New hire at established vending co- looking to update things around here

[KaileeWhite]

Hi everyone!  I've been perusing this forum for awhile now, and I feel like it's time for me to make my first post.

I'm a new hire at an established vending company who's here to bring the company into the 21st century or something close enough.  We've recently started using Nayax card readers and have them on about 15% of our machines.  We have over 600 in total in the field at the moment and looking to grow larger and retain our older accounts as well.  I've also been working on monitoring them through Nayax's management suite.  I'm completely new to the vending business and I want to please the boss who doesn't know much about the software.  What are the full capabilities of this software?  I've been looking around and talking to the Nayax personnel but they are slow to reply oftentimes and don't have updated user manuals.  Those who use Nayax- what are the major things you find useful with it?  Also- what are some other things we can do to really update what we're doing here?  I'm open to all suggestions!  

[nvb]

I'm not nearly as experienced as some other members here..

But for me if a machine isn't worth putting a card reader on, it isn't worth being where it is to begin with.

i'd be looking to upgrade or replace any machine that isn't MDB, dual spiral (for snack) and drop sensors are a must. I'm all about LED lights and glass front drink machines too.

A glass front will spank any stacker machine in sales and is way more versatile for today's packaging and consumer tastes.

i do use nayax but as a small operation I'm not product mapping machines or pre kitting like you probably will.

[Southeast Treats]

Welcome to the forum!  You don't say if you have prior vending experience, so not really sure what level to respond to you with.  Apologies in advance if I sound like I am oversimplifying things for you.  Sounds like you have a good, forward looking employer to work for.  On some specific Nayax issues, here is my take based on having about a dozen of their units in service for about 4 years:

Their service is pretty good overall, they have issues like everyone.  There are two basic types of telemeters (the radio part of the system) in use.  The older units (larger black boxes) are starting to be problems; I have had to replace several and have been told there are some issues showing up, so expect problems if you still have those.  The newer Amit units are not bad.   They are the only company with a card reader out that is capable of reading chip cards, but you may not have any of those since they have been out for only a short time.  No one is rushing to replace old readers and there is no reason to worry about that right now.  Fraud charge backs have not been a problem in vending, primarily because we are so small ticket.  Most providers in cashless vending are agreeing to cover any that do occur for the time being. 

Back office software, the Nayax Iris vision is how I started out with basic prekitting.  When I was still using it they had no way to expand to manage offline machines, so I ended up going to ParLevel for a more advanced VMS (Vending Management System) to move to online route management and prekitting.  I also have been all over the board on my cashless devices (Nayax, USAT, Parlevel, Payrange) so I have a real hodgepodge of equipment in the field, but ParLevel pulls data from all of them as well as allowing offline machines. 

If your company is not prekitting yet, that is a major area to look at for taking advantage of your telemetry data.  A good VMS with online data can ramp up route efficiency, allowing drivers to service accounts based on sales and not a fixed schedule, and bring in larger collections.  You don't have to be 100% online to make the change, but it is a process to get there.

Overall, you operation seems to already see the value in card readers.  You need to have an idea what budget and criteria you company uses or wants to use in deciding where and when to add cashless to existing machines.  The cost of hardware and service makes it important to have some yardstick to use for expansion.  Also, with that many machines out you may have quite a few that are not compatible with cashless, so there is also a cost to upgrade or replace those machines to consider.  Things to look at would be existing sales amounts and location customer demographics.  Some demos will generate cashless sales over 50% of total; but the normal is anywhere from 10% to 30%.   That will change over time as the overall marketplace changes (i.e. becomes younger).   

You found a good resource with the forum; the others here have helped me out much more than they probably know.  Best of luck with the new job and I am sure we will see you here more often!

[KaileeWhite]

Thanks for your thorough responses!  I'm sorry to get back to you all so late- I've been extremely busy.  I'm incredibly new to vending- and honestly don't know anymore than the one month of knowledge from working here.  So breaking down things to it's simplest form is what works for me at the moment.

You mention prekitting- is that stocking the trucks of our drivers with the stock they need?  Is ParLevel another software program you use on top of Nayax?

[Southeast Treats]

Busy is normal in vending, we all are used to it...

prekitting generally refers to packing separate tote(s) for each machine based on telemetry data (or a predictive algorithm for offline machines).  As you mentioned, some operators don't pack for individual machines but do use the data to insure each truck has the right mix of products; then the driver still has to pick for each machine as he goes - picking off the truck is generally called a "rolling warehouse" operation.  When you are fully prekitting, the driver works faster, since he goes straight in with the needed product on arrival.  That makes the driver more efficient, so he can service more machines in a day, and bring in more $$$ for the same hours worked.   Of course, someone has to be working at the main warehouse to make all that happen. 

and yes, ParLevel is one of several backend VMS (Vending Management System) programs that are available.  It takes the data from Nayax, or whomever you are using, and along with other data you generate helps manage the operation.  Depending on how deep into automation you want to go, it can generate your prekit lists, route your drivers, account for collections and match them to telemetry, track inventory and generate supplier orders, compute commissions, track repairs, etc, etc... Of course, data out always requires data in first... lots of data in.   But once it is set up and running it can make you much more efficient.  There are several out there, and you need to choose wisely before jumping into the deep end... all that data input is time consuming, so you want to be putting it into a system that will work and meet your needs for many years.  I do use ParLevel and would recommend at least talking to them when you get ready to research systems....