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Tracking sales individually per box


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Currently, I track all of my sales for each location in a spreadsheet BUT I am only keeping track of the most current service AND a total of the cumulative services for each location. 

 

Do you think that I should maintain a spreadsheet for each location that lists ALL the dates that I have serviced that location? Essentially keeping 17-26 dated columns PER location each year? 

 

Right now I have my columns set-up in the following order:

"Location #", "Location", "Address", "Previous Service Date", "Current Service Date", "Current Service Pull", "Lifetime Acct. Revenue", "Notes", "Location Start Date" 

 

I don't know why I am thinking that I NEED to be doing this BUT I am. My accountant has not had any complaints in the past.

 

Thoughts.................?

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Yes, you should track the sales for the longest period that is manageable for you.  You need to know the long term history of your accounts so you can evaluate each on an ongoing basis and see any trends that materialize.

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I only see the last sale and the total since Day 1.

 

However, I do have a column for average sales, average profit and shrink %

 

With all those I think that's suitable for me.  I have about 16 locations, but when I get to 50+ I can see not keeping track so heavily.  I don't know.  I think you need to keep tabs on things but there will come a time when you need to service 10-20 in a day.  Gtting really detailed can bog things down.

 

In the end the number that matters is total profit / hours worked.  If that number is steady or rising then I'm good

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I should also mention that I have a few hundred boxes out already.

I am planning on a major expansion during the next 6 months. It is due to this planned expansion that I now wonder if I should keep more detailed records. I dont want to grow 50%-100% AND THEN reconfigure my records.

I wonder how much time it would really add to my record keeping? I am leaning towards being more detailed...

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Right now I am tinkering around with a free trial of My Vend Track. I think that it is similar to Vend-Trak but it is cheaper. It is $19.99 per month with NO limits on the number of machines/locations that you can input. They are coming out with the 3.0 version around November apparently.

 

I emailed the site creator with some suggested improvements (he has an area where he solicits user input). He emailed me back pretty quickly and asked for more details about honor boxes. 

 

I think that I am spending to much time screwing around with spreadsheets. I really need to optimize my "back office" time. 

 

I think I have taken over my own topic with an entirely different topic!

 

Thanks for all the input everyone!

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WOuld be very interested to have updates on this from someone with a few hundred boxes out there.

 

Are all the boxes mints?   Can you tell us how many hours per week you work on this?  Filling, counting money, spreadsheets, everything??

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WOuld be very interested to have updates on this from someone with a few hundred boxes out there.

 

Are all the boxes mints?   Can you tell us how many hours per week you work on this?  Filling, counting money, spreadsheets, everything??

 

I run almost all York boxes. I have recently started using some various Mars and Hershey mixes at some locations though. I had been on the fence for some time about mixing in some new products. I am not exclusive to either Mars or Hershey. I base my buying on what's in stock at BJ's and Sam's AND on cost per unit.

 

I use cost per pound to give me a quick assessment of the candy mix BUT I am more interested in the cost per unit. One of the bags I have been buying is $7.99 for 100 pieces while the other bag I have been also buying is $11.99 for 135 pieces. So I am looking at about 8 cents per unit and about 9 cents per unit BEFORE sales tax. York's are about 7.5 cents per unit now. I am at 3/$1 or 50 cents each for my price points.

 

My service schedule is a little screwy lately and I'm not sure that I would recommend that anyone use it as a "good example". It's working for me at the moment though. I switched from a 2 week/4 week schedule to a MOSTLY 3 week/5 week schedule. I say "mostly" because I still run a number of locations every 2 weeks (around 15% of my total locations). Since I run some locations every 2 weeks, I end up with some busy weeks (every 6th week I end up doing ALL locations).

 

I think I also run my services different that most vendors do. In order to save time, I stopped tracking EVERY unit that I put into a box. Instead, I use a "heavy fill" or a "normal fill". My heavy fill runs 100-110 York's and my normal fill runs about 75 York's. My "heavy fill" boxes should have about $34 each and my "normal fill" should have about $25. I am not concerned with EXACTLY how well each location does. I am able to get a pretty close assessment based on my "fill system". If a location is starting to be a bit borderline, then I will give it a more precise count and monitor it. This system has been saving me a lot of time over counting each and every unit during the fill and during the service. I found that counting every unit, in every box, all the time, was a poor use of my time.

 

If my "heavy fill" box has $25 or more in it then I am happy since they are serviced every 2 weeks. If my "normal fill" has $15 or more in it then I am ok with that. If there is much deviation from either of those numbers, I begin tracking those particular boxes more precisely.

 

Since I am not keeping an exact count on everything at all times, I have decreased the number of hours that I am working quite a bit. It should be noted that I ALWAYS keep track of how many 175 count York boxes come in and go out each month.

 

I spend too much time with office type stuff. I am planning on switching to My Vend Track instead of spreadsheets. I think that will help save me considerable time. I service about 12 boxes per hour (mostly cardboard, some acrylic) including drive time. I do not pre-fill my boxes. I fill them while I service.

 
I am ALWAYS thinking of ways to adjust and improve things though. Sometimes I wonder if I have to many ideas using up all of my brain capacity!!
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The way I do is I use a 4x6 index card with an address label on top left corner. I have column headings of date serviced # of mints left and total sales. I use these every time I service. As a matter of fact when I service that location, after I swap out box I put that individual card in the box so when I get home I know which box is a certain location. My service schedule has gone from a 2 week/4 week service to a 3 week/6 week service also. I find it a lot easier also as this works well with my current driving job and it works well with the number of mints left at the end of the month (better turnover,less older mints to re-use.

