Help vending premium water in DN 501-e drink machine

[drinknick]

Hi everybody. So I have a Dixie Narco 501-e and I have consistently had issues vending water. The building I'm in insists that the machine has to have a "nice" brand of water in it, not just plain old Aquafina or Dasani. And that's fine with me, because personally I hate the taste of them anyway. It took some rigging, and trying a few different brands, but I've managed to get away with vending Nestle Pure Life for almost 2 years now with no serious issues. The thing is, these bottles (and just about every other "premium" brand, that i know of) are made of soft plastic, and they do jam the machine every now and then. And well, after a while this has somehow caused one of the bars on the rotor to snap right in half from the stress. This rotor that vends the water, in the first column of the machine (on the far right) is different from the other rotors, which are just rotating cylinders. This one has the two bars that move back and forth, idk exactly what it's called.

 

So my questions are:

1. Have you had any success vending "premium" brands of water in a conventional machine, and if so, what brand was it, what did you have to do, etc.
2. Is there a different type of rotor, motor, anything that might resolve this issue?
3. What is this rotor called so I might get a replacement?

 

Thanks,

Nick

[cvending]

First... the part is called a rotor as you suggested. Available from dsvending.com or veii.com   Secondly, as for the waters- they need to be in packages designed for vending. Store bought bottles will too soft and get even softer as the chill.  Nestle makes several 16 oz vend bottles under different labels.

[AZVendor]

Ooooh.  We want pretty water with a fancy name on it.  Oooooh.  Eff them and what do you care what it tastes like?  Water is water.  Put whatever you want in it that will vend.  Tell them that's all you can make work.  If you use Dasani or Aqua Fina make sure the bottles are firm when they are warm.  Those are injected with nitrogen for use in Pepsi's and Coke's machines.  Here is the DN Vend Test Database:  https://rc.cranems.com/Home/Categories/documents-vend-test-reports Find the product you want to vend and it will show you the proper setup.  Boy, does Crane make this hard to find now.  What a joke they are. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by AZVendor

[drinknick]

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Ooooh.  We want pretty water with a fancy name on it.  Oooooh.  Eff them and what do you care what it tastes like?  Water is water.

Ah, I knew this was coming. Well, maybe if more demand was created for a vendable water that doesn't taste like butt, the big brands would notice. Unfortunately most vendors probably don't care, knowing most people will probably just buy whatever you put in there. I also just want to provide a quality product for my customers. I care about that stuff. I'm a salesman when it comes down to it, and it feels scummy selling something I wouldn't use myself.

Anyway, the building allows me to do business there for free, so I want to try and appease them when possible. I'm afraid if I tell them I have to put in Aquafina or whatever, they'll tell me to hit the road. And I don't want to lose this spot, it's really sweet.

Quote

Find the product you want to vend and it will show you the proper setup.  Boy, does Crane make this hard to find now.  What a joke they are.

Yeah it's pretty pitiful, hard to find resources on anything in this industry. Companies like this don't make it easy, that's for sure. Thank goodness for forums.

[orsd]

To me Pure Life has always been a kinda lower tier water to me.

In any case would a Nestle regional brand work? (Arrowhead, Ozarka, Ice Mountain, Deer Park, Poland Springs, Zephyrhills) If so they offer vendible 16 (not 16.9) oz waters. Kinda hard to find, or the 23.8 oz sport tops some people have had luck with vending.

I’ve had good luck also with Deja Blue. Not sure if they’ll perceive it as premium or not but their 16.9 is vendible and possible to find at grocery stores. Availability is still spotty though. 

Evian, Smart water, Life water are also vendible. They are however kinda pricey but if they can tolerate higher vend prices for really upscale water it would work.

Also consider local brands. There was one I used that had the perfect bottle for vending (thick plastic, straight sides) but they discontinued small bottles.

[drinknick]

20 minutes ago, orsd said:

To me Pure Life has always been a kinda lower tier water to me.

In any case would a Nestle regional brand work? (Arrowhead, Ozarka, Ice Mountain, Deer Park, Poland Springs, Zephyrhills) If so they offer vendible 16 (not 16.9) oz waters. Kinda hard to find, or the 23.8 oz sport tops some people have had luck with vending.

I’ve had good luck also with Deja Blue. Not sure if they’ll perceive it as premium or not but their 16.9 is vendible and possible to find at grocery stores. Availability is still spotty though. 

Evian, Smart water, Life water are also vendible. They are however kinda pricey but if they can tolerate higher vend prices for really upscale water it would work.

Also consider local brands. There was one I used that had the perfect bottle for vending (thick plastic, straight sides) but they discontinued small bottles.

Thanks for the detailed response! I hear you, I used to be super into Pure Life myself, it was the only water I would drink. It's cheap, I like the taste, and Nestle claims it to be fluoride free. Well it turns out they aren't fluoride free, but it's still good water, and good branding.

After doing some searching around the forums I have read about people using the regional brands, honestly I had no idea Nestle bottled under these names. Weird, because I swear Deer Park tastes entirely different. Also I wouldn't know where to look for 16 oz bottles of the stuff, and I like products I can just pick up from the grocery store typically. I've also used Pepsi distributors before but that's not an option for me rn. Anyway this will be like Plan C for me.

I really like the branding of Deja Blue and it's supposed to be one of the best tasting as well, shame it doesn't seem to be available where I'm at on the east coast.

I've tried Life Water, didn't work. Bottle is still too soft. I think it's because of the design, just flat with no hard plastic contours. I've also tried Essentia. I imagine Evian and Smart Water will be about the same.

I think I'll try Le Bleu once I get the rotor replaced, someone said it's supposed to be vendable. Never tasted it but I know a lot of people like it. Also cheap but has kinda fancy branding.

[AngryChris]

Typically, the bottles you find at the grocery store are not really meant for resale and they are soft.  You need to go to a wholesale club like Sam's or Costco or BJ's and see what they have.  I carry deja blue as I get it directly from 7up.  It's no more premium than Dasani or aquafina.  They do carry premium waters like core and they should vend.  Your best bet, if you can't order directly from distributors, is to find a local vendor who will let you order so you can buy it off of them.

[Gizmo Vending]

Sounds like you are vending water out of the wide column.   The 501e has 1 wide column and 8 narrow columns.  In the wide column it is using an oscillator.    https://www.veii.com/OSCILLATOR-FOR-DIXIE-501-3-DEEP?_ga=2.164565433.727041590.1656198142-1476024283.1656198142
If you are vending out of this wide column, selection 1, have you tried perhaps putting your “premium water” in the narrow columns?   I have a hard time believing you can sale more water than sugary drinks but who knows.  If this building doesn’t provide water service or filtered water machines you might could make a few bucks.  

And Nestle Pure Life is not premium water…

[Southeast Treats]

On 6/25/2022 at 10:40 AM, AngryChris said:

I carry deja blue as I get it directly from 7up

Same here, the 20 oz Deja Blue bottles are pretty good vends, just an occasional problem.  Long shelf life on water so if you have the space you can make a big buy just a few times a year, 7 Up would probably work with you on that.  I don't think I would put any water in a double wide column IMHO. 

 

 

[RaleighNC]

I was going to ask where you are from. I saw you mentioned Le Bleu. That is what I vend in all my machines because it's the hardest bottle i can find easily in NC.

 

Buy it for $9.99 at Food Lion for a 24 pack. Sell if for $1/bottle, if you can get away with it, sell it for $1.25.

 

That's the answer here.