I used to have six ( 6 ) combo vending machines in a public hotel about two years ago and was robbed and vandalized twice.
I installed puck locks on all six ( 6 ) of them and it did not happen to me anymore.
The new buyer had a break in with the Puck Lock system which i heard when the location was still his. Sadly the management choose another vendor just recently and he had to sell the machines at a discount including the loss of this public hotel location. Another vendor informed me that probably the old vendor did not comply with the management on some changes to the machines to install even color sticker on all the machine for a uniform look and blend in with the hotel’s wallpaper.
If you are not flexible and do not make any compromise to the location then your days will be numbered.
It’s just like a marriage relationship, both parties need constant communication, compromises and flexibility for everything to work out.
Here in Vancouver, BC it seems that looking for locations brings to mind on : infatuation, marriage and divorce breakup cycles.
My locations presently are around 100% doing good and have very good relationship with all managers after learning my lessons on my first year not reaching out to management to develop some sense of rapport.
Being Flexible is the key.
Going back to the security measures.
I’m always constantly thinking for a security measure that won’t allow deter any kind of vandalism attempts. Right now most of the vending machines : snack, soda pop or combo machines are very vulnerable to theft especially in the public high locations.
This is very true for locations in shopping malls, universities and hotels.
Can you believe it or not ? University vending machine are always broken into since they have to remain open for hungry students at night.
Around 99% of the hotels have a form of vending machine installed in their building because it is for the convenience for their customers and also no need of assigning another staff.
It is not practical to have a snack kiosk and manned by the hotel staff for snacks and pop to run it since the staff would be better off running the daily activities inside the hotel premises.
That’s why most hotels just opt a vendor to place vending machines and in turn get a cut of the profits on a monthly basis and not bothering the maintenance schedule.
When i was strolling in Metrotown on a sunday, i noticed that all the CokeAnd soda pop vending machines are equipped with key less locks.
I guess this will be more practical than to install a puck lock because there is no need to retrofit and expensive labor needed to move, drill and weld.
Here is a short video which i took when i was at Metrotown on one of the Coke soda pop vending machines.
And if you are ambitious enough to get rid of all your keys then this is the route to take. Especially if you have a number of machines in public locations which you think is not safe.
For most vendors their machines are secured in offices, warehouses, factories and private schools which are secured.
Then this key less lock doesn’t need to be bothered with.
It seems for now the cost i would guess is very prohibitive for me, i would instead invest in debit credit readers for my vending machines which is more practical for me.
