Blog Archives
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There are apps for everything – why not vending?
By Emily Refermat - Wednesday November 28, 2012
As a member of Gen Y, I like apps (otherwise known as digital applications on smartphones and tablets). They are fun to use, and often quite useful. When I read part 3 of Michael Kasavana’s article about V-Engineering, which is about marketing to vending consumers using their mobile devices, I was most interested in how apps will be used by and for vending machines. It’s coming in the December issue of Automatic Merchandiser , so I won’t spoil the read for you, but I will say that Dr. Kasavava mentioned an app customers could use to find vending machines, no matter where they are. Interesting, but that has to be years away…maybe not. As I was scouring news sites, I came across a “similar” app called “Where to Wee.” Cintas... -
True opportunities for bottled water service
By Emily Refermat - Wednesday November 21, 2012
In 2012, the National Automatic Merchandising Association co-located the CoffeeTea&Water event with the International Bottled Water Association show. While it certainly brought more attendees to the CTW event, I found myself wondering what opportunities it really offered to vending operators, specifically those in coffee service. Members of IBWA tend to be water service providers, some of which do offer coffee. At least one operator I met at CTW had crossed over. The owner of PrairieFire Coffee, Wichita, Kan., was actually a water service provider who acquired an OCS operation and rebranded the entire company. He had staff there working both sides of the show. 5-gallon water business still viable While vending and coffee... -
Capital Gains Tax Increases And Other Spooky Stuff
By Marc Rosset - Wednesday October 31, 2012
While reading my favorite investment and financial blogs and web sites, just before Halloween, I felt it my duty as a consultant to the industry, to summarize what I have learned, and pass it on to those of you who have been sitting on the fence concerning selling your business or acquiring a competitor. As of this moment, the capital gains rate for 2013 will be raised to 23.8 percent from the current 15 percent. Here’s how that happens. The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Jobs Creation Act of 2010 extend the Bush-era tax cuts until the end of 2012. Beginning January 1, 2013, the tax rate will revert from the current 15 percent rate back to the former 20 percent capital gain tax rate that was in effect prior... -
Research Shows Vending Isn't Just Junk Food
By Emily Refermat - Wednesday October 24, 2012
Back on Oct. 12, 2012, VendingMarketWatch reported a Forbes article about a study that links chocolate and winning Nobel prize s. It's a great story. The researcher looked at different countries, the number of Nobel prizes won and the chocolate consumed, and he saw a correlation -- the more chocolate, the more Nobel prizes. Specifically he saw a significant linear correlation between chocolate consumption per capita and the number of Nobel laureates per 10 million persons in a total of 23 countries. Correlation does not equal causation, but chocolate has been linked to other positive health benefits, especially dark chocolate, so it's not a difficult leap to make. This type of article is a great addition to a newsletter or email... -
'Force Vend' Gives Industry Bad Image
By Tom Britten - Wednesday October 17, 2012
Force vend is a condition where the vending operator programs the machine not to give a refund after inserting payment, but not making a selection. This practice is considered to be unethical to many within the industry, but, some operators and bottlers still practice it. Proposals promise a flood initiatives designed to sky rocket customer satisfaction, and infrared sensors are used to guarantee product delivery, double your money back refunds are offered if you’re dissatisfied with any product, all to create a positive vending purchasing experience, yet, operators often program their machines in a force vend, anti-customer, mode in direct conflict with their own customer satisfaction policies. The vast majority people in this industry... -
Will Micro Markets Be The Next ADA Target?
By Emily Refermat - Wednesday October 10, 2012
I’ve recently returned from the Atlantic Coast Expo in Myrtle Beach, S.C. where I sat in on a session Heidi Chico, president of the Wittern Group, gave about how vending operators will need to comply with the revised Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It was a great session, and she fielded many questions attendees had about this wide-spread rule, which took effect in March of this year. But what really caught my attention is when the discussion moved to micro markets. Since micro markets have kiosks, those pieces of equipment are held to the same set of standards as vending machines, with a maximum height for controls of 48 inches and if there’s a delivery area, it can’t be below a height of 15 inches. The equipment... -
Dunkin Donuts Adding Locations Means Trouble For Vending
By Paul Schlossberg - Wednesday October 3, 2012
Dunkin' Donuts recently announced it was opening new restaurants on 10 college campuses. This is part of their plan to double the number of stores in the next 20 years. We do not know what sort of deals DD is offering to these new sites. It might be franchising, but it's more likely to be some sort of licensing deal with the college (if self-op) or the foodservice contractor (at that campus). In one sense it is NOT news. Think back to the surge of "branding" in the 1990s, when so many restaurant brands expanded at colleges, hospitals, B&I's, etc. That evolutionary process continues to this day. What is news now, in my opinion, is that the growth challenge for restaurant chains is much more difficult today than it was 10 to 15 years ago... -
Cashless invades our lives
By Emily Refermat - Thursday September 27, 2012
This week a man wrote in to the magazine thanking us. I'd like to tell you it was a vending operator complimenting our hard hitting journalism or even a manufacturer happy we ran a product release. But instead, it was a man thanking us for accepting Mastercard at the tire air pump at a Massachusetts gas station. Automatic Merchandiser/VendingMarketWatch has been mistaken for lots of things over the years, but never a gas station. As I was reading his email I couldn't help but think not five years ago, I used one of these machines and HAD to pay with quarters. It didn't even accept bills. I find myself wondering if things have changed in my local stations too. Customer loves cashless option This customer, we'll call him Bob... -
The Wheel Of Death -- Be Gone
By Emily Refermat - Wednesday September 19, 2012
Recently, I was enlightened by an industry member about the alternate name for a cold food carousel — "the Wheel of Death." This person had reviewed two proposals, from separate companies, which both referred to fresh food machines as the wheel of death, inferring that the food sold from the machine is such bad quality, it can kill you. There's even a wheel of death blog , which follows the poster through various foods purchased from the food carousel. The postings are mostly humorous and just as often positive as negative. Strangely, the postings stopped last year. And maybe that's a good sign that the phrase is fading. I searched for other references to the wheel of death as it related to vending and came up with a blogger who... -
Transitions — New Editor Takes On AM/VMW
By Emily Refermat - Wednesday September 12, 2012
I hope you all enjoyed the long Labor Day weekend, often the last celebration of the summer, because now that September is upon us, it's time for the inevitable - change. Summer cicadas become the crunching of autumn leaves. Soda sales slide, as coffee-based drinks become the beverage of choice. And of course, all of this is leading up to a change right here, at Automatic Merchandiser and VendingMarketWatch. By now, many of you have read the September issue of Automatic Merchandiser, so you know Elliot Maras, the 20+ year editor of the publication, is moving on to share his skills and knowledge with another industry within our parent company. I fully admit I was dumbfounded at this news. I thought Elliot would be visiting operators with a...
