Price Point for the Large Size Candy

With the introduction of larger sized candy in your Antares vending machines, it will mean that you will need to raise the price of the candy bar. First of all assume a $1. 00 vending price and then a $. 57 blended cost on the large size candy and $.75 on its smaller counterpart with a blended cost of $.38. You will also need to consider the 6 percent commission paid to the drivers. The driver commission as a percentage of gross profit is 15 percent on the large size candy and 12 percent on the smaller size candy.

Minimum price point is needed

In order for the large size candy proposition to work in your Antares business, the product must sell for at least $1. 00. In certain instances, price points above a dollar are required if the larger size line is to be financially beneficial. Higher price points for your Antares business would be a positive move. Incremental price points of $1. 10 and $1 15 will wreak havoc on your coin mechanism, but that is all part of the vending business as we strive for greater revenues.

The operating expenses for your Antares vending business are fixed in the short term. Rent, insurance, depreciation, amortization and interest are just a few of the examples. You will need to find a way for your Antares vending machine to produce more with each route driver stop.

The introduction of large size candy in your Antares vending machines will provide you with this opportunity. This of course would not be without some few concerns. The proposition that the candy companies are promoting is almost identical to what we have heard before from the salted snack companies and the bottlers.

The conversion to the larger product has been favorable for those Antares operators who have made a commitment to change. This conversion has not been easy for everyone.

Those who choose to be the market leaders will expose themselves to the possibility of lost business as the competition solicits their accounts with the “old” program.

How to Hire for Your Vending Business

1) Make an investment in time. Finding a good candidate for your Antares business is not a 15 minute chore that can be handed off to an office underling. It is a process that requires effort and commitment.

2) Explore the candidate’s track record. Look for a candidate that with a stable work record. If there is evidence of job hoping, it might mean that the particular candidate is not likely to be satisfied with his or her job for long.

3) Check references. Many employers are lax in this area. Since you want to hire the right person for your Antares business, make a point of checking on all the references.

4) Tap your good employees. Employees often overlook the best source of new talent; their current employees. Ask your better performers to refer candidates.

5) Test their skills. There is no magic test to determine the performance of a candidate. You should carry out practical tests for the candidates. For example, if you are hiring a route driver, ask the applicant to do the math on that day’s route cards.

6) Have them sample a “day in the life”. The best way to show a candidate what the job is all about is to have him do it for a day.

7) Develop “a feeder” system. Your odds of getting a good referral from the unemployment office or newspaper are not good. So, you would need to “think outside the box.” If there is a high school or community college nearby with a good vocational program, you can perhaps get a referral from there.

8) Sell the company to the prospective employee. You are in competition with other employees, so you should give the candidate good reasons why they should choose your Antares vending business.

9) Scrutinize your retention program. Retention is part of the hiring process. The more employees leave the more you have to work to fill those spots.

10) Keep it legal. Management must have a rudimentary understanding of the law relating to hiring employees. For example, you should know what type of questions you can and cannot ask. You should also know the nuts and bolts of wage payment and overtime laws. This will all be important for the smooth running of your Antares business.

Operators Slow to Invest

The automatic merchandising industry stands at the bottom of a ladder, ready to climb, but barely moving. In 2005, the automatic merchandising industry’s revenue increased by 3 percentage points.

The vending industry will continue to remain challenging unless operators become more aggressive about investing in tools. There are a variety of tools that are available to Antares vending operators to improve sales and profitability. These tools exist to enhance efficiency and improve sales. These tools include: remote machine monitoring, electronic cash audit, electronic locks and cashless capability. In spite of all these, very few operators are able or willing to make the necessary investments in equipment, training and salaries that will allow them to utilize these advantages.

In the mean time, the Antares operator’s fortunes rest mainly on external economic forces, which in the short term can be described as non-threatening, but not generous.

The best news for Antares vending operators in the last couple of years has been the end of employee downsizing that had characterized the previous three years. Vending operator sales posted a 3 percentage point increase in 2005, which pushed aggregate industry sales to $21.89 billion.

Aggregate sales improved a total 4 percent points in 2004 and 2005. Operators took comfort in the fact that locations had stopped shedding employees during that time.

