The future of vending

[maestro489]

For those of us who are just getting into the vending business let's talk about some changes that might be around the corner. Obviously no one can predict the future but if you have been doing this for a number of years you could probably give a pretty educated guess about some things that might be coming. Like credit card machines as a standard on all machines. Or having to upgrade all your machines to meet a government standard. I would love to hear what you think?

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[cblomqui]

Credit card readers, micro markets, a greater variety of better for you products. I think the vending industry is currently in the process of adopting powerful technology - which will have a profound impact on the industry as a whole. I think hard statistics and new ways of approaching business (like prekitting) will replace the gut feelings that have long guided our decisions.

 

Personally, I'm excited at the opportunity of new technology hitting our industry. 

[maestro489]

Do you think it will be more credit card readers or Apple Pay etc?


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[AngryChris]

I personally think mobile payment methods such as google wallet and other things will catch on within the next 5-10 years and make credit card readers a little obsolete for the young people, while credit card readers will be a mainstay.  Vending machines and micro markets will be a completely split industry and we will stop seeing full-line vendors doing micro markets and visa-versa.  Rather, we'll have the micro market industry and the vending machine industry, and they will only compete with each other in accounts that gross at least $350/week in gross sales.  Micro markets are already mostly cashless as far as I understand, even though you can load cash onto cards.

I believe we will still have older AP 7600's, National 145's, single-price can machines, etc, all over the country, and many of those machines will go completely un-updated with newer technology as they will only be relevant in small accounts where upgrading machines isn't necessarily worth-while.  But we may also see an influx of later model machines to replace the older machines when parts become unavailable.

Personally, I am slowly cancelling my slowest accounts and getting rid of a lot of old single-price can machines.  Many of my snack machines are in good shape.  The goal is to get my garage fully set-up for refurbs so I can send my machines back out to better locations that gross at least $100/week.  While doing that, I want everything to be upgraded to MDB (or sold/sent to the scrap yard).  The goal is to migrate everything to MDB and be credit-card ready when the credit card readers become significantly more affordable and credit card sales create a greater spike.  The current problem is that my local market is so flooded with vending operators that it's hard to get a higher price in accounts that gross between $80 and $150/week.  Many local vendors fight over those locations because there are more machines available than there are customers, and those locations only need a snack and soda machine.  I will ONLY get these accounts by offering a better service, but not better pricing.  When they want credit card readers, I am stuck between refusing to do so (and letting the next guy offer such a service) and negotiation a higher price (or two-tier pricing) to offset the service.  It's a difficult transition, but I am slowly working my way out of the small accounts that do less than $75/week and into the better accounts that do $80-$150/week.  I am actually going to attempt to get my foot in the door at a location 1-hour away that might generate over $1,000/week.  I know I can get the equipment for them and I know I can provide a better service.  The question is... can I do so while getting the pricing I want?  Well... the first question is, can I even get my foot in the door lol.

[Southeast Treats]

Our whole society is moving towards cashless, so yes, credit card readers are the future.  Talking to long time operators about when dollar bill validators came out and how radical that was, I see the same thing with card readers.  In a few years a machine without a card reader will have a huge handicap.  Small locations will continue to be a problem for that until the cost of using cards comes down some more (I think it will as more companies are competing to provide that service).  The hardware for CC will probably evolve some more before it settles down to a good long term product; the swipe/contactless readers that are out now that can also handle things like apple pay are the best bet for now.  

Products will change of course, and operators will have to keep up with customer demand as always.  We are already being regulated by the feds under O-care (calorie disclosure regulations) and unless government changes course in general that will only be the beginning.  That will be hardest on small operators.  ADA requirements have impacted machine design already, as well as placement on location.