Best vending software?

[JMC Merhcnats]

I am new to the business of vending I have acquired my machines from another person who was moving and did not want to take the machines with him.   Does anyone have any type of software that can help me with tracking and inventory?

[Vendors Tech]

How many machines do you have?  You really don't need to invest in software to track inventory if you only have 20-30 machines.  Wait until you grow a little more. 

[JMC Merhcnats]

Thank you so much for responding,

 

I currently have three machines and I am of course wanting to expand so I want to make sure I have something that can help me with inventory, tracking sales, and give me a idea what is selling and what needs to be moved.  This is a side business while I am working but I want it to replace my current job so expansions is necessary. 

[Vendors Tech]

Do it on paper or in your head for now.  An Excel spreadsheet would work too.  You certainly don't need specialized software to track inventory if you only have three machines.

[QuikVend]

With just 2-3 machines, creating a simple spreadsheet will easily cover everything  you'll need. I've been vending justover a year now. I just reached 30 machines and I've just used spreadsheets to this point. I did just sign up with vendsoft, but that honestly would have been a waste of money for me in the beginning. 

[Southeast Treats]

I agree, you are too small right now and don't need the expense.  When I started, I used route cards for each machine to track inventory and it worked very well for a long time.  A route card is basically a grid for each machine that lists the products in the machine down one side, and each column next to that list reflects inventory, adds, and pulls for each service date. 

It might look like this:

Munchies      Par 10         3 +7        2 +8   

pretzels         Par 8           6 +2         7 (2) +3

Where the first number is inventory before service; (x) is number of items removed as stale, damage, or overstock if reducing par, and +x is the number added on that visit.  I would go thru the entire card and then use it back at my truck to pull the order to go back inside.

 

It forced me to spend time studying my inventory and learning what worked and what did not as far as product choices, par levels, and pricing.  I use ParLevel now, but without the knowledge I gained from being on treeware it would not work nearly as well.  You should have a good accounting program going as soon as possible, that will be more important for starting up even a small operation.  Good luck!