Inventory Management

[Fermo Vending]

So far I've come up with is figuring out my average amount sold per item per month, and purchasing that amount each month. Are the more elegant/efficient ways? 

[AZVendor]

The only "elegant" way is to spend money on vending management software that will give you reports for that, but you have a lot of data to input to get the output you want.

[AngryChris]

Yes, as AZvendor said you need some kind of software but anything you decide to get will take a LOT of data entry to make it work.  I spent dozens and dozens of hours to get vendsoft going,but it's worth it once you get through the initial phase.

[Fermo Vending]

Yeah, I'd be more than happy to do the work upfront if it meant that each month I was buying my inventory in bulk, reducing trips to wholesalers throughout the months. I'll take a look at Vendsoft, bc I don't see anything through Nayax that would give me what I'm looking for. 

 

 

[Fermo Vending]

Well looking at vendsoft for 5 minutes and it looks like it has exactly what I'm looking for. Wish it was cheaper haha

[Vendo Mike]

My old boss said people normally have the options  quality, fast and cheap...you get to pick 2 but can't have all 3.

[Fermo Vending]

100% agree, I'm really complaining about nothing, as is my right as a millennial 😂

[AZVendor]

Please don't be a cheap millennial.  It takes money to make money and that rule will never change.  This business takes money to run it and that will also never change.  Be a professional and pony up.

[Fermo Vending]

No, please don't misunderstand, I'm happy to pay for anything that adds value to my business. I was joking that I mostly wish EVERYTHING was cheaper. 

[AZVendor]

If you think that is pricey we used to pay monthly for our Routesail system. Back then we used their proprietary software on their provided X86 computer with dot matrix printer. We paid for years and never got an updated computer or paid anything off. You just paid and paid. I will say though, I really appreciated the Okidata printer. It was great.

[Vendo Mike]

18 minutes ago, AZVendor said:

We paid for years and never got an updated computer or paid anything off. You just paid and paid.

Sounds like owning a boat...or a teenager. 

[AZVendor]

Pretty much.  I argued with them at length about the extended monthly payments and old computer with no caring.  They had me and they knew it.  Even to move to another platform was way too much work.  I tried to reverse engineer their software but I couldn't find a decompiler for MegaBasic.

Edited April 5 by AZVendor

[Vendo Mike]

That sounds like a coyote trying to chew his leg off to get out of a trap. 

[AngryChris]

I'm not sure if my former employer used vegabond but they claimed to have paid something crazy back in the day like over 10k for the system.  It was something so outrageous as an investment, they refused to switch to something new for a looonnggg time.  I got lucky jumping into vendsoft while it was still new.

[AZVendor]

It wouldn't have been Vagabond because they were kind of like Vendsoft in that they were a niche type of software limited to what it could do.  It would have been along the lines of Routesail or CompuVend like I had.  I paid monthly instead of buying it outright.

[AngryChris]

I think it was the same thing you had.  It allowed them to print route tickets.  The tickets were perforated with some basic info such as location name, date, money collected, etc..  I can do the same in vend soft except I have to physically cut the tickets as they print on a standard piece of paper