SS M A L P
MALL OL
OP
ADVICE AND KNOW-HOW TAILORED TO THE 1 TO 4 ROUTE OPERATION
Vending route
truck 101
How the small operator can best layout a delivery vehicle
and choose equipment to service all types of accounts.
By Dominic Finelli, Contributing Editor
I
n the vending business, route
trucks are the lifeline of the
company. Without a good
running truck, the accounts
can't be serviced and ultimately the
machine goes empty, operators lose
sales and may even lose an impatient
account. This we all understand, but
how about the inside of the truck?
Is it clean, are products placed in an
orderly fashion? Think about this scenario — drivers are getting ready to
service an account and the inside of
the truck is visible to a passersby. Do
customers see order or chaos?
Truck layout
The truck should be carefully laid out
with at least two shelves on each side
for product, while saving the foor space
underneath for the heaviest product,
cases of soda. The driver needs to keep
the truck orderly and clean throughout
the day, breaking down empty boxes
with a cardboard cutter and placing
the trash in a box, preferably a large
empty cup box. Another important
item is where the collected money is
kept during the day. If there is no safe
on the truck, invest in one. A safe will
be money well spent, keeping collections locked up and out of view from
the passersby. Make sure the safe is
bolted to the foor of the truck away
from where product is brought in and
out. For instance, when servicing out
of the back of the truck, the safe should
be in the front, and vise-versa.
Product transport tips
Now let's look at how product is
brought to customers. Do drivers use
an old candy box, throwing in all the
products they think they will need,
all jumbled together? Remember they
are dealing in food and even though
it's pre-packaged, they still need to
treat it as food. A crumpled bag of
chips or a smashed pastry becomes
very unappealing when placed in the
machine. Make the point that if they
wouldn't buy an item based on how it
looks then neither will their customers. I would suggest that the operator
make a small investment into durable,
stackable plastic boxes with dividers.
This will make everything easier to
load and easier to pick up and place
into the machine. And of course,
38
Automatic Merchandiser
VendingMarketWatch.com
June 2013