Profits Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 As the description says, I'm looking to figure out a way to attach a dollar bill changer to the Silver Sentinel... possibly via a wing or something. Anyone ever seen this done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Coast Vend LLC Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Americanchanger.com advertises in Vending Times all the time. They have a full page ad with their American bill changer attached to the side of a bulk vending rack. Boy it better really be connected with bolts that can't be cut off. You could lose a lot of money if someone walks off with it. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Profits Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Hey Gary, Thanks for the reply. Who is the cheapest bill changer manufacturer out there? I'd like to pick them up at around $300. I saw an American Changer unit a while back on CL for $300 and I'm kicking myself now for not buying it. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 A vending buddy of mine does mall bulk vending kiosks and uses the battery operated dollar bill changers on his set-ups. It's necessary in a mall because there's no cash register nearby for patrons to get quarters from. His experience has been POOR with these things. High maintenance and nothing but headaches from what he tells me. They are not nearly as reliable and durable as the electronic changers associated with full-line machines. Unless you absolutely NEED the changer, I wouldn't use one. I'd put that money towards more bulk machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Profits Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 Sherlock, What's the make / model of the unit he's having all the problems with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 Sherlock, What's the make / model of the unit he's having all the problems with? Don't know it off the top of my head --- but can get it for you soon. I'll post it here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Profits Posted March 3, 2011 Author Share Posted March 3, 2011 The reason why I'm so damn enamored with the concept of bill changers is because I know of nobody personally who carries change. Literally nobody. Women MIGHT because they carry purses, but it's not guaranteed. I keep some quarters in the door handle of our cars to pay for parking, but that's it. I know for a fact the vast majority of people do not carry change. It's a huge factor in this type of sale. What's totally screwed up about this business is the fact that we have to convert from bills to change. How many obstacles do we need, anyway? What the HELL is stopping this industry from taking bills directly? How about credit cards? 95% of transactions at the retail level are credit cards... that says everything we need to know. Success in any business is about making a transaction as EASY as possible. Nobody will have ultimate success with the level of difficulty we have currently... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGranger Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 This is a great topic really. At restaurants/stores then it's usually no big deal as people ask their waiter for extra change, but some locations might not have easy access to change. And Profits is right, hardly anyone carries much change or any cash these days. When I do trade shows with vending machines I am onsite with plenty of quarters on hand, but even that wasn't enough last time so I had to service the machines halfway during the day. Not a huge deal but I purchased some Beaver machines with cash drawers just so I'm not pulling those puppies apart anymore while the customers wait. I'm hoping that solves my problems. I would get a cash machine if I wasn't onsite anyway but this gives me a chance to speak to a lot of folks and introduce them to the books on my racks as well. A rack with an incorporated, reliable changer would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 The reason why I'm so damn enamored with the concept of bill changers is because I know of nobody personally who carries change. Literally nobody. Women MIGHT because they carry purses, but it's not guaranteed. I keep some quarters in the door handle of our cars to pay for parking, but that's it. I know for a fact the vast majority of people do not carry change. It's a huge factor in this type of sale. Funny. Must be a geographic thing. In my circles, I don't know any guys that DON'T carry change in their pocket. A pocket knife and change goes into a pocket of our jeans as automatically as tying our shoes. What's totally screwed up about this business is the fact that we have to convert from bills to change. How many obstacles do we need, anyway? What the HELL is stopping this industry from taking bills directly? How about credit cards? 95% of transactions at the retail level are credit cards. Converting bills to change is not usually a problem since the majority of bulk machines are located in close proximity to a cash register. Chances are, if there's not a cash register nearby, there's not enough foot traffic to be worth our having the machines there in the first place (though some exceptions exist.) As far as credit cards -- maybe 95% of retail transactions are made using a credit card. But, I'm willing to bet nearly 100% of those credit card purchases are also for a product that costs more than 50cents. Nobody will have ultimate success with the level of difficulty we have currently... I'm not against change (pun intended), but this comment is not true. There are plenty of vendors having ultimate success in bulk vending without the technology you speak of. Some of them are even members of this forum. Besides, the term "ultimate success" is too subjective to apply here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NinnJinn Posted March 3, 2011 Share Posted March 3, 2011 around here, men have change and pocket knives. Women will whip out the plastic every chance they get. Almost all gas stations around here has a sign saying that your total must exceed a certain amount before you can use plastic. I am friends with a gas station manager, and he said that they used to have several regular female customers that would come in every morning M-F and get a 50 cent pack of gum and a 50cent cup of coffee and wouldn't whip out a debit/check card but an actual credit card from either Discover, capital one, or citi bank credit card. He said according to the owner of the station, when they did that, he made about a 3-5cent profit off that total purchase due to the CC fees etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I am friends with a gas station manager, and he said that they used to have several regular female customers that would come in every morning M-F and get a 50 cent pack of gum and a 50cent cup of coffee and wouldn't whip out a debit/check card but an actual credit card from either Discover, capital one, or citi bank credit card. He said according to the owner of the station, when they did that, he made about a 3-5cent profit off that total purchase due to the CC fees etc. Good point. I hadn't even thought about merchant fees