations is slower, the locations are of poor quality but they are the cheapest I have found at 6 locations for $150 (which you are forced to pay up front) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 King, Have you tried these people in Texas? I have not used them as of yet. http://www.vendinglocatorsnetwork.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted June 11, 2012 Author Share Posted June 11, 2012 King, Have you tried these people in Texas? I have not used them as of yet. http://www.vendinglocatorsnetwork.com/ I have never tried them and am hesitant to add them to the mix with a price point starting at $60 per location. Maybe I will do a couple with them just to test the waters in round 2 but for that money they need to be offering blue chip locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 ... but for that money they need to be offering blue chip locations. Yea man, more like gold chip locations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate9303 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I've been reading your post with interest. I decided to give two a try as well. On Friday I contacted Locators R Us and First Choice Locators because of your recommendations. They should totally be paying you. I bet I'm not the only one. Well anyway...First Choice Locators has filled the two locations I placed with them with two good locations. However, I haven't heard anything from Locators R Us yet not even a confirmation of the order. I'm going to contact them again and see. I like that they are 20 dollars cheaper. I'm pretty pumped with First Choice Locators. Order Friday night place two machines Tuesday. Thanks Kandy King...I can't wait to hear your next post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandyking Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 I am glad to hear some benefit is coming from this thread. I started it with the intention of making sure that we didn't use the bad locators but another benefit that is perhaps more important is to make sure that the good locators have enough business to stay around for years to come and to keep them accountable for their reputation on real time basis. LRU takes a little time to get warmed up but when they do . . . watch out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Xfire2004 Posted June 12, 2012 Popular Post Share Posted June 12, 2012 KandyKing, Thanks for this thread! I contacted LRU I made a payment at night and the next day by 1:00pm I had a location from them wow that was fast. Thanks and keep up the good work. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate9303 Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 KandyKing, Thanks for this thread! I contacted LRU I made a payment at night and the next day by 1:00pm I had a location from them wow that was fast. Thanks and keep up the good work. How long did it take them to get back to you after you contacted them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xfire2004 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I submitted the order Saturday night and they got back to me on Monday afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerformaVending Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I contacted LRU the other day. Spoke with Gale on the phone yesterday, and I'm looking forward to seeing the industries' best in action. Though I maintain that the best locations will always be found by locating yourself, sometimes you need a boost to get out of a rut. Without this thread to show who really was the best, I doubt I would have hired any of them. This thread is completely invaluable! Thank you Kandy King! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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