How to Maintain a Vending Machine
A vending machine is an excellent way to provide customers with quick, convenient access to food and drinks. However, it can also present some challenges for new entrepreneurs.
Before you start your vending business, consider your product selection, location and marketing strategy. These factors will affect your profits and overall success as a vending operator.
Product Selection
Vending machines offer a convenient way to provide snacks, sodas, and food items. They can be used by businesses, schools, and institutions to meet immediate needs. However, maintaining a well-stocked machine requires more than just purchasing products in bulk. It also involves staying up-to-date with popular trends and customer preferences.
Choosing the right product for your vending machine can make or break a business. While you might want to stick with classics like candy bars and chips, think outside the box by offering healthier options. Cold press juices and smoothies, for example, can quench thirst and give customers a nutritious snack at the same time.
Another important consideration is the time of year. During the summer, cold drinks are more popular than hot ones. If you want to attract more customers during that time, consider stocking ice cream and cold beverages.
When it comes to soda, keep in mind that some people prefer the diet version of the sweet drink, which is available at most Vending Machine locations. You can add Diet Coke or Pepsi to your selection if you are aiming for more health-conscious consumers.
Some other healthy options include fruit juices, salads, and sandwiches. Providing healthy choices to your customers can help ensure that you have repeat business and a profitable business model.
In addition, it is a good idea to keep an eye on health trends and consumer demand. For example, sports drinks and Vitamin Water are very popular. These products do a great job of hydrating customers and are more healthy than sodas or other sugary drinks.
Keeping a watchful eye on local vending regulations can also help you decide what to sell in your machine. Some states have stricter rules than others. Contact your state’s Chamber of Commerce or look up your small business regulations online to get a better understanding of the rules and requirements in your area.
Once you have an idea of the types of products that sell best, you can choose a supplier with prices that will maximize your profits. For example, if you are a smaller business, it might be in your best interest to negotiate for a discount with the product supplier.
Cleaning Cards
Cleaning cards are a great way to keep your machine running smoothly. They are designed to remove the dust, dirt and oils that build up on equipment over time. They can also save you money on maintenance costs and repair bills.
They come in many different forms and sizes to meet the needs of your specific device. Some are even made of materials that won’t corrode or damage your equipment.
A good quality cleaning card will spruce up any piece of equipment, and will make your machines run faster and more efficiently. A clean machine can help prevent costly repairs and downtime, which will in turn save you money on labor and material costs.
The best cleaning card on the market is a flexible product that can get into areas where other products can’t. This allows the cleaning product to reach the most critical components of the device and to perform its job with a minimum of fuss or effort.
Using a quality card to clean the sexiest component of your machine is a no brainer, and a good way to save you time and money in the long run. A card can be used to clean the magnetic stripe reader, the optical lenses and other components of a card swipe or insert reader, and the bill acceptor or validator in your POS or ATM machine.
The best cleaning card in this category is the Waffletechnology Card Reader and Bill Acceptor Cleaning Cards (KW3-HSCB40 and KW3-BMB15M). These double sided, compressible cards are a must have on your vending machine maintenance list. The squeegee on the side of these card cleans the smallest, and the biggest, parts of your machine. The squeegee will make your card readers, bill validators and acceptors look new again. The squeegee will also save you time and money! Order your Waffletechnology Cleaning Cards today. You’ll be glad you did! They’re available in a box of 25. Or, you can order your own custom kit for the machine of your choice.
Credit Relays
A vending machine has several important hardware components, including credit relays, a keypad and display that allow customers to type item codes to make selections. The display also shows prices, accepted payments amounts and an “out of stock” message when the product is unavailable.
The credit relays accept cash, debit and credit cards and process the transactions to dispense the product. They are also used to keep track of the amount of money collected and sold, and are usually connected to the bill validator to ensure that the correct bills and coins are deposited into the system.
Credit release relays are energized when a bill is inserted into the machine and de-energized when it is removed. These relays control single turn motors to dispense the products.
There are many different kinds of credit relays available at a vending machine, and they have different functions depending on the type of machines. Some of them are able to synchronize multiple product selections, while others can only deliver one item per insertion.
Other types of credit relays can also monitor the quantity of cash and the number of items sold, and automatically adjust prices. This can help to reduce theft, as well as ease reporting requirements for income tax and sales tax purposes.
Another type of credit relay is a microprocessor controlled model, which allows for a wide variety of features. The ability to provide microprocessor controlled controls, sensors, storage and displays can significantly increase the functionality of the machine. This can include multipricing, where a customer is allowed to select more than one article for each money insertion, and accounting features that allow the vending machine owner to accurately keep track of the total cash received by the machine and the number of different product selections selected by the purchaser.
Other features of a credit release relay may include a time delay means for maintaining energization of the credit release relay after it is de-energized near the beginning of a product vend cycle. A capacitor is included in the circuit that charges when the credit release relay is energized and discharges when it is de-energized.
Energy Efficiency
Vending machines use a lot of electricity to cool their beverages. The exact amount they use depends on the machine size, its features, and the space in which it is located. Refrigerated machines, for example, can consume anywhere from 7 to 14 kWh daily.
One way to save energy Vending Machine is to select an ENERGY STAR-rated vending machine, which typically saves about 1,000 kWh annually. Manufacturers achieve savings by using more efficient compressors, fan motors, and lighting components.
ENERGY STAR-certified machines are also designed with a low power mode, which allows them to operate in a low-energy lighting or refrigeration state during times of inactivity.
Some refrigerated beverage vending machines are equipped with an energy-management device that restricts their use based on motion detection, which can help lower their daily consumption. Another option is to install a timer that turns the machine on and off at specific times.
A vending machine can also be upgraded with a vacuum insulation system, which improves its ability to retain cold and reduces the number of cooling cycles required. Alternatively, a heat-pump vending machine may include a system that recycles heat from the cooling chamber to warm the product in the dispense zone.
When choosing a new vending machine, check for its EPA-approved Energy Star rating and the refrigerant used in its insulation. Refrigerants with hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), a greenhouse gas, are prohibited in ENERGY STAR-certified machines.
It’s also worth looking for a machine that uses low-temperature electronic ballasts with T8 lamps, which can cut lamp power to about 80 watts. High-color-rendering T8s can enhance the appearance of a transparent front panel and cut lighting costs.
Likewise, it’s always good to have a temperature control on the machine to maintain the right temperature for the products in the unit. Higher ambient temperatures require the machine’s compressor to run more frequently, increasing the overall energy consumption.
For a machine that requires regular operation, it can also be helpful to install a controller that includes a passive infrared occupancy sensor. This will switch off the lights and compressor when the area is unoccupied for 15 minutes or longer.
