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Issue link: http://automaticmerchandiser.epubxp.com/i/62876
C O V E R S T O RY One of Arwin's most discourag- ing experiences was fi nding that some customers are willing to work with vending operators who don't have liability insurance and don't pay sales tax. He said some busi- ness owners understand he needs to cover these costs, but some don't care and only want the lowest pos- sible prices. "You can't sell a candy bar for 60 cents and make money," he said. Customer needs drive business Arwin was aware that vending tech- nology was evolving, but he real- ized the technology was expensive. He wasn't looking to offer cashless readers when he got a call from an account with 100 employees who asked him if he could provide credit card readers. The account also wanted OCS and point-of-use water coolers, two things Arwin was not offering at the time. He decided it was time to learn about all three of these areas. He told the account he was interested in providing all of these services. The account had also met with some larger vending companies, but Arwin offered something unique; the owner's (his) cell phone num- ber. Hence, he won the account. Arwin installed USA Tech- nologies readers, along with $5 bill acceptance and dollar coin payout, on the snack and beverage machines. This was his fi rst expo- sure to cashless, and he was pleased with the results. He wasn't sure there wasn't some cannibalization of cash sales, but one thing he noticed for sure was the higher priced items sold bet- ter than in accounts that didn't have cashless readers. Little did he know at the time that the account was about to increase its staff sevenfold. Arwin now has vending banks on four fl oors for this company. The positive results with the cashless reader encouraged Arwin to offer cashless to more customers. Since he installed cashless, he has increased his higher ticket offer- ings in his machines, such as $2.50 energy drinks. Most of his glassfront beverage machines now have a full row of energy drinks. New cashless concept emerges In the meantime, a local technology company developed a cashless vend- ing product using Bluetooth technol- ogy and was searching for vending operators to test its new concept. Arwin's USI distributor, Sunstate Vending Equipment Co. in Apopka, Fla., referred the company, Coin Free Inc., based in Winter Park, Fla. to Arwin. Coin Free designs and distributes devices to support the acceptance of credit, debit and loyalty cards. Coin Free developed a Blue- tooth/wi-fi reader that communi- cates payment authorization through both serial (multi-drop bus machines) and electrome- chanical (older machines) sys- tems. Customers can make pur- chases by down- loading an app to their mobile phone, select from a list of prod- ucts and prices on their phone, authorize the purchase on their phone, then make their selection from the vending machine. The screen that appears on the phone gives a list of generic prod- uct categories, i.e., chips, and a price point. Once the customer has selected the category and the price, the credit or debit authorization is communicated to the Bluetooth modem on the machine. The cus- tomer then selects the specifi c prod- uct on the machine keypad. If the customer selects a product priced lower than the authorized amount, their account is credited the differ- ence. If they select a product priced above the authorized value, the sale is denied. The mobile phone needs to be within 30 feet of the modem to acti- vate a cashless purchase. The device sits on the front of the machine above the keypad. The circuits inside the device connect to the C ONT INUED ▶ Coffee Parts Plus PHONE: 1-866-736-5282 FAX: 1-800-216-6606 sales@coffeepartsplus.com Air pots not included. Hanging signs sold separately. Shipped with 2 stainless steel drip trays and 2 risers to adjust height of air pots 25-1/4" x 12-1/2" Model # 1023166 Coffee Accessories, Parts and Water Filtration w w w . c o f f e e p a r t s p l u s . c o m May 2012 VendingMarketWatch.com Automatic Merchandiser 59