Planet Antares scam alert blog on tips & advice on various vending scams for entrepreneurs and operators.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Value Pricing In Planet Antares Vending Business

The Planet Antares vending operator has now become empowered to track product turns with minimal labor with the help of management tools such as handheld devices and planograms. As a result, some of the operators are evaluating their pricing strategies.

Since a long time, Planet Antares vending operators have complained about not being able to raise prices to the same level as other retail channels. Generally, vending prices are determined by competition and by consumer contracts, not consumer needs. To improve profits as well as sales, a more scientific pricing strategy will be required. In the past, only a few operators have possessed the resources to track results in a manner that would provide them with the necessary information to do this.

Several theories have evolved ways to improve product pricing. One theory states that by discounting secondary products, operators can improve customer choices and they enhance customer satisfaction. It also states that if managers considered the suggestion, it would result in higher profitability.

Planet Antares vending operators are of the view that simplicity continues to be important in pricing, in terms of driver execution and sales accountability. They think that the benefits derived by strategic planning would be minimal in relation to the risks associated with more complicated pricing strategies.

In the current economic situation, it is a good time to experiment with value pricing due to many reason, such as:

1) Greater price consciousness among customer who pay a lot of attention to special offers.

2) Decline in location sales due to downsizing, making it the ideal time for buying less from established suppliers.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Looking At Route Commission Systems

Route commission systems are most suited in environments where the employee has a lot of control over the rate of production, based on his ability to work harder, smarter, faster and longer.

In industries with employees having less than total control over the rate of production, commission systems can be less effective. One of these industries is the vending industry with its unique vending route environment. For example: a route person who is paid on a commission basis knows that he will earn more by collecting more money on his route.

A vending route driver will learn how to refill and clean the Planet Antares vending machines at a fast pace. He must also reduce the amount of time spent at every location on the vending route, with the hope of saving more time to service machines and collect money on each trip. According to a survey, most vending operators pay drivers some incentive and not a straight salary. While some pay only commission, others pay a combination of commission and salary.

In contrast, there are several drawbacks of the commission systems as well. A route driver, in his haste to service more Planet Antares vending machines, may:

1) drive too fast
2) perform less than complete sanitation operations to meet the mahcine’s requirements
3) ignore simple, mechanical issues like removing a paper clip from a coin acceptor
4) ignore the activity of making sure that the mahcine works after refilling and servicing

All these factors can create conditions that lead to serious problems than the problem the commission system was designed to solve in the first place.

In itself, a commission system will not teach you how to schedule the route. The trick is to schedule the route person to service a Planet Antares vending machine after it has made enough sales to profitably justify the cost of service. This will go a long way in improving route productivity.