Disgruntled Location Owner

[caserri]

Interesting reading from Vending Times: Comments?

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Disgruntled Location Owner Tells Why Bulk Vending Equipment Isn’t Welcome At His Brooklyn, NY, Store 

 

NEW YORK CITY — Most every operator has run into a location owner who doesn’t want a bulk vending machine in his or her store for any reason. In some cases, this is because these owners don’t feel bulk vending fits in with customers or decor, but other times this hostility toward the industry is based on a history of unpleasant experiences.

Some disgruntled location owners have sworn off bulk vending forever, and VT recently conducted an exclusive interview with one who takes this stance. His mom-and-pop store, located in a prime corner in Brooklyn, NY, is by every standard an excellent bulk vending location, except that he routinely turns down offers to place any type of coin-operated equipment, including bulk vending.

•  •  •  •  •

VT: You have what we call in New York, a bodega, basically a grocery store. How would you describe the store and the customers?

MARIO: It’s nothing special, a neighborhood place. We have close to 1,500 sq.ft., which is about average, a little larger. The customers are mostly neighborhood people, a lot of kids and families. In case you didn’t notice, this is a Spanish neighborhood.

And you hate bulk vending, right?

I don’t hate it, I mean, it’s a machine, right? It’s one of those deals that seems like it should work, but it doesn’t seem to for me. I showed you the machines in the basement. I have four machines – two of those little plastic ones, a big one with seven machines on it, and another with nine machines on it. The guys just left them here.

Abandoned them?

Right. They just stopped showing up. So, when the machine gets empty, I put it in the basement. Each time I called a couple of times and only got an answering machine. A couple more weeks and I open them for the money. I got a couple hundred dollars out of the big ones, maybe $20 or $30 out of the little ones.

So, that’s your complaint? Abandoned machines?

It’s a lot of stuff. One guy, I could tell you his company, but I won’t, he was a racist. Somebody broke one of his machines. That kind of thing happens here. And he starts in on me about how I have to watch them better, then he starts in on one of my customers with “What’s wrong with you people?†stuff. I told him to pack up, right then.

Another thing is that the machines break and nobody comes out to fix them for a month. I end up giving away quarters in refunds. Another guy, when the machines were empty – I mean right down to the metal – he gave me $25. I saw what he took out of there and it was nowhere near what we agreed on. That’s when those little Homies dolls were big. After school there’d be four or five kids lining up to buy them. My own kids bought a couple out of the machine. The guy was stealing from me. I told him to take the machines out and he acted like he didn’t know why I was mad.

How many guys have you had in here with machines?

We’ve been here almost 20 years, I’d say six or seven. The last was the last one. No more. For the money I’m getting back, it isn’t worth it. 

What would it take to get another bulk vending machine in your store?   

A gun, maybe. If I ran my business the way some of these guys run their businesses, I wouldn’t have lasted. If I call to say that a machine broke, then return the call. Tell me when you’re going to be out to fix it or tell me how to fix it. If I call my beer distributor, he’s out in a second – before I hang up the phone. Same with cold cuts, ice cream, anything. I know with the vending people it’s not as much money, but make an effort at least, right? Make an effort.

Any other complaints?

Dozens. How many do you want? You know the plastic capsules the toys come in? One guy wouldn’t clean them up. It’s not a big deal, I clean them up every day. But he comes, collects the money, puts new stuff in the machines and he’s stepping on them. He could have picked up a couple, thrown them away. Good manners, you know?

How about giving advice to the other bulk vendors out there to keep their accounts?

How about they show up on time, pick up around the machine, answer their phones and don’t try to rip me off? I was moving the big machines into the store at night and out in the morning for them. And they’re going to steal from me? I don’t think so.   

That, I think, falls under the “service†category.

It’s called doing your job.

[candyman007]

Haha, yeah, well that's why there is so much opportunity in the bulk vending industry.  you have people out there that do not respect their clients. 

Myself, I go in with a black suit.  I am extremely curtious to everyone and I clean the machines before I leave.  When I am removing quarters I make sure not to make any noise.  I am very careful about this.  I'm the navy seal candyman, you won't even know I was there. 

I see machines that people never service.  I hear the stories all the time about people not servicing machines.  I have gotten their accounts and had them kicked out. 

Do not lie about how many quarters are in your machine.  If you make $50 in a month and agree on 30% you had best give him $15 right there in the store.  Bring all the quarters to the counter and count out his share, he will appreciate that.  Even better, count the quarters and then have cash in your pocket to exchange the quarters for. 

It's all about service with a smile.

Keep it simple stupid.

Rob

Visit my Forum, We have dedicated writers everyday who catalog their experiences.

http://www.kickstartvending.com/forum

I also have my own blog.  It can be very interesting.  If you haven't read it before I highly suggest you check it out.  There are a lot of readers and a lot of comments.

http://candyman007.blogspot.com 

Thanks so much.  

[caserri]

Hey Candyman! You got quarters! where'd you get them?