Operators are yet to take advantage of new technologies that offer the vending industry significant growth potential. With these technologies, you can schedule service at the most opportune time, improve customer satisfaction, offer higher priced products and improve level accountability of your Antares vending machine.

Although these technologies offer significant potential, the operator has barely begun to invest in most of them due to the high capital required. With some of these technologies, you will also need to integrate new hardware and software with existing management systems.

If you would like to make a difference in your Antares vending business, you can invest in some of these technologies. By doing this you will see a positive change in the running of your business.

Advantages of Electronic Locks

There are many advantages that exist for various electronic locks versus the standard barrel locks. Here are some of them:

a) Thieves will virtually be unable to pick the locks on your Antares vending machine

b) The locks are very difficult to drill.

c) A thief will be unable to create duplicate keys.

d) The combinations can be quickly and easily changed on an Antares vending machine that you would want to move from one route to another.

e) The operator will be able to control the specific times a key is active.

Many benefits are available for both external and internal theft as well as labor efficiency.

If there is a cash shortage in your Antares vending machine, you will be able to determine immediately who has had access to the machine since the last collection. In the past years this is something that would have been time consuming and at the same time inaccurate.

If a set of keys for your Antares vending machine is lost, you will not need to change the locks on all machines. The electronic keys are normally “refreshed” on a daily basis when the route and service people report back to the office at the end of a day. This means that the keys become inactive once they reach the expiration time that you have set for them. In most cases this would be at the end of the day. When a set of keys is lost, they will be totally useless to the person who finds them. There is nothing that the person can do with the keys. Electronic locks will give you peace of mind. You should use them for all your Antares vending machines because they have more advantages over the traditional locks. When you have left other people in charge of your business you will always want to know that your merchandise is safe. With electronic locks you will not to worry about that since you will be in control.

On a daily basis, you will have an audit trail of all the activities of the route person. You will get to know where they were at any time of the day. This will help you to determine the amount of time the route person is taking to fill each individual Antares vending machine.

Basic Filling, Cleaning and Servicing Practices

To provide the best possible in your Antares vending business, route drivers must always follow standard procedures for filling, cleaning and collecting cash from the Antares vending machines. Procedures for servicing vending machines vary; depending on the tools the driver has been given. The following procedures that are listed below are for drivers servicing accounts using route cards.

Filling the snack machine

1) Be sure the totes or cartons are full of product

2) Stack totes on the cart in the order they will be used

3) Align the cart perpendicular to the Antares to the machine so that the products can be easily reached

4) After pulling out the shelf, check the code date on each item for freshness.

5) If using a Plano gram, fill the shelves according to the Plano gram. Be sure to tuck the corner the corner of each item into the top of the spiral it goes into.

6) Follow Antares Corporation’s counting procedures for product placement in the machine.

7) As you finish each shelf, replace it to its locked position. Then move the top most totes out of the way. When finished restack the totes.

Filling the cold drink machine

1) Stack your product on your cart in the reverse order that you will use.

2) Fill each flavor into its appropriate column. Make sure the top of the product goes in first.

3) Follow Antares Corporation’s product counting procedure.

4) When finished stack the trash on the cart, close and lock the door of the Antares vending machine.

Cleaning the Antares snack and drink vending machine

The machines should be cleaned at least once a week. Spray down the front of the machine with glass cleaner, inside and outside. Clean out the delivery compartment and the delivery chute of the machine, after which they should be both wiped. The coin mechanism should be cleaned once a month using a damp cloth.

Inventorying

Firstly you need to count the number of items for each category of products in the Antares vending machine and then write it in the appropriate box on the route card for the machine. This should include the outdated products that will be removed.

Vended Confections and Snacks

The sale of vending machine confections and snacks are determined by the consumer desire for convenience and snack variety. There has been an increase in the assortment of snacks offered in vending machines, which has blurred the distinction between snacks and food items. Many a times, Antares vending machine items often replace meals because people usually are in such a great hurry that they do not have time to sit down for a meal. Demand for vending machines in certain locations was partially due in part to the popularity of “energy,” “breakfast” and “meal replacement” bars.

Glass front vending machines remain dominant and increased in locations. A new trend that has been found is the willingness of consumers to pay a higher price for premium products. As an Antares vending operator you can raise the prices of your products without worrying over the customers’ response.

