Planet Antares Incorporated | Planet Antares Vending | Planet Antares

A blog for people to know about how to manage and find information on vending business.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Vending Business Information On The Web

With so many vending machines, products and vending machine suppliers in the market, you may get confused about choosing the right ones for you. While it is important to carry out some research before choosing the right kind of machine for your business, it’s even more important to do it the right way.

There is a wide range of vending machines available for purchasing, like:

• Snack and soda vending machines
• Toys vending machines
• Candy vending machines
• Bulk vending machines
• Newspaper vending machines
• Frozen food vending machines

The internet is a great place to find information about all these types of equipment as well as related factors. There are many advice and discussion forums, vending related resources and online vending machine supplier websites. Planet Antares Inc is one such company that offers detailed information about their products on their websites.

When you go online, you can compare numerous machine suppliers, machines, products and their prices before settling for the best deal. Such variety of data is hardly available if you try to search for information in the traditional way.

As the internet grows more popular, you can find a lot of technical upgradation of websites, tools and software. Now you can read e-books to learn all about:

• Vending machines
• Vending products
• Legal issues related to vending
• Repair and maintenance tips
• Vending machine insurance
• Vending locator services, and more.

Moreover, software’s can help you in business management, planning, tracking your inventory and product performance and learning new strategies for location and maintenance of your machines.

This can improve your business image, beat the competition and increase your profits. Planet Antares provides detailed information about its business, customers, machines and services at its website so that you can find the best vending machines at competitive prices. In these days of technological advancement, the internet can surely provide effective guidance and direction to your efforts for establishing a successful vending machine business.

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Friday, December 26, 2008

Price Point Decisions For Large Sized Candy

Planet Antares vending operators must raise the price of candy bars if they want to adapt to the introduction of large sized candy in vending machines. For example, if the vending price is $1 and $0.57 on large sized candy as blended cost and $0.75 on the smaller counterpart with blended cost of $0.38.

Apart from this, they will have to consider the commission paid to drivers which is usually 6%. As a percentage of the gross profit, this commission will come to 15% on the large candy and 12% on smaller candy.

It is a must to ensure that the product price is at least $1 for the products to perform well in terms of sale of your Planet Antares vending business. In certain cases, it may even exceed one dollar if the larger size line is to be financially profitable. As you strive for higher revenue, it may not bear a positive impact on coin mechanism but that is part of growth and expansion.

Usually, operating expenses of the Planet Antares vending operators remain fixed in the short term. These may include:

• Insurance
• Amortization
• Interest
• Depreciation

With the rising popularity of the large sized candy, Planet Antares vending operators can take advantage of the opportunity to make more money and upgrade the scale of their vending business.

Majority of the vending operators believe that the proposition promoted by the candy companies is identical to those offered by salted snack companies and bottlers. This is considered as an undesirable trait of the change in candy size and price points.

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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Risk Management Program Of Planet Antares Inc

A majority of Planet Antares vending operators have witnessed a massive rise in worker’s compensation premiums. The reasons for this phenomenon are simple but operators can manage costs by implementing an effective risk management program.

The cost of worker’s compensation insurance forms one of the fastest rising operating costs for automatic merchandisers. It is a cost that can be controlled by an aggressive management program.

In the automatic merchandising industry, highway deaths are rising at a fast pace. The losses, medical costs, replacement rates and investment income generate an environment which makes it difficult to know the net result. Moreover, worker’s compensation programs vary from state to state.

Both direct and indirect costs are involved in worker’s compensation. You can decide which one to use in your Planet Antares vending operations. Some of the main cost components are:

• Rates
• Premiums
• Expense modifications
• Corporate culture
• Programs like accountability, training, hiring and return to work programs

For best results and control, you need to focus on risk management.

All the employees of your Planet Antares vending business need to be protected from work related injuries. If you don’t have the coverage and an employee gets injured, there are significant consequences that may arise. These vary from state to state and would include:

• Significant fines
• Imprisonment
• Cease work order
• Employee lawsuits
• Higher employee benefit costs
• Personal liability fines

Effective cost management will become possible if you ensure that the primary asset of your Planet Antares business i.e. your employees are safe. This will also bring benefit to your productivity as well as cut down on operating costs.

