4 replies to this topic

[coinvestor]

No, I am not at the point that I am looking to hire anyone yet. I thought that if I focus on this now it would be a smoother transition if I built this into the business. For the sake of this topic lets leave out DEX. Below are some of the questions I have, and maybe some of the folks that own or work at larger companies would have some good input.

How do you ensure accuraccy in stocking? I know that having planograms help.

How do you stop people from stealing cash (aside from hiring my gradma:)?

What kind of audits can you do to ensure service quality? Random site inspections?

What methods do you use to track location satisfaction?

How do you deal with selection request to the driver?

Any thoughts or ideas from anyone are apprieciated.

Thanks

JD

[VendAndy81]

Well at the end of a couple months you could talk to the person that manages the site where your machine is at. Just ask them about your employee's performance, like are they being professional, keeping everything in stock, easy to deal with?

[djpvending]

simple suggestions I can make without it costing a fortune in sophisticated software, and probably should be common practices any operator should use whenthey have employees.

set a par capacity level on each machine in the field,including coinmech amount. teach driver to always fill to that level at every service.

single bag collect each machine with a route slip inside that has on it the fill and price info...this makes it possible to check fill vs. money

if your equipment has the electronic capability to give sales/vend count data have them record that too.

spot check at random field equipment-with a par capacity and the above procedure you should be able to "count down" any machine and balance.

this will deter employee theft..... the only other loophole is product theft off the truck.... a good practice is at the very least a routine truck inventory they turn in.


all these are deterrents.....keeping the honest ones honest....

just my .02 worth

[midtenn]

simple suggestions I can make without it costing a fortune in sophisticated software, and probably should be common practices any operator should use whenthey have employees.

set a par capacity level on each machine in the field,including coinmech amount. teach driver to always fill to that level at every service.

single bag collect each machine with a route slip inside that has on it the fill and price info...this makes it possible to check fill vs. money

if your equipment has the electronic capability to give sales/vend count data have them record that too.

spot check at random field equipment-with a par capacity and the above procedure you should be able to "count down" any machine and balance.

this will deter employee theft..... the only other loophole is product theft off the truck.... a good practice is at the very least a routine truck inventory they turn in.
all these are deterrents.....keeping the honest ones honest....

just my .02 worth

DJPVending is exactly right. I don't know how many machines you service but if accountability software is not feasable at this point the following 2 checks and balances will keep you in tune daily with any issues on your route including machines giving product away free or at a reduced price. You will be able to tell if product and/or money is over or short. When you have other people handling your money, expedient and timely route accountability is essential and vigilance must be maintained.

1. Expected $ Inventory will tell you how much money is due for the product added to machine - You may want to setup a spreadsheet on your computer for each machine and set it up to calculate the quanity of product added at each price and the total for all products. Check this against your actual money turned in and this tell you if you have product "shrinkage" and the over/short for each machine. Machine must always be filled to the same product par and changer pars kept to same level. Gum may be the exception to the rule if you don't want to fill until you can use a whole 20 pack and must be either counted and recorded as an ending inventory or taken into consideration. Always record stales, waste, refunds and giveaways.

2. Expected $ Meter Reading will tell you how much money is due that was fed through machine- Of course, by using the nonresettable meter readings, this will inform you how much money has been through the machine and appx. the amount that should arrive to your office. If you don't receive it , you may have problems, but drivers will sometimes forget to pull bills, so you may have to wait until the next service/collect date to see if it returns or go check yourself.

3. Truck Inventory - Weekly or Monthly, your preference, but I generally prefer weekly. Load sheet from warehouse to route truck with all products recorded that was put on truck. You can then match the weekly truck inventory with product loaded on truck, product added to machines and waste to account for all product. Use the same system for warehouse inventory recording the product in and out, just to make sure there is no shrinkage there either as you just never know.

4. Visit accounts, check machines for cleaned, filled, working, and talk to your contact person there no less than once a month. Get there at break or lunch and you can find out a lot from the people in the breakroom about their opinions on the driver and/or your machines in general.
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

As was previously stated, once you have a procedure in place you can always go to the machines count them down and check the money in them when you have a discrepency or suspect a problem.

Sorry for such a long post but for the past 20 years route accountability has been a task or "passion" of my daily life . As your company grows, so does all the other issues that will arise.

[BVI]

DJPVending is exactly right. I don't know how many machines you service but if accountability software is not feasable at this point the following 2 checks and balances will keep you in tune daily with any issues on your route including machines giving product away free or at a reduced price. You will be able to tell if product and/or money is over or short. When you have other people handling your money, expedient and timely route accountability is essential and vigilance must be maintained.

1. Expected $ Inventory will tell you how much money is due for the product added to machine - You may want to setup a spreadsheet on your computer for each machine and set it up to calculate the quanity of product added at each price and the total for all products. Check this against your actual money turned in and this tell you if you have product "shrinkage" and the over/short for each machine. Machine must always be filled to the same product par and changer pars kept to same level. Gum may be the exception to the rule if you don't want to fill until you can use a whole 20 pack and must be either counted and recorded as an ending inventory or taken into consideration. Always record stales, waste, refunds and giveaways.

2. Expected $ Meter Reading will tell you how much money is due that was fed through machine- Of course, by using the nonresettable meter readings, this will inform you how much money has been through the machine and appx. the amount that should arrive to your office. If you don't receive it , you may have problems, but drivers will sometimes forget to pull bills, so you may have to wait until the next service/collect date to see if it returns or go check yourself.

3. Truck Inventory - Weekly or Monthly, your preference, but I generally prefer weekly. Load sheet from warehouse to route truck with all products recorded that was put on truck. You can then match the weekly truck inventory with product loaded on truck, product added to machines and waste to account for all product. Use the same system for warehouse inventory recording the product in and out, just to make sure there is no shrinkage there either as you just never know.

4. Visit accounts, check machines for cleaned, filled, working, and talk to your contact person there no less than once a month. Get there at break or lunch and you can find out a lot from the people in the breakroom about their opinions on the driver and/or your machines in general.
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

As was previously stated, once you have a procedure in place you can always go to the machines count them down and check the money in them when you have a discrepency or suspect a problem.

Sorry for such a long post but for the past 20 years route accountability has been a task or "passion" of my daily life . As your company grows, so does all the other issues that will arise.

Wow, Midtenn. Great post my friend! Like Jeremiah, I've had that same question on my mind.

I run close to 50 machines by myself with no planned employee additions until I install at least one more anchor account -- mainly, someone assisting me on the route two days per week.

Since it's just me, I haven't implemented any of the practices you've mentioned above. But I can see their value in controlling shrinkage when "employees" are added into the equation.

Coming from a sales background, I generally have frowned on added paperwork or "busywork" because it cut into my productivity.

So - the ideas presented here - how much added time does it take to manage the paperwork... on the part of the service rep? At my current workload, I can't imagine having to stop and fill out worksheets. And, I used to single-bag collect each machine with the paper slip... but I stopped doing that because the counting and accounting processes took too much time.

I'm suspecting that these processes might not be so time-consuming when the workload is divided up between more employees. I assume the added value of performing these activities is greater than the cost of the extra time it takes for the employee(s) to complete those tasks, but would like someone to confirm that.