The percentage of sales for snacks and food products in 2004 was as follows:

Candy Bars and Boxed Candy --23%

Cookies and Crackers --20%

Bagged snacks and pastries --38%

Others --19%

Since then there has been an increase in all these categories.

Technology in vending machines has allowed vending machine operators to automatically collect data on vending machine sales. As an Antares vending operator you will find that technology will help your business to be more successful. Machine and location specific Antares vending machine sales can help operators to monitor the movement and profitability of products being offered. Implementation of technology is one tool that can be used in the vending industry.

America is a snack loving country. Snacks and confections attract all kinds of customers whether young, old, female or male. They all have a fondness for snacks, and will always buy snacks and confections from vending machines whenever they feel like having a small snack.

National Automatic Vending Association (NAMA)

The National Automatic Merchandising Association, or NAMA, is the American national trade association of the food and refreshment vending, coffee service and food service management industries.

Its membership is comprised of service companies, equipment manufacturers and suppliers of products and services to operating service companies. As an Antares vending business owner, you should be a member in this association. You will benefit greatly. The basic mission of the NAMA is to collectively advance and promote automatic merchandising.

NAMA supports with administrative, logistical and financial assistance, a network of 30+ affiliated State Councils encompassing 36 States, where the vending industries focus on local issues and concerns as well as gathering frequently for networking opportunities. This would be something positive for your business.

NAMA’s policies and programs are established and reviewed by volunteer members who serve on the board of directors and committees. The programs are then implemented by the association’s executive staff.

As an Antares vending business owner, it would be advisable to join the association so that you can improve your performance and eventually be successful. By joining the association you will also network with industry leaders. Once you start your business you might be too busy to keep up with the trends. You will need to stay abreast of trends, technology and education. By joining the association this will always be possible.

The National Automatic Merchandising Association recognizes the obligation to serve its industry and the public which includes customers, clients, employees and communities. They are committed to the highest standards of honesty, integrity and responsibility in the ethical conduct of their business. As an Antares vending member of the association, your conduct in all matters should reflect positively upon the industry.

In other words NAMA will help you to keep an eye on your Antares vending business from each and every angle. This will make your business successful.

Mechanical Vending Machines

Achieving financial success from mechanical vending machines can be difficult if you have a small vending machine business with the wrong type of vending machines. With Antares vending machines you can never go wrong in your vending business. With the Natural Choice USA vending program, you can succeed with your business with a few vending machines or a large number of machines. This is the reason why you need to get the right machines.

Mechanical vending machines are low cost and are also low-hassle choice, when it comes to the vending products. You can buy an Antares vending machine at a reasonable rate. Antares Corporation offers some of the most reasonable rates in the industry for their vending machines.

Mechanical vending machines have a separate coin mechanism for each vending selection; so if one coin mechanism jams in the Antares vending machine, the other selections will still operate. Selections are dispensed via the turning of the coin mechanism handle. To give change, it requires a side mount dollar bill changer. These machines do well in smaller accounts (less than 75 employees) since they have smaller capacities and are more compact. The sodas are refrigerated using electricity. This is the only place where electricity is needed. These machines are simple to troubleshoot and repair. By buying an Antares vending machine you will save a lot of money. One of the reasons being that you will not you are not using electricity to run the whole machine.

Antares vending machines have a high capacity, so that means making fewer trips to the locations for refills. Antares Refreshment Centers by Natural Choice vend snacks, candy, canned sodas, bottled juices and change for dollar bills.

Mechanical machines are user friendly, since the mechanical design results in trouble free operation. This is important for the customers since no one would want to spend more time than necessary figuring out how to operate the machine. Financial success is very possible with mechanical vending machines. They have advantages over other machines which will be financially beneficial to you.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Full Line Vending

Full line vending is the business of operating vending machines that sell cans or bottles of soft drinks and/ or small packages of snacks. Antares vending machines sell these kinds of products. A common volume for soda is 12 fl oz (354 ml) or 20 oz (590ml) in North America. For snacks it is usually in the range of 1-3 oz. Soda and snack vending machines go well side by side, for efficient servicing.

