hat would happen if your
route truck broke down?
Perhaps you are one of those
operations that has a spare vehicle
that the driver can use to service his
or her accounts? Perhaps there is a
reliable repair shop that can come to
the operation's aid quickly? Unfor-
tunately, the answer to both these
questions is generally "no" leaving
the operator without a vehicle. This
means accounts won't get serviced,
the operator's customers may become
angry and most importantly, there
won't be any collections for that day.
To add insult to injury, when the
mechanic is fnally able to look at the
operator's vehicle, the report comes
back that there is no oil in the crank-
case and the engine is cooked. Now
what? Replacing an engine is costly,
not to mention the additional expense
incurred for a rental truck for the
driver to use while his or her vehicle
is being fxed. All of this could have
been avoided by understanding one
simple truth — the route truck is the
life blood of an operator's company.
Keeping the vehicle in good running
order should be one of an operator's
highest priorities.
Schedule regular checks
Let me ask a simple question: Who is
checking your route vehicles? Is it the
route driver? Is it you, the operator?
If an operation is large enough, per-
haps there is support staff — is one
of them checking? In the end, some-
Vending vehicle
maintenance
checklist
By Dominic Finelli, Contributing Editor
W
Don't overlook the
importance of keeping
the life blood of your
business in good working
order. Regular vehicle
maintenance should be
a top priority.
iStock
26 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com May 2015
ADVICE TAILORED TO THE 1 TO 4 ROUTE OPERATION
S M A L L O P