On the whole, you need to work on creating a safe working environment and a corporate culture with no chances of injury.

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Thursday, December 18, 2008

Planet Antares Tips: What’s Hot Or Not In Vending

Today, vending machine business is no longer limited to bulk vending, soda and snack vending alone. New products and vending machines are fast emerging as updated versions of the earlier models or innovative ones.

Some of the main vending options include:

  • Car washes
  • Popcorn
  • Gumball
  • Games
  • Coffee
  • Cosmetics
  • Snacks
  • Postcards
  • Toys
  • Video
  • Water
  • ATM machines
  • Bulk products
  • Stickers

All these options often make it confusing for new vending operators to decide which option is most suitable for him/her. You don’t want to invest your hard-earned money in the wrong vending machines and products. Thus, it is essential to analyze your business needs and objectives and collect information about different machines, products, customer preferences and suppliers before arriving at a purchase decision.

Small Planet Antares vending machines are a good option for beginning a vending route. For owners of stores, beverage and snack vending machines are a better option. Choose a reliable vending machine provider like Planet Antares Inc to get reliable, stable, updated and efficient vending machines.

While bulk vending machines are cheap, larger and fancy machines will cost you more. However, this does not mean that a larger machine will give more returns. It is a matter of your creativity, location and product selection. Also, businesses differ in their requirements for vending machines of various sizes, styles, servicing needs and floor space.

Initially, you should pick simple vending machines. New technology and products will require strategic placement and technical knowledge for effective performance. Keeping all these factors in mind, select the right vending equipment for setting up your Planet Antares vending business.

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Role Of Mechanics In Vending Operations

In simple words, vending machine mechanics are skilled technicians who install and repair vending machines. They transport the machine and make the necessary water and electrical connections using the instructions of the manufacturer.

Due to depreciation in daily operations, Planet Antares vending machines will require repair and replacement of vending parts in field locations and shops. The vending mechanics must look for the reasons that the machine has stopped working and fix them.

In case the mechanics cannot diagnose the problem on site and isolate malfunctions, they troubleshoot by following procedures developed by the vending machine manufacturers.

Whenever there is need for major repairs or overhauls, the vending machine mechanics will take the equipment or their parts to the service shop. This will be followed by dismantling of the vending machine, repair and reassembling of the units.

You must ensure that the mechanics follow technical illustrations, schematics, blueprints, diagrams and repair manuals to fix up the Planet Antares vending machines. These days, vending machines are very technologically advanced and contain electronic parts that set prices, calculate customer’s purchases and control the dispensing of change and products.

Hand tools such as wrenches, srewdrivers, pipe cutters and hammers may be used to tighten, adjust or cut the machine. The mechanics use heavy machinery such as grinding wheels, saws and drills to do their work in the shop. He will also handle any problems with the water flow of the vending machine or with the carbonation systmes and brewing devices.

Keep the different parts of the vending machine well maintained and lubricated to prevent any trouble with starting your vending machines. You must remember that mechanics who repair food and beverage machines must comply with state and local sanitation procedures and health codes.

Usually, Planet Antares vending machines are heavy and bulky and must be moved by hand trucks or any other moving device for taking them for repair. The mechanics will be responsible for the vehicles provided to them by the employers.

Even with a rise in the number and type of machines, employment for mechanics is declining nowadays. As vending machines become computerized, mechanics are not required to maintain them. However, technically skilled mechanics are still in demand.

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Means Of Efficiency In Planet Antares Vending

Planet Antares Vending operators can greatly benefit from the use of specialized techniques in their operations. They just need to do enough business to keep at least one full time route person busy. Various benefits are included in the use of such specialized elements.

You can fill a well designed beverage truck with outside, roll up doors on the sides by the pallet with a forklift truck. This will take lesser time than you would have, had you been loading a mixed-product route vehicle. In such circumstances, one case will be loaded at a time.

Due to space limitations on a mixed product truck, Planet Antares operators may not be able offer all the brands they could proftably sell. Although many customers will opt for an alternate brand or flavor if their first choice is not available.

Some may even decide to walk away and lead to loss of sale. A well designed truck allows you to stock all the items that are demanded by customers of your business.

