sprint54fan Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Well I have been eyeing a hospital on my route for the longest time.. it has a big area that just has snack and soda machines in it.. well I asked a long time ago if I could place a machine and they werent against it all together just scared to place it cause the one they had was stolen..i assured them tho they wouldnt be held responisble for the machine if it was stolen or damaged but they kept passing.. Well, I pulled a single head off a slow location tonight. As it was sitting at home I thought man I wish this machine was on location and not in the office..so I got to thinking..where can I put this machine..when I thought hospital!! So I load the machine in the truck and my buddy and I take off to the hospital ten minutes away in the next town over..we get there at 10PM at night their time and the only enterance open this late is the ER. So we walk in and act confident like we know what we are doing.. we walk right past the main counter where 2 people are sitting and nothing said.. we walk through the hospital and pass people and no one says a thing.. we walk by the last big desk enroute to the breakroom and the two women stare but say nothing.. So we get to the snack shop and sit it down.. we are looking at the snack and soda machines..when a secruity guard comes in..im thinking o God we are busted..but nope he buys a coke and puts a Quarter in my machine, then walks out.. We hightail it out of there and walk past all the people we walked past when we placed the machine.. at the 2 staring women we wave and they nod and the 2 people at the main counter when we walk in we nod and they tell us to have a nice night.. NOW..Im waiting to see how long this last.. haha wish me luck for now tho.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guile Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Classic "Dump and run":) Good luck. It sounds like the kind of situation that might just work out for you. g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I have a feeling you won't get your money or machine back the next time you go in. Hope it wasn't a good machine. These kind of tactics give vendors a bad reputation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-man422 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 So we get to the snack shop and sit it down.. we are looking at the snack and soda machines..when a secruity guard comes in..im thinking o God we are busted..but nope he buys a coke and puts a Quarter in my machine, then walks out.. Hahaha, Classic! Sprint, best of luck to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I guess I'm too naive. I can't see why anyone would encourage these tactics. I wouldnt have the b***s to do something like this. I guess there's all kinds in every business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
golpher Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I don't see a problem with it, no one is getting hurt and at least he will collect whatever the machine makes for a month. Maybe everyone will assume someone else gave the O.K. and he can leave the machine there for a few months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurtsman Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I find it hilarious. Ya never know what will work, and it's great when it does. Smiling and waving during a dump and run isn't what concerns me for our reputations. It's the competition that leaves candy in the machine after it's been spoiled for months with a tiny vend size, then won't return to get the machine after six phone calls telling them they are not welcome in the location any more. (This happened at a location near me, it made it more work to talk the manager into letting me put a machine in. Within a week he wanted me to upgrade to a double, and he may ask me to take over the other location also. Regardless, he was concerned at first because of the terrible job being done by someone else. IMO, that damages our reputation far more than a very funny dump and run. Now if anyone pulls a dump and run on a soda machine..... that will be incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kai1836 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 While the means by which you accomplished it might be humorous dumping a machine really should be considered littering. I would never do it. Good luck getting your machine out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Nope, it doesn't hurt anyone but the next vendor trying to get in there. It happened to me. The owner said he will never have a vending machine in his facility again because someone pulled the gorilla tactic. His closing line was "All you vendors are the same....nothing but a piece of crap." While it may seem amusing to some, it's not funny to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsnwag Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Bacho I agree. One word. INTEGRITY. I know not everyone feels this way, but as a newbie I put alot of faith in the info. we receive on this site. It is much appreciated, but now I just have to really pay attention to whom is giving the advice. Hopefully we get many responses to this I'm curious to see where the bulk of the thoughts are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gum_father Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 BIG mistake. Tactics like this give the real vendors a bad name. I hope you lose the machine all together. You will not last long in this business pulling acts like that. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprint54fan Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 John - I will not last long in this business..thats hilarious!! As I have been in this business for over 9 years and have a incrediable route that spans into Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.. so I am not a real vendor..haha that made me have my laugh for the day.. I have dumped some machines before and they work out great..I usually put machines in when they have other machines but this location was different.. If its left for a month then I make the income from it..if I have to pull it tomorrow its still fine..heck if it gets stolen or thrown in the dumpster o well..it was a 20.00 machine and stand from ebay.. im not going to go broke if I loose this machine.. I run my business how I want to run it, it was MY CHOICE to dump the machine.. just like in your business you have to make YOUR CHOICES.. I cant make them for you I can just give a opionion on the subject and thats what I was looking for on here.. If you dont want to take my advice from this fourm that is fine to..I put out my information and you can judge from it..im not begging you or pleading with you to take my advice on here.. I am not trying to sound like an a$$hole or a know it all but I just post on here to give my side of what happens in my business.. and look for advice or comments from others..but not RUDE comments like above.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprint54fan Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 And another thing..EVERY machine I dump has my business label on back with my name and telephone number.. also our phone number is on front of the machine on the charity sticker..so the location can always call and tell us to pick it up..or if they dont want it or if thay have other questions..its not like I drop the units off without ANY contact information, and then they are puzzled by who the heck this machine belongs to.