gbdpro Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 Was wondering if any one here has full line vending routes in Michigan, if so how are your sales. I have a small route, eight machines in four locations. With the Michigan economy my sales have dropped in a big way. was wondering if any one has any idea on how to keep sales moving in a tough economy. gbdpro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 I just read your post. You are right everyone has had a big drop in sales. There are a few things you can do to try and stop the bleeding. Number one, relocate the machines (I realize this one is hard) Number two, try to reduce your produce costs by putting the same snacks in each machine and do not over stock the slow sellers. Just go 5 or 6 back. Using the same products in each machine will cut down on product waste. Number Three Only service the account when it needs servicing. Try to determine when you are getting low on stock and go then. To do this just watch your sales. If you serviced last week on Thurs or two weeks ago on Thurs and your location still has product, then service every 20 days. You get the picture. Hope things get better for you up there. Bev Blue Moose www.bluemoosevendmgt.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbdpro Posted August 23, 2009 Author Share Posted August 23, 2009 Thanks for the reply, except for moving the machines I pretty much have all the same product in all the machines. Now that sales have slowed down I have reduced the amount of product in the machines to reduce the amount of waste. I will just have to ride it out with the hopes that it will get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsimms Posted August 23, 2009 Share Posted August 23, 2009 Thanks for the reply, except for moving the machines I pretty much have all the same product in all the machines. Now that sales have slowed down I have reduced the amount of product in the machines to reduce the amount of waste. I will just have to ride it out with the hopes that it will get better. wish you the best of luck. maybe business will pick up when this economy picks up. You will be amazed that people even watch there quaters... they tighten there wallets across the board on everything...even vendors... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendnoob Posted August 24, 2009 Share Posted August 24, 2009 It's bad... I just check a hotel I have with 1 snack, 1 Pepsi and one Coke machine and anly grossed $52.00 for a whole week !!! Very disappointing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coinvestor Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Thanks for the reply, except for moving the machines I pretty much have all the same product in all the machines. Now that sales have slowed down I have reduced the amount of product in the machines to reduce the amount of waste. I will just have to ride it out with the hopes that it will get better. I have not had a significant drop in sales, but I am working to reduce my waste and inventory amounts. I now track a monthly $$ amount that I throw in the trash (I never tracked this before). This makes me much more conscious about moving stuff before it expires. I also went and bought some 3m tabs to set a fill level in my machines. I look at how many of an item sold, add 2-3 to it and stick a tab on the divider. On my next trip I just fill to this level. Most of my candy selections would have 18 per column, but I would only sell 3-4 of each. This extra inventory can add up quick. JD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Wow that does sound low. How much did you normally pick up? Just wondering. Blue Moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendnoob Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 It was doing $150 to $200 a week gross. :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poplady1 Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 That is so far off it makes you wonder if something else is wrong. Did you check the product missing against sales? We had several machines in hotels that had the dollars picked from the validators. You can't really tell that anything has happened except there are scratches up by the corner where the validator is located. They have a tool which they can slide right in the machine, pull out the singles and you never know they were there...except the validator lid was sometimes open and the are scratches alongside the side of the machine. We had to put extra clasps on the corner to stop it. Blue Moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mxer518 Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Ever since I have had several break-ins on my machines I only use a key code that I own so that there is no chance of anybody getting the key, I also make sure that there is another form of security on all the machines to ensure 2 points of locking. I has an issue a few months back where another vendor was opening my machines where he also had machines placed and was turning off the compressors so it vended warm soda. its amaizing the things that can happen in this business and nothing surprises me anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendnoob Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 I check vend count and money made weeky and all is good. Some weeks are better than others. But things have slowed down alot. Holiday weekend coming up hopefuly it picks up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now