It is important to train new beverage route people about the ways to fill one type of machine and thus, have one less type of machine to learn. This would cut down on the amount of time taken for training a new route personnel and bringing him closer to the point where he is capable of running a Planet Antares vending route on his own.

Specialization is a must for enhancing the business efficiency. When an employee only handles one product, he will learn how to handle the product with very few wasted motions. The machines will be filled at a faster pace since he will be more efficient.

This will also prove beneficial for mixed product route. They would have one less product to worry about, and no longer have any chances of tripping over beverage cases in the vehicle.

After removing the beverage trucks from the vehicle and removing the beverage services from the route, the driver will be able to reach more locations to service perishable product machines.

If you try to run a dedictaed beverage route for your Planet Antares vending business, using a typical step or cube van, it will probably be too much work. Thus, a tuck loaded with a forklift will be a good alternative.

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Monday, December 8, 2008

Recruitment Tips For Your Planet Antares Vending Business

As your Planet Antares vending business starts generating income, you can gradually consider expanding it. When most people begin with a vending business, they start running it from home. This is because vending is a home based business that can be easily operated from home. At that time, no employees are needed since you will be the one to service the vending machines.

With the growth of your vending business, you will feel the need to hire employees, since you will have more vending machines that will need servicing and more locations to cater to.

To hire the best employees for your Planet Antares vending business, you can follow some of the below listed guidelines:

1) Give sufficient details about the job to potential Planet Antares vending business personnel. It must appeal to them. In order to do this, you can list the positives of the snack and beverage vending job upfront.

2) Hiring the best candidates requires understanding of the characteristics you want in them. Also, you need to decide on the values, work ethics, experience and attributes that would be essential in the employees to make your Planet Antares vending business a success.

3) The newspaper may not be the best alternative to find the right employees for your business. First, you need to ask current vending machine employees for suggestions. Since, they already know the job and what it involves, they will be the best people to know which of their acquaintances would be able to perform the job.

Local colleges or businesses that are closing down are other good sources of efficient employees.

4) If you screen the candidates before the interviewing begins, it allows you to spend time to evaluate the most promising candidates. So, don’t miss out on this step.

5) An interview allows you to learn more about the candidate. The process would also be a good opportunity to sell the position to the applicant. Write out the entire questions that you would want to ask. This will ensure smooth flow and order in your interview process. Note all the relevant information that will help in short listing the candidates.

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Thursday, December 4, 2008

Use Of Interchangeable Canisters In Planet Antares Vending Machines

The revolutionary changes in the vending industry in recent past can be attributed to the various innovations in the vending machine manufacturing process. This is in the form of interchangeable canisters made of thick, high-impact, shatter-proof polycarbonate to protect the vending machine products while simplifying the vending machine’s upkeep for the owner.

Evidently, the worst possible scenario faced by a vending operator is having candy, nuts or toys spill out across the floor while trying to refill their vending machine. By using interchangeable in your Planet Antares vending machines, you can cut down on the time it takes to refill a vending machine as well as make owners look more professional in front of customers and location employees while they service their vending machines.

With traditional Planet Antares vending machines, owners have to guess at which two or three products will sell the best for each location. This makes it tough to know what will sell best in any particular location without trying different products. Having unsold candies sitting in a vending machine month after month is lost revenue as the candy gets expired and stale and has to be ultimately thrown away.

Planet Antares vending business owners need to keep track of and deliver the best-selling products for each location with the help of interchangeable canisters in three easy steps. These are as follows:

1) Choose some popular products and fill the canisters with them. After two or three weeks, empty and track the money collected from each canister of the vending machine.

2) Remove the three canisters and pop on the interchangeable canisters with three new products. Collect the money again after two or three more weeks and record how much each of the new products made.

3) Use interchangeable canisters to exchange products again. Give those products two or three weeks and collect the money again, writing down how much each product made.

By following these simple steps, you will certainly gain access to information regarding income for that location on none products, enabling the owner to pick the most profitable combination of candy for their vending machine.

No doubt, this system has proven to be a revolutionary change in the vending industry and has several benefits for the vending machine operators as well as manufacturers.

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