VENDING COMPANIES WEBSITES

Hey guys, there has been a lot of questions and comments lately about "where do I find a vending company in my area", "who carries this", "who carries that" etc. If you look over on the "right" side of the blog you will find a list of  "Please visit our partners in the vending industry". These are links to those companies websites and they will tell you what they do and the products that they carry. If you are a vending company or doing business in the vending or food service industry I would love to help our customers out by providing a "link" to your website. So just email me with the address and I will post it. I hope this clarifies some questions that have come up lately. Curt

SOME LIKE IT HOT !!

Coming soon to a Vend Northwest near you, El Sabrosa Blazin' Hot Nacho Tortilla Chips! These babies aren't for the Faint of Heart...........they are truly HOT and CHEESY. They will leave your customers wishing they had bought 2 bags and a soda out of your machines!!!!!! We are looking for them to arrive towards the end of January. So prepare to have Smokin' Hot sales in the month of February with these new tortilla chips from the makers of everybody's favorite Salsita's !!!!!

LAST DAY OF VACATION!!

Well they say "all good things must come to an end" and this is true with vacations........aahhhhhh, i needed that! Now it is back to work in 2011 which promises to be the biggest and best in the history of Vend Northwest!! There are GREAT things in the works that will be of bennefit to us all!! Happy New Year peeps and lets make 2011 spectacular together!!!

VENDING WORLD DECEMBER SALE

 Hey guys please check out the deals that Vending World has going on for December!

Internet customer,
Please take a look at these specials:

We have saved the best for last. All sales machines $300 off each for the month of December 2010

http://snackvending.vendingworld.com/specials.php

 

Thank you

Randy Ajax

President, Vending World

Please visit our web site at:

http://www.vendingworld.com

5 MONTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

AND I AM STILL THE HAPPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD !!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU MRS. WOKAL!!!!!

TREACHEROUS DELIVERY

Hey peeps, just wanted to let everybody know that I made it to Bend and back yesterday (I had to chain up the truck twice though) and all is well. Have a kick ass rest of the week!! This truck was in front of me on the way back and it took a corner a little to fast!!!

  Curt

DELIVERING BEND TOMORROW

The joys and benefits of being me never seem to end!! Because of vacations etc. yours truly gets to deliver to our vending partners in Bend, Or tomorrow. Actually this is good because I haven't seen my people there in probably to long. And I will get a chance to brush up on my truck driving in the snow skills!!! Oooh and what a great opportunity to take along a couple of Turkey sandwich's !!!! I hope everyone has a great Monday and welcome back to the GRIND peeps !!!!

    Curt

TURKEY COMA AND THE DAYS THAT FOLLOW

YUMMY!!!!

G'day Peeps, I have finally started to come out of the Turkey induced coma and started making the Turkey soup with all of the left over Turkey. One of the best things I love about Thanksgiving is the Turkey sandwich's for days and days afterword(Shara doesn't even really like turkey so more for me). But of course eating all of the turkey keeps me in a slight stage of unconsciousness! I hope all of you and your families enjoyed the time you shared together. Now it will be back to work on Monday and more turkey sandwich's for lunch!! Oh ya, hopefully you all took advantage of the sales that are going on this weekend and purchased my Christmas gift!! Curt

MORE JAPANESE VENDING MACHINES

Live Lobsters and Panties

Grow your own food in a vending machine!!

All Touch screen vending!!

Large Vending Machine Bank

Man the Japanese LOVE their Vending Machines. Here are just a few examples of the Machines that are used everyday in Japan!!

JAPAN LOVES THEIR VENDING!!!!!!

I found this when searching through the Japanese Vending Industries Information files! It is funny!!!

Odd Japanese Blogs – The Vending Machine Report

June 22, 2010 — qjphotos Yesterday, I posted about the Tokyo Kaidan DB (Tokyo Stairs Database), a meticulous cataloging of stairs in Tokyo. Today’s blog is the second of five himajin (someone with too much time on his hands) blogs that I’m writing about this week. It’s called:  “I take photos of a vending machine (almost) every day. Sorry.” The blog has been going since May, 2005, and has over a thousand posts.
An average day is just: “No change” like this:

Every couple of weeks, though, there’s a big excitement in the blog when there is a product change:

The blogger details all the product changes as follows:

If you’re wondering what in the world inspired something like this, it’s explained in the blogger’s profile:

