Planet Antares Inc | Planet Antares | Planet Antares Vending

Planet Antares Inc - A blog to discuss the vending solutions provided by Planet Antares.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

DEX Standards For Planet Antares Vending Operators

Vending operators are ready to blame the equipment manufacturers for not doing enough to standardize their DEX hardware and software. Some people think that the manufacturers did not adopt a set of standards and these are too broad. When NAMA said that people needed to send XYZ information, different manufacturers had different understandings of how to do it.

As a result, a few vending operators including Planet Antares vending operators want to see NAMA adopt more stringent DEX standards. Even several equipment manufacturers agree that standards can be improved to a certain extent. Some of the operators have had problems when they first tried to utilize DEX.

The DEX standards have been too broad in some cases. The more stringent ones may be able to sort out the problems that are being faced by some Planet Antares vending operators.

Manufacturers have indicated that not all machines require that same type of data. Moreover, not all customers want the same information from the machine. There is risk of extra cost in excessive standardization without providing any additional benefits.

The big point of consideration is that standardization will not always assure Planet Antares vending operators that manufacturers will abide by new protocols. Some manufacturers even claim that competitors have not supported existing DEX standards. This itself is a judgment based on technical interpretation. Further, equipment manufacturers have pointed out that the task of gathering data in a usable form is one that should be handled by the software company only.

Even if additional standards are adopted by NAMA, like it is considering, manufacturers will add to that list for specific equipment needs. Whether minimum standards are essential to begin with is open to question, since many protocols are already being followed for the sake of convenience and simplicity.

Some DEX data tends to be standard in all vending machines including Planet Antares vending machines. These include:

  • Coin mechanical fields
  • Coin to tube
  • Coin to coin box
  • Coin from tubes
  • Total coins
  • Cash from validator
  • Total vends
  • Total cash

Labels: ,

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Machine Business For Planet Antares Vending

In the U.S. most of the vending machines are operated either by store owners or by individuals who rent or buy vending machines. Some of these machines are maintained by governmental or quasi government entities. This can be a great way to attract people who want to become independent vending business owners. Planet Antares Corporation can provide the perfect opportunity for you to start a vending business.

To begin with, you will need to find and purchase quality vending machines like those provided by Planet Antares Inc. your machine must have great capacity so that when you go to service the machine you would collect more than $100. if you collect less than that, it means that you went early for collection or the machine does not have much revenue generating capacity.

Planet Antares vending machines are well designed and stylish. This is an important factor because the machine must draw the customer’s attention, especially if there is competition from other vending machines in the same location. Of course, the machine that stands out will be able to gain customer attention as well as generate higher sales and income.

An independent vending operator will have to act as a salesman in persuading locations to accept the machines. You should not get discouraged when your machines are rejected by locations. You will get turned down more times than you won’t be. So be prepared to face rejection in the early stage. Make sure that your concept is special to suit the unique requirements of a location.

While choosing a vending machine location, the area in the location where you will place your Planet Antares vending machine can make a huge difference in sales. Some of the possibilities include:

a. Next to the entrance
b. Near the exit
c. Next to other vending machines
d. In the waiting room
e. Next to the cash register

Make sure that you are vending with the right type of vending machine. For this, Planet Antares vending machines like the Planet Antares Refreshment Center is recommended. The ability to change your price quickly and easily is critical to the success of your vending machine business.

Labels: ,

Monday, May 18, 2009

Best Product Mix For Planet Antares Vending Machines

Product Mixing is a way of rotating vending products frequently so as to offer large variety to the consumers. Make sure that the employees who are responsible for placing products in the vending machine are mixing it up correctly. As a Planet Antares business owner, you will need to be sure that the right kind of product mix is being offered by your machines.

Category management will be required to accomplish this. Category Management is a system that simplifies product selection at warehouse and route levels. Some products may turn just quarterly and might be increasing company costs in terms of warehouse space.

However, some vending operators still hesitate using category management as this is relatively new practice and they do not like to change from traditional practice. Other than this the all prejudice of route driver or of the owner have to go when you use category management system which is sometimes not acceptable to ownners who like to be in full control.

Some of the advantages of using Category management system are

1. Higher profits which means more business
2. Lesser cash investment in inventory from a reduced number of stock keeping units in the warehouse
3. Higher Productivity and better labor efficiency.

Selection of fast turning products would mean high sales and more profit. The amount of investment goes down as well as to invest in fewer but faster turning products and your work load decreases as well as you have to manage lesser products and therefor you make less errors as well.

Labels: ,

Friday, May 15, 2009

Quality Market Value Of Planet Antares Vending

A company can estimate its capitalization value through accurate and comprehensive financial data. For the business owner who aspires to sell his business currently or in future, this can be an important aspect. You can invest in your future by having accurate financial information.

