Saturday, December 29, 2007

Improving Productivity Of Vending Route Drivers

For any large sized Antares vending business, route drivers are an integral part of the snack and beverage business. Their functions include servicing and maintenance of vending machines. So, it’s imperative to try and improve the productivity of vending route drivers. This will have a direct and positive impact on your business profits as well.

Vending route drivers are paid a fixed monthly salary plus a percentage of weekly vending machine sales. Their skills and performance will determine the amount that can be earned as commission on sales. It acts as a motivation for them to play an active role in increasing the sales of your Planet Antares vending business.

To encourage route productivity, you must offer incentive programs to employees. They seek control over their operations and if employees don’t get that under incentive programs, it will be ineffective. However, vending business productivity is not dependent on employees alone. The consumers also have an important role to play.

You will have to design the incentive program in a way that encourages route drivers to service maximum number of vending machines so that they can collect as much money as possible. You must also remember that employee productivity targets should not affect their performance quality. Many times, route drivers try to cut corners in an effort to work faster and get incentives. This can lead to malpractices and lower sales for your Planet Antares vending business.

Look for ways to encourage vending route drivers to carry out their duties in a proper and efficient way. Vending equipment should be services in time and they must ensure that customers have a hassle-free vending experience. Health and safety guidelines must also be followed while servicing vending machines. If this function is performed in the right manner, you can avoid future breakdown costs.

Employees should be trained to prevent wastage of resources and avoid certain practices. There should not be any rushing into the jobs to service maximum number of machines. Consumer preferences should be fulfilled and the machines should be thoroughly checked for any problems. This can go a long way in enhancing vending sales.

Keep the above factors in mind while designing incentive programs for your vending route drivers. Always try to find ways to improve productivity as well as sales, but not at the cost of procedures and efficiency.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Maintaining Vending Machines For Increased Profitability

Your vending machines are an important part of your business and if you keep them in good condition, your business will flourish. It is essential to have well maintained vending machines and stock them regularly. Unfortunately, vending operators spend very little time or effort on equipment maintenance.

If you have the tendency to wait for the vending machine to break down before paying attention to the vending machine maintenance, it is not a sound business policy. Making an emergency call for repairs while the customers wait for the machine to start working is hardly an ideal situation for your business reputation.

Sometimes, it may truly be an emergency due to unforeseen circumstances. Most of the time, it is just a lack of proper maintenance. You can enhance your business revenue by reducing the frequency of breakdowns of the equipment. If you can avoid breakdowns by small maintenance adjustments, it is much better than incurring the cost of repairs.

An example of this situation can be taken for your Planet Antares vending machine. the refrigeration compressors will not keep the soda and snacks cool if their fins become clogged. If the same are cleaned and serviced regularly, this problem can be prevented from occurring. This will lead to drastic improvement in your cost cutting and profit maximization. Your vending machine servicing will just need a few dollars whereas addressing the problems at later stages takes about $100-$200 as repair cost.

To increase profitability, you should practice various techniques while running your vending business. Some of these have been listed below:

1. Appropriate stocks

The route vehicles should be stacked with the proper inventory required for small repairs while visiting the various locations on the vending route. The vending machine technicians should be able to carry out repairs without wasting any time in going to and coming from the shop.

2. Predict obvious problems

Keep your vending machines in good condition by checking the bill validator and coin acceptors regularly. Clean it for any spilled products so that there is no clogging or stuck up items. Keep changing the disposable parts to ensure smooth operations and freshness in products.

3. Technical expertise

You should be able to handle minor repairs on your own and take assistance for complex issues only. Also, make sure that you choose well-trained, skilled personnel for repairing the vending machines.

4. Record servicing and repair frequency

It’s best to keep record of the maintenance dates, issues and parts so that you can determine the life of consumable parts in the Antares vending machine.

By following such preventive measures, you will be able to reduce the cost of running your vending business. On the other hand, business sales from efficient machines will help in improving business profitability and return on investment.