Advantages of full line vending

Antares operators with snack and soda vending machines have the advantage that many locations recognize their need for such machines. These machines are very popular in all types of locations. Moreover, companies recognize the difficulty in moving these machines and are less likely to ever ask you to remove the vending machine, unless you do a poor job of servicing the vending machine. Almost all snack/soda vending machines like those provided by Antares Corporation, have vend counters that track how many items are sold, so it is very difficult for an employee to steal money. Aside from that, these machines are heavy and large, thus making them very hard to steal without drawing attention. This is quite an advantage for your Antares vending business.

Disadvantages of full line vending

Soda and snack vending machines are relatively expensive. Those that are provided by Antares Corporation are affordable and this accounts for its popularity. Full line vending machines also take a long time to service as compared to bulk vending machines. If you want to service your Antares vending machine it would not take as much time as other machines, because of its unique design. This is what sets them apart from others. Full line vending machines take up a lot of space. When you are looking for a location for your Antares vending machine, make sure that the location would suit the machine. The machines may take up more space, but they still remain the most demanded machines by locations. The machines are quite difficult to move, so you would require the help of professional movers. In locations such as corporate offices, vending machines need to be serviced during traditional business hours.

American Money in Vending Machines

The American money system is logical and very easy to use. It is based on the dollar ($1. 00), on which all cash and coins are dependent. Coins are parts of one dollar, for example: a quarter and a dime. The twenty, ten, five and one are the most frequently used bills in Antares vending machines and other machines

Each type of coin has a specific size and design. The same goes with the paper bills. Vending machines all accept coins and paper money. When you place the money in the Antares vending machine, the machine will read the money to determine the amount and then dispense the item accordingly, depending on the product that you have selected. The Antares vending machine will also return any change if there is need to. This is what makes using vending machines preferable, to going to the corner store. It is more convenient. Antares vending machines also come with changer machines so that they can change for you the dollar bills whenever necessary. This changer machine is mounted next to the vending machine so that if anyone wants to use the vending machine and are in need of change they can use the changer machine.

Many a time, people have tried to insert dollar bills half way, and then pull it out after the machine has read the dollar bill. They use a string to do this. People have also tried to get back the coins that they have inserted. These are just some of the tricks that people use to cheat vending machines.

The quarter is one of the most useful coins. If you are a student, be sure to save these! They can be used in coin operated machine like the Antares vending machine. Many vending machines will take small bills, such as ones, fives, and tens, but the change that you will get back will all be in coins.

One word of caution: vending machines do not take in dollar coins, half dollars, pennies, or Canadian coins. Charge or credit cards are being used more and more, even for buying small things , because many Americans don’t like to carry much cash with them. These cards are easy and safe to use.

The Growing Trend of Cashless Vending

The Federal Reserve Board reports that electronic transactions far exceed payments made by check or cash. This trend is only expected to increase, with credit card purchases growing at a rate of 7% annually and debit card transactions increasing at a rate of 21% annually.

It has also been noted that customers tend to purchase more products and spend more money when using cashless payment options. This is because there are no exact change requirements, nor are there any limits on their spending. Economists have noted that the public is inclined to make impulsive purchases when paying with a credit card. This would definitely be more profitable for your Antares vending business.

Some time back, the public seemed to express reluctance over using credit and debit cards for small dollar or low value transactions. With the prevalence of cashless transactions everywhere, consumers have greatly changed their attitude towards cashless transactions. Today these transactions are carried out daily when it comes to all kind of purchases. Practically everyone is using credit or debit cards. The increase in their use has resulted in an increase in sales and product units sold.

In vending, cashless vending is a concept that has just began to catch up. Many companies are taking up this concept. Antares Corporation is yet to take up this growing trend. In the near future all vending companies will adopt this kind of payment option. It is more convenient way to handle your business and will ultimately bring in higher sales and more profits for your Antares vending business.

Cashless vending, one of the strategies of v-commerce, is expected to enhance customer convenience, increase sales and profitability, and improve your Antares vending efficiency. The vending technology has been around for over ten years. Only recently, there has been a demand in improving cashless vending technology

In the vending industry, there are only three percent of the eight million vending machines equipped to support cashless vending options. Vending operators are reluctant to take up this new technology because of lack of experience with the new technology and the total cost of the technology. However it is a concept that you should consider taking up for your Antares vending business. All that you need to do is to load cashless vending applications into your vending machines. In the long run it will pay off.