Several vending machine operators already use some type of inventory management software to keep track of the profitability of machines, locations and routes. Planet Antares vending operators can use this information to calculate the company’s profitability.

One of the major benefits of newer software is that it also enables Planet Antares operators to identify changes more quickly to some operational element to improve the profitability of a machine, location, route or the company as a whole. This information can be used to address business goals, as determined in the business plan.

A variety of reasons can be cited for improving the return on assets. A vending operator could improve the return on assets by reducing accounts payable, equipment depreciation, product shrinkage, raising prices or redeploying equipment to more productive accounts. Before setting tangible goals for any of these functions, hard data will be required. This is where state of the art, industry specific software comes into play.

With the help of software, Planet Antares vending operators can maintain perpetual inventory for every warehouse, truck and machine. The basic vending management reports include:

a. product purchases from suppliers
b. periodic inventories of the warehouse
c. product movement from warehouse to route track
d. periodic inventories of route trucks
e. periodic inventories of vending machines

By accurate measurement of these inventories, the vending operator is able to track cost of goods sold. By taking action to enhance efficiencies, the Planet Antares vending operator will notice changes in the profit variables.

Labels: ,

Monday, May 11, 2009

Planet Antares Vending Machine Protection

Since the invention of vending machines, vandalism and theft have been a huge problem and a constant issue of concern. If you have a Planet Antares vending machine in a location, you will not want any theft or damage to it. If that happens, it would lead to your spending more money on repairs or you would incur financial losses.

In these days, thieves and vandals have become quite sophisticated in their efforts to beat the machine. There are several precautionary measures that you can take to secure your Planet Antares vending machines from theft or vandalism. When these incidents happen, the damage can be extraordinary sometimes. The doors are pried off and the dollar bill acceptor and products are stolen. The cost of repairing a vending machine can be anywhere between $50 and $1000. That must be avoided so that you do not suffer from any losses.

Here are some ways in which you can protect your vending machines:

1. Technology
An effective weapon against vending machine theft is to have charge card accessibility and cashless vending technology in your Planet Antares vending machine. Cashless vending means that there is no money in the vending machine to steal. This will discourage theft as there is no reason to vandalize the vending machines.

2. Bad neighborhoods
You must pick good locations for your Planet Antares vending machine. If you choose the rough part of an area, you will enhance the chances of vandalism and theft. Some locations may remain unsupervised for long periods of time and become vulnerable to miscreants. This is why it is important to pick locations in safe areas.

3. Alarms
Vending machine alarm systems are available in varying degrees of prevention and protection. There are some that will sound a loud siren if the door is opened. Others may go off if the vending machine is tilted or roughed up. Other systems have the capability of taking the attendant’s photo every time the door is opened without entering a code. It can also be programmed to call a security monitoring company automatically.

4. Security cage
These are helpful in protecting the vending machines from all sides, top and bottom. Security cages can secure your vending machines from vandals and theft. High security locks, padlocks, security bars and other precautions can also protect your vending machine effectively. You should not underestimate them.

Labels: ,

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Security Concerns In Planet Antares Vending

Since the invention of vending machines, vandalism has been an issue faced by vending operators. However, in the current times, thieves are using more sophisticated methods to beat the machines. As a vending operator, you just have to look for a way to counter this. All over the country, thieves have broken into machines and gotten away with large amounts of money.

Vending machines like those provided by Planet Antares Inc do not only face the problem of theft but also have to struggle with the damage done to machines which has been phenomenal.

Thieves can pry open the door using all kinds of tools and steal the coin mechanisms, dollar bill acceptors with bills still intact, money pans as well as the products contained therein. When vending machines get vandalized, it can cost the operator $50 to over $1000 per incident.

It is possible for a machine to get vandalized when the customer kicks the machine in anger. This happens when they get the wrong product or maybe the coin mechanism gets jammed along with their change and even end up messing up the machine while trying to retrieve change. A customer can get angry with the machine for several reasons. This is not usually experienced with Planet Antares vending machines as they are well built and all their mechanisms do not get stuck.

As a Planet Antares vending operator, you have to come up with ways to minimize such incidents. One of the latest weapons against theft and vandalism is the availability of change card accessibility and cashless vending technology.

Special computerized debit style utilization is used to insert the smart cards in the vending machine. Alarm systems are also available that sound a loud siren if the door is opened without the proper code. The alarm may also be sounded if the machine is tilted or roughed up.

In order to curb theft and vandalism for your Planet Antares vending machine, you can use surveillance cameras that will capture any illegal activities. A good idea is to place warning signs that note prosecution for theft or vandalism.

Theft can be deterred through signs indicating that money is removed twice a day from the machine. Remember that high security locks, padlocks and other precautions are taken. These are more economical precautions for your Planet Antares vending machine.

Labels: ,