[AmuseStar Vending Co]

Candy man, when you service thoes doubles, Good luck being a navy seal!!! O yea, service with a smile, and you will do well. NO SERVICE = LOCATIONS FOR YOURSELF. Cut throat my friends, we have to be murders in this business!!! 

K.G.

[westlakevending]

I too have come across owners who wont let me put machines into their location due to previous neglect. You must service your entire route no matter what within a good time period. I service all of my accounts every 30 days. Weather the machine makes 86.50 or 7.00 I will stop by clean and service the account. Were in business folks, take care of your customers and they will take care of you.

 

If every time you went to mcdonalds it was dirty and half the time they were sold out of hamburgers would you keep going........

 

Think big....Bulk vending is for real!!!

 

Shawn

[AmuseStar Vending Co]

Well, here at our McDonald's that is the way it is. Ha ha. I eat breakfast there before I go locating, but that is it!

 But the sad thing is that many time these locations that have these bad machine keepers, will never let you in. I have a way of "pushing" that no one else has. I can go in, the location owner says, NO, and thay have a dirty machine, I get that location. I can "push"without the owner feeling "pushed". A very helpful gift!

 I am running into this problem with cranes too. Some flickn  crane operator around here has screwed things around, and I no have to "unscrew" what he has done! It will not be easy, but I will soon, I will "own" his route with my "pushing" skill!!!!

K.G.

[caserri]

Kyle,

You care to share your "pushing" skills? I would love to hear how you accomplish this.

Steve

[T BIRD]

That's funny.  I work in Brooklyn!.....LOL.candyman007 wrote:

Haha, yeah, well that's why there is so much opportunity in the bulk vending industry.  you have people out there that do not respect their clients. 

Myself, I go in with a black suit.  I am extremely curtious to everyone and I clean the machines before I leave.  When I am removing quarters I make sure not to make any noise.  I am very careful about this.  I'm the navy seal candyman, you won't even know I was there. 

I see machines that people never service.  I hear the stories all the time about people not servicing machines.  I have gotten their accounts and had them kicked out. 

Do not lie about how many quarters are in your machine.  If you make $50 in a month and agree on 30% you had best give him $15 right there in the store.  Bring all the quarters to the counter and count out his share, he will appreciate that.  Even better, count the quarters and then have cash in your pocket to exchange the quarters for. 

It's all about service with a smile.

Keep it simple stupid.

Rob

Visit my Forum, We have dedicated writers everyday who catalog their experiences.

http://www.kickstartvending.com/forum

I also have my own blog.  It can be very interesting.  If you haven't read it before I highly suggest you check it out.  There are a lot of readers and a lot of comments.

http://candyman007.blogspot.com 

Thanks so much.  

[leo7068]

That's funny.  I work in Brooklyn!.....LOL.candyman007 wrote:

Haha, yeah, well that's why there is so much opportunity in the bulk vending industry.  you have people out there that do not respect their clients. 

Myself, I go in with a black suit.  I am extremely curtious to everyone and I clean the machines before I leave.  When I am removing quarters I make sure not to make any noise.  I am very careful about this.  I'm the navy seal candyman, you won't even know I was there. 

I see machines that people never service.  I hear the stories all the time about people not servicing machines.  I have gotten their accounts and had them kicked out. 

Do not lie about how many quarters are in your machine.  If you make $50 in a month and agree on 30% you had best give him $15 right there in the store.  Bring all the quarters to the counter and count out his share, he will appreciate that.  Even better, count the quarters and then have cash in your pocket to exchange the quarters for. 

It's all about service with a smile.

Keep it simple stupid.

Rob

Visit my Forum, We have dedicated writers everyday who catalog their experiences.

http://www.kickstartvending.com/forum

I also have my own blog.  It can be very interesting.  If you haven't read it before I highly suggest you check it out.  There are a lot of readers and a lot of comments.

http://candyman007.blogspot.com 

Thanks so much.  

Yes if you truely do have a stealth pushing skill you can't just brag about it without explaining how it works. At the very least it will make it sound credible and we will respect you.

[West Coast Vend LLC]

Since I am new at the vending business but not new at dealing with store owners. (I worked for Frito-Lay for 32 years) there always seems to be two sides to the story. One from the vendors that services the store and another from the owner. He says that he has had 6-7 candy vendors in the past x years and all of them have left their machines, with money in them, behind and never returned. If he is really a good customer with a store on a corner in Brooklyn, I find it very hard to believe that vendors just dropped him. There has to be more to the story. The place is either to dangerous to service or the owner wants such a high percentage that it's not worth going to the account. It would be great if he had some phone numbers on those old machines that we could call to really find out. I can see for myself that there are so many vendors that are not doing a good job out there. I get all my accounts that have old vendors in them because of my high service levels. This owner is just to angry to believe.

Gary

[Smiley]

Like most of the articles written by this author, this is made-up nonsense. Someone should ask the author for a recording of this conversation or the location of the store.