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As for products....the only thing I care about it is cost per unit.   With York I saw a little bit of a stall after a few service calls.  At Sams I noticed that those Tootsie Rolls that are a decent size were 8.7 cents each.  At the time York were 7.7 cents.  I figured...."Hey I selling these for 35 cents, what's one penny."

 

So, I went with those to mix in.  Huge, Huge hit.  Do they cost a penny more?  Yes, but it's easier for someone to throw a dollar in to get a couple Tootsies and a York.  Now there's variety.  Easier sale.

 

So then York went up to about 8.2 cents.  Alright, no big deal.  It happens.  But then I noticed that Tootsie Pops - the suckers with Tootsie Rolls in the middle were 9.2 cents in a 100 ct box.  I thought about it.....again - more variety and still under 10 cents for a 35 cent sale.

 

Again.  HUGE hit.

 

Now, I mix in all three.  total cost averages about 8.7 cents.  Even if half of the product is stolen I still double my money.  I think under 10 cents is the limit though.

 

This being Halloween I did sit at Sams and think real hard about that 192 count box of mini Snickers, etc.  It was 7 cents each maybe....something under 10 cents.   I said no.  The problem is that those are so small, I didn't think someone would feel it was worth 3 for $1 so theft would be higher.

 

If you are looking for variety I would recommend looking at Tootsie Rolls and Pops.  Good way to mix up the box.  It really looks good with those different colors in there too.

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I run almost all York boxes. I have recently started using some various Mars and Hershey mixes at some locations though. I had been on the fence for some time about mixing in some new products. I am not exclusive to either Mars or Hershey. I base my buying on what's in stock at BJ's and Sam's AND on cost per unit.

 

I use cost per pound to give me a quick assessment of the candy mix BUT I am more interested in the cost per unit. One of the bags I have been buying is $7.99 for 100 pieces while the other bag I have been also buying is $11.99 for 135 pieces. So I am looking at about 8 cents per unit and about 9 cents per unit BEFORE sales tax. York's are about 7.5 cents per unit now. I am at 3/$1 or 50 cents each for my price points.

 

My service schedule is a little screwy lately and I'm not sure that I would recommend that anyone use it as a "good example". It's working for me at the moment though. I switched from a 2 week/4 week schedule to a MOSTLY 3 week/5 week schedule. I say "mostly" because I still run a number of locations every 2 weeks (around 15% of my total locations). Since I run some locations every 2 weeks, I end up with some busy weeks (every 6th week I end up doing ALL locations).

 

I think I also run my services different that most vendors do. In order to save time, I stopped tracking EVERY unit that I put into a box. Instead, I use a "heavy fill" or a "normal fill". My heavy fill runs 100-110 York's and my normal fill runs about 75 York's. My "heavy fill" boxes should have about $34 each and my "normal fill" should have about $25. I am not concerned with EXACTLY how well each location does. I am able to get a pretty close assessment based on my "fill system". If a location is starting to be a bit borderline, then I will give it a more precise count and monitor it. This system has been saving me a lot of time over counting each and every unit during the fill and during the service. I found that counting every unit, in every box, all the time, was a poor use of my time.

 

If my "heavy fill" box has $25 or more in it then I am happy since they are serviced every 2 weeks. If my "normal fill" has $15 or more in it then I am ok with that. If there is much deviation from either of those numbers, I begin tracking those particular boxes more precisely.

 

Since I am not keeping an exact count on everything at all times, I have decreased the number of hours that I am working quite a bit. It should be noted that I ALWAYS keep track of how many 175 count York boxes come in and go out each month.

 

I spend too much time with office type stuff. I am planning on switching to My Vend Track instead of spreadsheets. I think that will help save me considerable time. I service about 12 boxes per hour (mostly cardboard, some acrylic) including drive time. I do not pre-fill my boxes. I fill them while I service.

 
I am ALWAYS thinking of ways to adjust and improve things though. Sometimes I wonder if I have to many ideas using up all of my brain capacity!!

 

I think with as many boxes as you have its a good idea not to get bogged down with every item in and out.  Your system seems to be the right mix.

 

As long as you are doing it yourself and as long as you have a decent memory I think it's fairly easy to keep track of which locations have been good and which ones need better monitoring.

 

In the end what matters is your cost per month vs your revenue vs the time you're putting into it. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't like to use any serious technology for many things.  For the individual honor box locations, I simply use note cards.  These note cards show the dates of service, how many items were left, how many items were used, how much money was collected, and how much money was short.  I can easily check the sales for the past 6 months for any box.  I use this to quickly determine any trends, if the box needs to be pulled, or any other decisions on the spot.  

 

I recently had a location that  was doing "okay" for an honor box... they would buy maybe 10 pieces per month and pay 9-10 dollars for that. All of a sudden, the box was completely empty (about 30 pieces) and there was about 10 dollars in the box.  It turned out that there was a new employee that said she kept forgetting to write a check for the box.  The location's solution was for me to pull the box.

 

I had another location that was beginning to have a high shortage.  Historically, the shortage was anywhere from 20-30%.  One day, the shortage was about 50%.  I spoke with the manager about it and he looked offended [that someone would steal from the box] and told me not to worry and he would bring it up in the next meeting.  I decided to let the box ride to see what was going to happen.  Since then, the box has averaged a shortage of only 10-15% but the sales also dropped maybe 20%.  In the end, I probably make just as much profit now as I did before but the account is far better.  In the end, the manager determined that the problem was an employee that they had just hired.

 

Without my note cards readily available, it is difficult for me to make calls on whether to keep a box or pull it right away.

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