A Hundred Years

I was servicing a location in the east side of town. The people there seems to be very familiar with diversity and just talks just about anyone.

There seems to be no superficial looks and none of the populace are judgmental.

It reminds back when I was still living in the Philippines where I grew up in Makati City which is very similar to Downtown Vancouver or I would dare say a mini Hong Kong or Singapore.

All the concrete establishments are there. You can be as cosmopolitan as you can be in a filipino way.

In Makati City where I grew up my neighborhood are all super friendly because everyone knows each other and whenever you go out to hotels it seems that you always end up rubbing elbows with someone who is familiar.

It seems that when you are an outsider, no ones likes to talk to you and normally the people have this snobbish attitude. The expats there in makati city seems to have a hard time rubbing elbows with the neighborhood and they are always at ease with their own groups. Except for expats who opened up their own shops in the makati city neighborhood.

I have acquaintances with a lot of expats coming from Australia and united states who opened brick and mortar businesses in the Philippines.

Most of them who are flexible and have this friendly attitude have become very successful in their business endeavors.

Of course a westerner who ventures to a country that is homogeneous like the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, China or Japan can be turned only in two ways either assimilate or xenophobic.

As I have mentioned before that self-employed people in whatever background that they came from are naturally flexible and willing to assimilate simply because this is survival.

If you always have a blank face when servicing your locations and running your business then your days will be numbered. Customers knows what kind of mood you are projecting.

If you are too stuck up with whatever thoughts then you will get nowhere in business because you will be too judgmental and it is likely that you won’t capture the heart of the masses.

READ MORE:  How to Start Vending Machine Business : Definitive Guide

While I was servicing the location in the east side Vancouver, a person came up to me and mentioned : “Wish that you can keep the location for a hundred years”.

I instantly replied to him : “It will take me about 20 years to pay off my mortgage and another 10 years to buy my dream cars and the remaining years to travel and see the world!. Maybe another 10 years for my blogs and websites to rank in Google 1st page” he heh heh

There was call again from a location wanting me to go and service immediately.

Seems that this location is engrossed with water. I drove by and checked the machines and I silently just left the place after servicing the location. The machines are about 3/4 full and there are still water inside the machines. It was an absolute waste of time when I got there.

Customer is always right.

Next time I will just go to that location on my projected schedule while is every month. I know that the machines are still OK but as not to piss off the customer, you just have to go and service it even you know that it is still full. The location seems to be in love with water.

Or maybe the location missed me so much that I need to show my face all the time.

This getting to be a fatal attraction in the making. he he he

On my way home I visited a location which is on schedule and needed to be tended asap since it was already about a month’s time.

This location used to be on a bi weekly ( every two weeks ) visits because it is a factory located in Delta and there are always thirsty and workers that are always wanting snacks.

READ MORE:  Unraveling the Mystery: How Long is Tour de France?

I was running this location for almost three to four years already, I lost count in my mind.

About one year ago while im servicing this location there was a healthy max combo machine suddenly that appeared with our snack and pop machines. It has all the bells and whistles and comes with a debit credit card reader for convenience.

During that time I was contemplating that I wish that the manager won’t side track and get too eager on depending on this new machine since it caters all forms of payments.

And might opt to do away with our aging machines in favor to the new vendor.

Our snack and pop machines are more than ten years old and the coin mechanism are non mdb which means that you cannot upgrade and adopt a bill validator and credit debit reader since the motherboard is the old school style. Our snack and pop machines are still using windows xp if you are comparing an analogy to the age and capability of the laptop.

Our snack and pop machines cannot run windows 10. In order to do this, the pop machine has to go and probably the snack machine can still be upgraded with a new motherboard which will cost around $1,000+ and debit credit readers and bill validators can work.

The sales on that location even thou without the new flashy combo machine prior to that is only around $120 gross sales every month and this translates to only $60 take home profit after deducting gasoline, cost of goods with my sweat and energy included.

Upgrading the motherboard to mdb complaint is not feasible with the $120 gross sales collection every month, so if the manager decided to keep the new vendor then it is fine with me.

READ MORE:  How are The Discount Vending Store prices so low?

I was surprised today when I was servicing the snack and pop machines that the new flashy combo machine is not in the lunch room anymore.

This comes to mind that maybe the new vendor retreated and found some new locations that are more promising and moving his machine with do him better in sales rather than sticking out with the existing snack and pop vending machines.

Or maybe the management have decided just to keep one vendor ?

I myself did not ask the management on my way out of the location, I do not want to raise eyebrows or changing their minds to getting back the new vendor’s machine.

If you wanted to stay in the vending machine business for a long time then sometimes you have to stick it up. The bottom line is the vendors’ performance and service.

If you go to your location faithfully and service it all the time without any lapses and problems, there is no reason for any right-minded manager to relieve your services.

Did I mention to you that there are also locations that the managers can instantly press the email send button and kick you out without consulting or give a valid reason why you and your machines are to be thrown out ?

Here is the link on what kind of business locations to avoid at all costs on your vending machine business.

You will be loosing money in no time on such kind of locations.

As long as you can perform then you can keep the location for a hundred years! He he lol.

 

Leave a Comment