Precious Roy Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I went to service one of my locations this morning only to find that my machine is not where I left it. It is(or was) in a hospital near a restaurant. Its an Oak Vista cabinet 3 head setup. They are doing construction nearby, but my machine was moved out of the construction area. It also has a sticker on the label inside with a contact number. No one ever tried to call about it. I think that's a bad sign. Today it was nowhere to be found. I asked some of the construction people nearby in case they moved it if they were going to be doing construction in that area. They said they didn't know. Their immediate boss didn't know either. As I was driving off it occurred to me to ask the people in the restaurant. Any more experienced vendors have any advice? I lost a location a week or so back, but that one wasn't a big deal because a) it wasn't producing much anyway and I recovered the equipment. This location is tied with another for the best location award. If someone moved it to storage somewhere, I would think they would have called me about it. Its a bad day and its not even 0930. Thanks for reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Sorry about the misfortune. Any advice I'd give would be pretty much in line with what you are already doing...ask EVERYBODY about the machine. I've had this happen before and it's not a good feeling. If there is a waitstaff in the restaurant -- ask them too. They usually know more about the goings-on in an eatery than the managers/owners do. But, if you eventually questioned everyone that has any realistic chance of knowing where your machines are and still don't know what happened to your equipment, you will just have to give it up as a stolen. I wish you luck...hope it was just moved for construction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetstop Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 that sucks Sounds like your doing the right thing so far. do you have access to just poke around yourself? walk around and open any unlocked doors you can find. Good Luck to you, I hope you get it back I have lost a couple that way, its very frustrating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 That does suck. Question: will you be putting another machine in that location since it was doing so well or cut your losses and not risk it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musser Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 It is usually a waste of time asking anyone anything. Most people, even if they know something, don't want to get involved. Are there other machines there? Could just be a random theft. if its a good location you could ask if you can anchor the machie somwhow. Chain it to a post, or to an I bolt in the wall etc. Not a lot of places will let you do that though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate9303 Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 Buy a vendesign 4 canister machine and fill it up with candy. You can take the coin cylinder out that's in the pole and add weight there as well before you put the coin cylinder back in. It will weigh over 100lbs and will have a hard time walking off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will.vend Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 I would locate all the "break rooms" and other vending areas in the hospital it might have been moved to one of those locations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthi Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 My plan of action would be: 1. Check every other area that has a breakroom 2. Check if a camera is located in the hallway or room it was in. 3. Find the superintendent for the constuction job and ask if he can check the rooms that they were allowed to store items in when setting up for the job, if there are none ask him where they put all the items they had to move. 4. Find the maintenance man and janitors ( not the managers but the actual employees themselves). Offer them a reward 5. Replace the machine with a cheaper counterpart so you dont have to worry about loss again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 I had a machine disappear during some construction. Normally I go and ask everyone, but I had a good feeling here. I returned a week later and found the machine where it had been before . Generally speaking, ask people. They aren't all jerks, and some will provide information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precious Roy Posted August 23, 2012 Author Share Posted August 23, 2012 I talked to the people at the restaurant and they said it was moved because of the construction and they probably put it in one of the little cafe shops. Of course the shops were all closed at the time so I'll check it earlier in the day. Hopefully it will work out. To answer the other question, it has been a good producing location so I probably would put another machine there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newheart53 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I'm going to throw this out there, but also find the construction dumpster, I had a lot of racks thrown away during construction, in my other rack jobber adventures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalleberg Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Is there anything in the way of LoJack or GPS tracking that could be used for bulk vending machines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronsidney Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I was at a show a few years ago and there was a "shady" vendor there that was talking about locating etc.. We (there was a bunch of us around the table) where talking about new vendors dropping their little charity heads in on our contract stops and commission rack stops etc... I said I would always just tell manager to have it removed and we would put it in the back room until the owner could come pick it up.. He said he would just take them outside and toss them in the dumpster and not even say anything!! he said he would put them in the dumpster or out side where they would get picked up etc.. He felt no remorse as he felt he was being robbed by people putting machines in his location!! I didn't share his opinion as i looked at that as a bit much but he totally believed it was justified,, He said a lot of large snack and soda companies do it also (he worked that business before bulk) as they don't want liability of the machines in there locations.. just a thought on where you machine is ron www.blazingquarters.com proven locating tips and tricks for free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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