Pay It Forward

I just received a call from a longtime classified advertiser who (among other things) repairs coin and bill handling equipment. He told me that he is concerned about fly-by-night repair services preying on unwary operators by keeping a serviceable device sent to them for repair, telling the operator that the piece cannot be repaired and then sending back a seriously defective one. Then they make the modest repair and resell the apparatus at a low price. This practice, he said, unsurprisingly, is hurting his and many other legitimate service centers.

Of course I asked the question: "How can this be? Doesn't the operator write down the serial number before sending something off for service?" Keeping track of the parts inventory may sound elementary to most operators, but apparently -- at least according to my coin repair service friend -- it's a more widespread problem than one might think. Of course, most of the operators who subscribe to Vending Times and are reading this column keep these records, but how do we reach those who don't? You might hope that the Internet would spread a warning about such scams, but the ubiquity of and unrestricted access to the World Wide Web can be a double-edged sword. Anyone can launch a website and pay to make sure the company name appears high up in the list returned by a search, so often times the Web serves to market these swindles.

The best defense is to focus on basics. Keeping records that include proof of purchase, date of delivery and warranty details, updated with the item's present use, dates of preventive maintenance and details of repairs should be among the fundamentals of running a vending business -- or any business that deploys equipment. And if you keep your parts department organized, even by using handwritten index cards, you'll be in a much better position to automate in the future.

The point is that you've got to start by doing it right. It's interesting because most of the editorial you will read in this publication speaks about vending technology, telemetry, automating inventory management, reducing error rates and increasing efficiencies through online ordering, stock alerts and monitoring order-picking. But without a solid base that includes all the essentials, the technology will be useless without a tremendous amount of effort. Back when computerized vending management systems were new, it often was said that the operating companies who got the greatest immediate benefit from a VMS were those that didn't really need one, since they had good manual systems in place.

I really wish everyone who purchases a route would check their sources and do their homework because the story I just shared is the kind of thing that happens all too often and gives the vending and amusement industry a bad name. I've heard a lot of crazy stories in the past 25 years, but this was a new one, even for me! But wishing it weren't so won't make it go away.

The difficulty for any publication is that it cannot be written as a primer for people outside an industry; it must serve the people already in it. All the same, we've always done our best to assist anyone who has asked us for information.

A story I like to tell -- it is not a joke -- is how my father used to talk to people who literally walked in off the streets of Manhattan, without an appointment, to sit in his office and learn about the vending industry. My dad entertained them all in his unique Vic Lavay fashion. He dispensed sage advice, and some of them went on to tell their own success stories. You may even be one of them!

Of course, the landscape has changed. We're all working twice as hard to earn the same nickel, and time has become a scarce and precious commodity. That said, I am really glad I answered my phone today. Notwithstanding all of this, we all still need to make ourselves available to newcomers and share our experiences with them. Many of these so-called "little guys" are now playing in the big leagues, and I'm happy to know that VT has contributed to that growth.

And I urge all the old-timers (like me!) to make room at the table for our new brethren, and encourage their participation. Competition, big or small, is healthy for the growth of our business, but it has to be intelligent competition. We've known more than one operator who has devoted a lot of time and attention to helping a startup vending or coffee service business to find its feet and start growing. They told us that this is not altruism, but self-defense.

Many start-up operators bring a fresh perspective and creative flair to the business; we can learn something from these folks. If publicizing threats and outlining opportunities helps even one new operator, then Vending Times will have made a difference. We'd love to hear from you.