Most-hated phrase: “Keizoku wa chikara nari (Keeping at something makes you stronger.)”
Favorite vending machine: It would be scary if I had one
Short note: I update this blog with a photo of the same vending machine every day (it was replaced on Aug. 8, 2009). I was planning to write every day, but sometimes I take a break. I’m not interested in vending machines and canned drinks.
I don’t like things that take a lot of work, so I tried to think of some kind of content that wouldn’t require any willpower and that I could finish in five minutes a day. That’s how I started doing this. When there are changes, it takes a lot of work, which makes me angry.
It’s like techno where a groove is created when similar things repeat while changing slightly. Sorry, for getting off topic.
I don’t like the saying, “Keeping at something makes you stronger.” I don’t think there are many phrases that are more insulting. Please use it for people who are so stupid you can’t think of anything else to compliment them on.

FIRST THANKSGIVING

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, currently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863. Thanksgiving was historically a religious observation to give thanks to God.

The event that Americans commonly call the first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony survive their first brutal winter in New England. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fish (cod, eels, and bass) and shellfish (clams, lobster, and mussels), wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, and turkey), venison, berries and fruit, vegetables (peas, pumpkin, beetroot and possibly, wild or cultivated onion), harvest grains (barley and wheat), and the Three Sisters: beans, dried Indian maize or corn, and squash.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY FROM ALL OF US HERE AT VEND NORTHWEST TO ALL OF YOU!!!!

DELIVERING SEATTLE TOMORROW

UGGGHHHHHH........... I hope it isn't to bad in the morning, Because of Vacations etc.....I pulled the "short straw" for delivering tomorrow, so unfortunately for all of you, I will be in a Semi on the roads in Seattle tomorrow!!! Actually I am pretty sure that I am the Worlds best truck driver so it shouldn't be to bad. It's kinda fun to get in a truck every once in awhile and get back to my roots!! I started driving truck in the Military and then followed up with Coca-Cola after that. So if your in Seattle tomorrow and you see a big truck with "Vend Northwest" on it.......MOVE!!!!!!

Curt

PAY BY TEXT

How cool is this??? Text the machine and make your selection and the charge goes onto your cell bill!!!

NEW DISTRIBUTOR PROMOTION

Hey People I need some feedback, you know I love making our customers feel like they are part of our whole process in bringing in product and deciding what sells and what does not. So I would love your help in coming up with ideas on how we can capitalize on the whole Vistar raising their prices without telling any of their customers! We would like to offer something to get them to try us and see if we would be a viable solution for them if they wanted to get out from "under" the Big "V" but we would also like to run this with a current customer appreciation deal for our customers that already are using us and know how much better and more customer oriented we are than "Big Brother" and have been devoted to us for a long time! So tell me your thoughts??? Maybe delivery's free for awhile or discounts across the board or whatever?? Let me know what would best help all of you in these difficult times!! PEACE, Curt

5TH ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT

Hey guys, time is running out to sign up for the Golf Tournament on the 28th of August at Lewis River Golf Club !! This will be the 5th time that Vend Northwest has hosted the event and it is ALWAYS a blast!! So hurry up and get in on it!! There is also room for some sponsors left as well!!

BEING PREPARED

Recently I was "on the road" speaking with customers and was reminded of how important it is to be prepared with information on the wares that you are trying to sell to your customers. I was in a particular customers office catching up and trying to sell him on a line of product. This product was kind of set up through a third party so I really wasn't aware of all the info he was given and I wanted to just touch base with him and let him know that we were going to go ahead and start bringing the items in.
In a very nice and professional manner(as not to hurt my feelings)customer "x" proceeded to explain to me his "selling" techniques and the power point that he uses EVERY-TIME when courting new accounts. This really got me to thinking about all of the ways and tools that we have now days to help us in our careers. As in any career it is very important to come off extremely professional and to be knowledgeable of what you are doing. Customer "x" then proceeded to tell me the story of a salesman coming in and wanting him to purchase a certain line of product but had no sell sheets or any kind of pricing info whatsoever. Ultimately he refused to buy and gave the salesman (i assume) the same lecture as I had just received. Anyway thats it, I wanted to remind us all that it is very important, critical actually to have all of your ducks in a row before sitting down in front of customer "x" .

