bwbs14 Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Hey yall I am a brand new vending operator in NC as of 2 weeks and a day ago. As of right now I have only one machine, a combo machine, that is placed in my girlfriends place of business. I am just getting my feet wet, learning as I go with this machine. The ultimate goal would be to turn this into a full time buisness adventure but I know I need to learn how to walk before I can run. I have re-stocked my machine 1 time, and have collected from it twice at this point. I will be back to re-stock it this friday. I am wondering what people do to keep track of individual product sales over the long term. Weather its paper based or software based how do you guys do it? The only thing I know to do for right now is write down how many of each item gets replaced each time I re-stock it and keep track of that week to week, month to month. Any advice would be greatly appreceiated Also with a new location at what point do you start evaluating the performace of the products in there? At this 2 week point I already have some very storng sellers vs some very weak or no sale items. Is it to soon to start switching product up (particularly the product not moving at all) or should I give it more like a month to get a better feel for what the location wants? I tired searching for these answers and couldnt find what I was looking for. Im sure it was because I wasnt using the right search terms. So if there is another thread that covers this stuff, please point me in the right direction Thanks, Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priusjames Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Hello! I'm new to the site myself, but have run vending style routes in the past. I've always used either separate order books for each account (each having pre-printed stock items) or a binder with "inventory cards" showing fill levels (after you figure out how many pastries you should really keep in there before they start stale-dating) for each item, with boxes next to each item as a place to write quantity to order/fill. I liked having the books for each account when I sold bar supplies, I'd write the name and address of each account on the cover, and would draw a quick and dirty map of the location in relation to the last stop. I'd stand them up inside a Tabasco box (it was the perfect size to hold a day's accounts without slipping all over) and as I left one stop, I could reach over and grab the next book with the name, address and quick/dirty map. It didn't only make my life easier, but I could ask somebody to take my route for a day or a couple of weeks and I could just walk away for a while. When I sold the routes, this paperwork added much value to the new owner. When I did auto parts, I used the "stocking card" method because bearings and u-joints don't "expire". I had a 3 ring binder with all the account cards in it, behind dividers for the day of the week. Each day of the weeks had the cards for that day. When I hit the next stop, I'd carry the notebook in and brig stock levels back to those listed on the cards. All that being said, I'm going to look at apps for my iPhone/iPad...and might look into the wireless devices that keep track of what's going on in each machine. If there's something that'll do me that somebody else has designed, great. Otherwise, I'll use Excel to create a spreadsheet and all will be fine. There might already be something in the materials included with the "bonus CD" materials in the "All About Vending" book from RJT...I haven't checked all the files out fully yet...just got it yesterday and made it through about 40 pagers last night. There were definitely some "planning outlines" for stocking 4 and 5 wide snack machines that looked helpful! Mostly, I wanted to say welcome from another new Vending Guy... James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priusjames Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 p.s. I just looked in the "Downloads" section and found some forms/cards others have posted...you should find something you can use there. Choose the one(s) you want to download carefully...downloads are limited to one or two a day! This probably changes when we get access to the Premium portion of the site. Good Luck! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Hey yall I am a brand new vending operator in NC as of 2 weeks and a day ago. As of right now I have only one machine, a combo machine, that is placed in my girlfriends place of business. I am just getting my feet wet, learning as I go with this machine. The ultimate goal would be to turn this into a full time buisness adventure but I know I need to learn how to walk before I can run. I have re-stocked my machine 1 time, and have collected from it twice at this point. I will be back to re-stock it this friday. I am wondering what people do to keep track of individual product sales over the long term. Weather its paper based or software based how do you guys do it? The only thing I know to do for right now is write down how many of each item gets replaced each time I re-stock it and keep track of that week to week, month to month. Any advice would be greatly appreceiated Also with a new location at what point do you start evaluating the performace of the products in there? At this 2 week point I already have some very storng sellers vs some very weak or no sale items. Is it to soon to start switching product up (particularly the product not moving at all) or should I give it more like a month to get a better feel for what the location wants? I tired searching for these answers and couldnt find what I was looking for. Im sure it was because I wasnt using the right search terms. So if there is another thread that covers this stuff, please point me in the right direction Thanks, Brian Welcome to TVF. With only one machine I'd suggest that you focus on finding and identifying products with a long expiration date to try to reduce your out of dates If you are going to stay in the business long term you really ought to consider getting another 5-7 snack machines out so you can spread your product out and have a better chance of selling it before it expires. With sodas its not really a issue because their expiration dates are 3-4X longer than snacks, except for diet drinks but you can buy those in 12 packs at the grocery store if they turn out to be a slow seller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwbs14 Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 Priusjames- Thanks for the avice/ideas. Found something that fits me for now in the downloads. On a side note, do you think the book is worth a read? mission vending- Very good point about experation dates and spreading product around. That is one of my biggest concers with only having the one machine for the very reason you mentioned. What would you consider a long experation period to be, giving my current situation? All of my products have a shelf life of atleast a month and half. Where does a month and half fall in, in your eyes? I am not buying huge amounts of inventory to hopefully help with things expiring before they are sold. Since my girlfriend works at the place and I didnt have any machines before I wasnt tied into doing certain products. I was able to get things in there that they asked for. I feel like the product is moving at a fairly good pace giving the size of the office. Im hoping that with things moving at a decent pace and me not having tons of inventory experation dates wont be to much on an issue. Is this naive thought? -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priusjames Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Brian- I did find the book and the bonus material helpful. I bought the e-book version (ebay), printed it out double sided and bound it with a coil, so I can open and lay it flat no mater what page...the benefits of having a printing/sign shop at my command! A lot of the info is "common sense" to me, but specifically as applied to this business...with details that I haven't thought about in this context, along with other vending-related specific information. I'm not sorry I bought the book, doubt anybody serious about understanding what they're getting into would feel differently. Thumbs up! James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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