for the credit card processing. I have had to deal with those with my other business and it's no fun. It sure as heck wouldn't be worth it for a vend of less than $1. BTW -- Profits, I've got a call in to my buddy. He's out of town a lot, but I hope to hear from him soon. I'll post as soon as I know something about that make/model of change machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Profits Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 At restaurants/stores then it's usually no big deal as people ask their waiter for extra change, but some locations might not have easy access to change. Most people who desire to put coins in your machine will not ask for change, unless their kid is screaming like a banshee. Most people will only complete a financial transaction if it's completely effortless for them to do so. Sure, we all have the ability to get change... we have the ability to do all sorts of things. But people are notoriously lazy. The fact of the matter is that the more ------ steps ------ in -------- between ------- to ---------- get ----------- what----------- you ------ want, the more people will NOT follow through to the transaction. I come from a world of online transactions, and one thing I know for a fact is that the more times you require people to click, you'll have an exponential drop-off when it comes to sales. These are HOOPS. We need to not be making customer jump through them. Notice I only gave an example of clicks. That's the movement of your FINGER in a DOWNWARD motion. Seems pretty easy, eh? No, it's not easy... if they've already clicked "Buy Now", and you require them to click again, the vast majority of your traffic will NOT click if you tell them to click once more. But what we're talking about is something MUCH more complicated. We're talking about something complicated enough to require thought, to a verbal request, and required physical effort. Trust me... it's not very likely to happen at all. What we need is a hoop-free system. That means ZERO hoops. No conversions from cash to coins. None of that BS. Just slide your card, hit a button, product is now in your hand. That's how it needs to be in order for us to have exponentially more sales. I know you think it's never been a problem, but it absolutely is. Trust me... it's a bigger problem than you think. Just because most people in the vending industry are 100% satisfied with what they've achieved thus far does not make it a perfect system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherlock Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Gosh Profits, first you don't know any people that carry change. And now you know "most of the people in the vending industry"? In fact, you know them well enough to know that they are "100% satisfied with what they've achieved"? How do you find the time to befriend so many people? I don't know "most of the people in the vending industry". Truth to tell, I only know about a dozen or so. And I can tell you, NONE of the handful of vendors I DO know are "100% satisfied with what they've achieved thus far". So, either I'm running with a strange crowd AND you know a hell of a lot of vendors or you just plain love crazy rhetoric. You're a funny dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Profits Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 Gosh Profits, first you don't know any people that carry change. And now you know "most of the people in the vending industry"? In fact, you know them well enough to know that they are "100% satisfied with what they've achieved"? How do you find the time to befriend so many people? I don't know "most of the people in the vending industry". Truth to tell, I only know about a dozen or so. And I can tell you, NONE of the handful of vendors I DO know are "100% satisfied with what they've achieved thus far". So, either I'm running with a strange crowd AND you know a hell of a lot of vendors or you just plain love crazy rhetoric. You're a funny dude. I don't know anyone. You're it. Oh, and Steve. And HA Vending. I guess that makes 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will.vend Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I don't know anyone. You're it. Oh, and Steve. And HA Vending. I guess that makes 3. profits whats up with you dude? you seem a little edgy! the vending industry will be just fine, Im not 100% satisfied but Im living the dream! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Profits Posted March 4, 2011 Author Share Posted March 4, 2011 profits whats up with you dude? you seem a little edgy! the vending industry will be just fine, Im not 100% satisfied but Im living the dream! I'm all good, brother. I didn't mean to leave you out of the bro-fest. Just relaxing eating some pizza and drinking some lemon juice & vodka while watching some House. Watched the Charlie Sheen 60 Minutes spot... pretty interesting stuff. Clearly in full-blown mania... I guess it's not surprising considering that uppers (like his briefcase full of cocaine) can put someone into that state. WINNING!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nepavend Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I believe A&A had an Electronic Bulk Vending system in one of their catalogs, i think it was from 2001 or something. It had a dollar changer in the center of a massive rack setup, for the low low price of $10,000 or so. I do think one of the major issues being touched on here is the challenge of coin-op vending staying just that, coin-operated. That is one of the major mission statements of the NBVA, to push for legislation that help this sort of thing, such as a dollar coin versus dollar bills. Imagine what that would do for us if we actually had them circulating instead of being hoarded collectors items. I am wondering if we have any Canadian vendors who can chime in on how the $1 and $2 coins are working out for them, EH? lol Profits has a point that getting change can present people with one too many hoops for them to buy a gumball or toy. I have seen some real characters out on the road and can understand where his point of view is coming from, even though I admit to being judgmental about people about certain qualities while out servicing, but mostly because I am being careful to avoid any potential problems and not let on that I have money in the car! Credit and Debit cards for bulk vend are way out there in my opinion, Visa and Mastercard will wipe out any profit we would get through merchant and item fees, etc., and God help you if your "lazy" customers bounce a payment or do a stop payment on their 50 cent transaction (Yes, it can happen). Cash is still King, you cant take it back once it goes in the machine, usually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpvnc Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Profits: I went to look at a machine a guy had for sale the other day. He had it at a flea market. He had a booth set up with six racks and one of the racks has a bill changer mounted on the side of it. It was bolted to the rack. He told me he had mounted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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