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Route Service Nitemare


ahha

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Ok so my first service was a total nitemare!!  Took 1 hour for me and my son to do. Live and learn i guess

Originally we dropped off The XYZ TRiple at the good year.. pre-filled ..yea candy everywhere when we set it down in the store.  The dividers weren't positioned properly ..but had no bags or gloves to fix the problem... WAs hoping it would work itself out. UMMM NO !! 30 days later go back there ..WOW all the reeses are almost gone..they sure do like them... opened up the machine to get the quarters? out spills all the reeeses...so lost all them and threw them out:((( It's a sad day...  So while we were there and more prepared I fixed the dividers. Let me just say i won't be buying anymore triples with dividers..to much nitemares with them.  I dunno. HOpefully she will be ok now.

Ok so we head off to jc penney after spending over 30 mins at good year cleaning up..LOL....all the candy off the floor ..and wiping the machine down..god i hope they dont kick us out  twice now we had problems there.

Anyways, we are at jc penney ...forgot to set the candy wheel before we dropped it off ..so i was concerned how many PMM's is this thing dispensing? Only 5...i thought damn not good enough...emptied the machine out took out the candy wheel and adjusted it..however neither one of us could remember how the springs went...so we guesssed...OK now it dispenses 25 PMM's per vend...well? we will have to leave it at that for now til we go back....to bad i didnt have the instruction booklet handy ..darn it. Oh well let it rain PMM's ..til next time.

So yea I am not having to much fun so far with this ..uggh...I guess i gotta screw up before i get it right...LOL

YOu aint kiddin when u say it is hard work...

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ROFL!!......I am on the floor.  I am sorry at what happened to you.  I am laughing because I had the same night mares when I did my first few services.  I had reeses everywhere at a CVS store.  I mean everywhere!!!...........lol.  Things will get better as the nerves calm down and you become better organized and experienced.  Hang in there!

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LMAO it is funny ain't it...Oh i am hangin in there..I mean, i already invested over $200 bucks just on the good year location alone maybe even a lil bit more than that. I hired First Choice for that one.. Now I have been using kickstart since he seems to be easier. No contracts and all that.  So  I gotta make me some money. Now I am starting to see why that one person just does gumballs only...LOL  less cumbersome.   But it does make me appreciate my day job more than i did..LOL...  One day at a time..

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In the military, they make you take your rifle apart and put back together until you can do blind folded.  This is a funny story, one of my first machines was a 3 head at a deli.  I went to collect my quarters one day.  The machine wasn't there.  The deli was sold and the new owner through it in the dumpster, he didn't like it.  BUT he just threw it away yesterday so I could go dumpster diving if I wanted to..........

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This makes me nervous I will be placing my first machine hopfully next week.  I have not got it yet.

HAHA ...don't be nervous...You always screw up when you first start any new venture, job , or business. It's normal.

I have been here for months reading stories..it all works out in the wash. I have confidence.

It's just good to post these f**K ups for others to learn from...So learn from me..lol

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Now I am starting to see why that one person just does gumballs only...LOL  less cumbersome.

Even when doing only gumballs, I do have days like that.  I had one machine in a small barber shop.  Tried to pull the globe off the base to get to the quarters, and i ended up pulling the globe off of the hopper.  This was an old machine I got off of ebay that I was nursing along.  Anyways, the gum went all over the place, right in front of the owner.

Anyways, there was a little girl in there, and she helped me gather all the gumballs.  I gave her some fresh ones as a thank-you.  Lucily I had another machine out in the car and was able to just swap it for the busted one.

Just wait until you get the nightmare of pulling up to one of your best locations and finding out that they closed up shop and took your machine with them.  THAT makes for a fun day!

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Ha ha, Housing faces froward, Over the hole! Housing forward, springs facing backward toward back of machine.

I can't say to much. The "Easy Empty" hole really wants the candy to exit the machine. I had skittles in a bank. I was so happy to see the skittle column completely empty one day! The XYZ tab had slid out, and skittles, the full 12 pounds, had came out into the coin bin! 

O gosh, when I went to open the coin bin, it was like that TV commercial they ran, where everything the guy touched turned to skittles. There were thousands of skittles all over this very high class bank floor! The manager came out to tell me to make sure I picked them all up. He kicked me out soon after tho. What a jerk he was looking back.

Good Times....Newbie Times. You will get the hang of it! Stick in there buddy!

Kyle

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O Darryl, as soon as I saw your name on this thread, I knew that story was there!

And as you said, anytime a business has closed, it is always a fun time getting them out. I learned from the best, if I can find a broken window, open door, open window, hidden key, I will just walk in and get it. Yes it is illegal, but hey, it is my property.

If I can't get in, I leave a ton of notices pasted all over the windows. Most of the time I will get a call, or find my machines outside.

Kyle

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Ha ha, Housing faces froward, Over the hole! Housing forward, springs facing backward toward back of machine.

I can't say to much. The "Easy Empty" hole really wants the candy to exit the machine. I had skittles in a bank. I was so happy to see the skittle column completely empty one day! The XYZ tab had slid out, and skittles, the full 12 pounds, had came out into the coin bin! 

O gosh, when I went to open the coin bin, it was like that TV commercial they ran, where everything the guy touched turned to skittles. There were thousands of skittles all over this very high class bank floor! The manager came out to tell me to make sure I picked them all up. He kicked me out soon after tho. What a jerk he was looking back.

Good Times....Newbie Times. You will get the hang of it! Stick in there buddy!