Regards
Curt Wokal

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

How do you know that the choice you have made or are about to make is the right choice for you and your business? Answer; You don't. But you do know how it makes you feel to choose the way you did and really that's all that you can go by. If you feel it was right then all that you can do is nourish and guide that decision to hopefully the outcome that you were expecting. If not then you should reverse the situation and change course. There is no disgrace in admitting that you were wrong and doing everything you can to remedy the situation. We all have choices to make in life that are sometimes easy and a lot of times hard, what matters is not whether those choices were made right or wrong but instead of how you handle all choices. It is much easier to deal with the wrong choice made when you have friends, partners, family to help you navigate through the decisions. We at Vend NW understand this and that is why we pride ourselves in the relationships we have with our customers, we all understand how important it is to have somebody standing by your side through the good times and the bad! I personally make the wrong decisions sometimes just like everyone else, but I have learned that it is much better to admit to everyone that it was the wrong decision to make rather than just keeping on in the same wrong course that i am heading. I really believe that you will find(as i have) that your friends, family and colleagues will respect you and stand by you without hesitation! So go ahead and try it......Lean on somebody ! We are all on this journey together and sharing it with people is always better than attempting it alone.

Regards
Curt Wokal

E-THOUGHT

When trying to decide on what to write about today's e-thought I considered going on and on about all the new product that is out there to be had but instead decided to talk about getting the most out of the product that you have in your machines now.
One of the suggestions is that when a product is getting close to the Best Buy date, you should move it into a "discounted" price column, also I would move all of your "low" margin items to the very bottom row so that the consumer See's it last and hopefully chooses a higher margin item out of the first 4 or 5 rows.
I know it's a pain but you should also have someway for the customer to suggest to you products that they would like to see in the machine, the thinking here is that if the consumer tells you what they want in the machine your sales should pick up ( I say Should) as we all know, this doesn't happen all the time.
There ya go, three suggestions on how to increase your sales with the current merchandise that is presently in your machines. For more suggestions, come down to the shop and lets talk about it! ;-)

Regards
Curt Wokal

SEATTLE IS HOT

Man you guys, I was excited to come to Seattle this week because it was going to be so hot in P-Town! Jokes on me...........it is VERY WARM up here in the Emerald City!! OK that was it, I just wanted to let my people in Portland know that i was still suffering. Make sure everybody drinks A LOT of water, you can get dehydrated and not even know. Oh ya, and how about a little smile!! Curt

E-THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY JULY 23, 2009

Good day fellow Vending enthusiast. Whats in a Trade Association? A Trade association is an organization funded by business' that operate in a specific industry, these types of associations typically participate in Public Relations activities such as advertising,education,political donations,lobbying and publishing.
Their main focus however is to provide a beneficial vehicle for "collaboration within and between it's member companies".
It is in this last function that i take issue with OUR industries local Trade Association. When i first started in this industry 18 years ago, OUR local associations attendance and membership was thriving.
There were several large Independents whose companies participated greatly in OUR associations and it's members needs. Over the years as the larger Independents "sold-out" or had no choice but to be consumed by the larger national organizations, the leaders of these companies seemed to change direction and focus more on their individual needs or their "buddies" needs rather than to use the association for what it was formed and organized for in the first place. "Strong fruitful collaboration within the group and it's members".
It is my opinion that this is why OUR local association is in the position that it finds itself today. Low membership and no or very little participation or collaboration within it's membership.
The self appointed Aristocracy in my opinion has alienated the small(but growing) hungry, intelligent, hard working, driven, independent vending entrepreneur and as far as i can tell it was because they(aristocracy) felt that these fledgling, immature independent companies were of no value to THEM and not the organization.
I personally come in contact with 10 to 30 of these companies on a daily bases and i can tell you that they are very intelligent, eager, and able to do what it takes to make the Vending industry an integral and profitable part of our economy. i also know how much these independent would benefit by being part of an organized effort of collaboration and goodwill.
C'mon people, lets start helping each other out through these very difficult economic times. we have the tools in place, the association has paid lobbyist fighting for vendors rights everyday, we just have to tell them what to fight for!!! The association has scholarships available for your children, they also offer very informative industry workshops...there are tons of benefits to being part of a great organization as long as WE are all in it TOGETHER! The associations annual meeting is coming up on July 31st and August 1st. The meeting on Saturday Aug 1st is open to everyone for a very reasonable cost of $30 this includes Breakfast and lunch as well as several industry speakers, speaking on subjects that matter to all of US!!!!
I strongly encourage everyone to attend this meeting to see what it's about!!!

Regards

Curt Wokal