Apriva Vend’s Stacey Finley Tappin Breaks Down Cashless Costs During Southeastern Vending Association Convention

She emphasized that contrary to what some think, cashless does not cannibalize cash sales. “Cashless does not eat your cash sales,” she said.

She then discussed a recent case study of a vending operator in Charlotte, N.C., AmeriVend. She said the operator raised his prices by 5 cents in the machines and experienced a 40 percent sales lift after deploying cashless.

She said the 5-cent price increase covered the extra costs associated with deploying cashless.

Tappin said the integration with reporting tools enabled AmeriVend to improve its accounting and back office operations.

Tappin further noted that while cashless does require additional costs, cash-only has costs as well. With cash-only, the operator has less opportunity to increase prices and less opportunity to win sales from customers who prefer to use cashless. In addition, cash-only incurs higher maintenance expenses; counting, bagging and transporting cash costs, and a greater likelihood of theft and vandalism.

Reed of MEI noted that one operator determined there is a 2 percent to 5 percent cost for managing cash.