Kyle

God kyle please dont tell me this nitemare continues with that xyz triple...  Now i am wondering if i put the slide in there hard enough..eek I do not want this to happen again.
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Make sure when you change product that you have the door in the back closed after you empty out the old :P  One time i was changing product inside a Bob Evans breakroom from Hot tamales to M & I.  Its just a small room, maybe 7x 7 and there were about 6 people in there. I was nervous and when i dumped the M & I in, i started hearing them all hot the floor. I forgot to close the door after emptying out the Hot Tamales. lol. I was embarrased but it was ok. They helped me clean them up. It turned out to be my best location :)

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I can't say to much. The "Easy Empty" hole really wants the candy to exit the machine. I had skittles in a bank. I was so happy to see the skittle column completely empty one day! The XYZ tab had slid out, and skittles, the full 12 pounds, had came out into the coin bin! 

O gosh, when I went to open the coin bin, it was like that TV commercial they ran, where everything the guy touched turned to skittles. There were thousands of skittles all over this very high class bank floor! The manager came out to tell me to make sure I picked them all up. He kicked me out soon after tho. What a jerk he was looking back.

I had an xyz triple once.  I had the opposite happen to me.  I had MMP, GB and hot tamales in it at a location automotive tune-up location.  This place is just basically an couple of open bays.  There is no waiting area.  So, there is no A/C either.  In the hot humid Houston weather, the HT's glued together into a solid brick.  I had to use a screwdriver to pick out the candy.  Plus the red candy left stains all over the inside of the machine.  Those bags of HT's were a complete loss.

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Hi all,

It must have been not so funny at the time. I would be so mad and embarressed. But, it is good that you can look bad and laugh at the situation later.

I have 2 of those coming and I have learned a couple of things that I WON'T do now. LOL One of the great things about this group. We are working alone in our own business, yet we have this super support group! Us Newbies will still make a lot of mistaked, but one less for every "story" we hear from you all!

Thanks!

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My story went like this:

I was placing a single head machine with Reeses pieces in a break room.  Two employees escorted me into the back.  I set the machine up having already set the wheel vend amount etc. back at my storage place.  I poured the Reeses in and closed the top.  I put a quarter in and opened the chute.  Now remember in an Elite machine theres about 12 lbs of product.  Well........after opening the chute?  12 lbs of product came thru the chute slowly but surely! I had placed the candy wheel into the machine incorrectly back at storage!:X  One of the guys helped me by placing a large baggie under ths chute while it emptied.  We needed two large baggies. This process did spill alot of Reeses on the floor which the employee was kind enough to sweep up. The first full baggie I placed on a table next to us.  When I went to put the 2nd full baggie next to the 1st full baggie on the table?  The 1st full baggie tipped and spilled completely on the floor.  A good 5-6 pounds worth:shock:  As I have gotten older I seem to perspire more.  Well at that moment, the perspiration on my face was literally dripping from embarrassment and anger and just plain feelin' like an as*ho*e!!  This worker AGAIN helped me by sweeping up the Reeses.  Anyway.......at that point in terms of my skills at taking a candy wheel apart on location and fixing it, I was not good nor comfortable doing it.  I would take it back to storage and do what I have to do to fix a machine and then bring it back to the location.  So thats what I did.  One thing I forgot to say was this single head was replacing a DI machine that was not doing well.  I told the 2 employees I would be right back while I wheeled one of the machines out to the car I would then come back and wheel the other out to the car.  The employee that had sept up ALL the Reeses did not want me to come back I think cause he lifted the single head up base and all and carried it out to my car for me!......lol.  That's my story.

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wow tbird that's even worse...i dont feel so bad now:((   Yea I am feeling pretty bad about vending right now..so far I have spent closed to $800 bucks and only made 20+ dollars...LOL... not to happy. but i am not quitting yet

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WEll now i can get 2 more out ..rob locates them all for me. I dont do it..tried a few times where i do business but they said no..And I dont feel comfortable about it.

Considering you have 3 machines collecting dust, and had to over spend on product. :D

Get those 3 out, and you will be doing good. Move the slow movers around, and you will be good buddy! 

Kyle

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ahha

Try to get one of those spare triples in a tanning salon down there. I have one up here that doees good. Try M&M plain & peanut and maybe Skittles or a gumball/jawbreaker but not both as you will see.

This is where my amusing story comes in. I got the tanning salon from a locator to place on a Friday. I had everything loaded up in my SUV to drop it off on my way home from work. That would have been about 11 am. Someone called in sick at my job plus we had a guy hurt and one on vacation so guess who got stuck with the extra work? Well after a 13+ hour day I go by there dog tired but doing my best happy to be here thing and bring in the machine. XYZ triple with M&M plain, Kaboom Jawbreakers and 1320 gumballs. I thanked them and left to go home and pass out. saying I would check back in a week as that would be their regular day to be serviced and I would see how it went.

The first check after a week and I had a big problem they said as I came through the door. The jawbreakers and gum are coming out the same slot I was told. Not possible I replied as I seperated them with the M&M's in the middle slot so I knew the divider had not come loose. I put a quarter in and got a gumball from the jaw breaker slot. So I try the gum and get gum, hmmm. I try the jawbreaker again and get a jawbreaker, ok. Well it turns out that they both have almost the same color combinations and they are about the same size. I had removed the gum from another machine last check at another slow moving location and emtied it into a ziplock bag but it was maybe half full. Well when I loaded up the candy & machine the night before into my SUV and I had topped off that gum bag with jawbreakers so both were mixed in together. Note to self: always mark the contents of each ziplock bag. They requested I change the selections due to the confusion and customer requests so I said no problem. It turns out that I have better sales with the M&M's and Skittles now anyway from them.

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Lol, this was a great story. I had some bad ones too, none involved with bulk as I only do Full Line; but still embarrassing nonetheless. Imagine a quiet breakroom and I come in with 3 cases stacked on a dolly full of Mountain Dew and... BOOOOOOM!!!! They fall and hit half of the workers sitting down on their shoes. It's a great bonding moment with the people you serve, though :)

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