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guile Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 And another thing..EVERY machine I dump has my business label on back with my name and telephone number.. also our phone number is on front of the machine on the charity sticker..so the location can always call and tell us to pick it up..or if they dont want it or if thay have other questions..its not like I drop the units off without ANY contact information, and then they are puzzled by who the heck this machine belongs to.. You should run your business however you like. It's a ballzy move but you knew that going in:) Keep us posted on how it works out for you. Good luck. g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer980 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Well I am not a fan of the guerrilla tactics, but it a somewhat amusing story. It sounds like you guys were sweating it there for awhile. I guess if you can afford to loose the machine and some credibility then so be it. You may get away with it in location like that for awhile due the large number of people in and out of that area. It may fly below the radar until someone starts asking who gave the ok for it of if there is a problem and they call. I for one would never do it because I value my machine more and don't want to bring the bad karma like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Gorilla Location is a tactic that some vendors use in certain situations. I compare it to a baseball pitcher using a brush back pitch - it's never pretty, but it is a tactic. You can't sustain a route that way and it really should not become an everyday practice, but every now and then it MAY be worth trying. Medical facilities seem to be a popular target for some reason. It may have to do with the overall hectic pace and the administrators having too many other problems to deal with. K-Marts are also popular targets as well since they are struggling to survive and their managers have many other problems (like trying to not go bankrupt) to deal with other than an unauthorized gumball machine next to the racks (that are not being serviced properly). Each time I service a K-Mart break area, I see more and more single heads (with no phone number) right next to the rack or in the layaway area. However, always expect the worst case scenario when doing it - thrown out equipment! Since after all, you are essentially trespassing! Jax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joebob051977 Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I'd considered this tactic before, but then I started to consider the legal implications. Trespassing is often a tort offense and can also be a criminal offense. I'd feel guilty everytime I went to service the machine. I hate that guilty feeling. I do believe guerilla locating can work sucessfully, but the legal implications while generally not severe do exist. I will be surprised if your machine is still at the hospital when you go to service it. I do wish you the best with it. I'd love to see this work for you. Keep us updated on it. If the hospital works anything like I think it does. The gift shop takes a portion of what all vendors sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I had a locator that (unknowingly to me at that time)used Gorilla tactics. On my first servicing, 50% of the locations asked me who authorized it. I played dumb and acted like I was "just the service guy" and told them that, "I was told to put it here by my boss". Believe it or not, I only got kicked out of 10% of those locations and never had a machine thrown in the dumpster. In fact, one of those locations is still active - for 8 years now! However, I am still not condoning it, but it is amazing how many of those locations actually stuck. After a few orders, I finally realized what that locator was doing and fired him. Jax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guile Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 I had a locator that (unknowingly to me at that time)used Gorilla tactics. On my first servicing, 50% of the locations asked me who authorized it. I played dumb and acted like I was "just the service guy" and told them that, "I was told to put it here by my boss". Believe it or not, I only got kicked out of 10% of those locations and never had a machine thrown in the dumpster. In fact, one of those locations is still active - for 8 years now! However, I am still not condoning it, but it is amazing how many of those locations actually stuck. After a few orders, I finally realized what that locator was doing and fired him. Jax "I played dumb and acted like I was "just the service guy" and told them that, "I was told to put it here by my boss". That's pretty much what I do, er....em...I mean....WOULD do. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T BIRD Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Bacho......you are 100 per cent correct. That's not what we should condone on here. I have learned about manners and being ethical on Vendiscuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacho Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 First of all, this should have never been posted. By condoning it, the new people will think it's alright. Most everyone has integrity and morals that post on here. It's sad to even see someone that's been in the business for 9 years doing childish things! Maybe I was raised the wrong way. If this is the direction this country is headed, I'm glad my days are limited on earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 First of all bacho, I do NOT do Guerilla locating. I did a very few number in my younger days and will not do it again. As I said in my prior post, most of my experience with this is from a low-life locator who did it to me and I was simply trying to make the best of a bad situation. Well for some strange reason, I want to stir the pot on this issue and this will require that we open up the ole’ charity debate! You will see my linkage to the Guerrilla tactic in a moment. And this is the commission rack vendor part of me thinking. Just for the record, I do both charity machines and commission racks. So I will just blurt this question out! How can any charity vendor criticize Guerrilla tactics when you have essentially used another tactic (called charity outreach vending) that gets “permission†under somewhat false pretenses? Some of you may be freaking out right now, but let me expand on my question with a few more “YES or NO†questions. Q1. Does your location understand that you are NOT employed by the charity, but rather an independent business person? Q2. Does your location understand that $1 to $2 per month actually goes to the charity and the rest is all yours? If you can honestly answer “YES†to both questions, then I commend you AND thus you have NOT located machines under false pretenses AND you have a right to criticize Guerrilla tactics. However, if you can NOT answer “YES†to BOTH questions, then you have located machines under false pretenses and you are no better (or worse) than the Guerrilla although you may sleep better at night. Am I wrong? In my mind, both tactics are used to get into locations for FREE rather than paying rent for the space. I will now sit back and listen and read all of the hate mail, but that is how I feel. Well Sprint54fan, thanks for the post. See what you just started??!! Happy Vending! Jax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guile Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Good post Jax! I can understand there are different opinions about this but I think Bacho's last post was ridiculous (sorry Bacho). "First of all, this should have never been posted." Are you kidding me?? lol He's not talking about murdering somebody here. I don't think "dump and run" tactics would be considered classified info. It's a personal decision and while you might not agree with it, I think you're overreacting. If he (or anybody else for that matter) wants to risk their equipment (and/or reputation), then that's on them. g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creativecandy Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 MAN ..IM SO SORRY .,,,BUT I GOT TO THANK ALL OF YOU ALL ...IM GETTING A KICK OUT THIS ,,,SO PLEASE CONTINUE BUT I AM GLAD THAT YOU GUYS DO CARE ABOUT OUR BUSINESS...THAT MEANS ALOT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith Vending Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Seems to me half my competition in locations are done this way; then machines are not serviced, I'm asked if these machines are mine etc., etc., makes me look bad. We have enough image problems I don't think adding to them will help. Also, what if you were the next guy coming in and they say we had a problem with the last vendor using Gorilla tactics and we will never allow another machine in here? I don't think one location is worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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