An advert for an insurance company in Australia has been banned. The advert shows Sam Thaiday, an Australian rugby player shaking a vending machine which results in lots of products falling out. The Australian Advertising Standards Board banned the ad as they say that it depicts theft, as the rugby player may have paid for one or two items- but certainly not all the items that came out of the machine.
As a vending operator we have machines located on many different sites, including schools, leisure centres, offices and factories. Theft is something that does concern us, but has happened very rarely since we have been in business. This could be the relationships that we have with our customers or that most people are very honest: in the past we have been told if the machine is vending items free of charge or if an operator has accidentally left a door open. While watching the Australian ad, what concerned me the most wasn’t the theft was the rugby player pushing the machine. As mentioned in other blogs, vending machines are incredibly heavy pieces of equipment. Showing someone pushing against one is quite irresponsible- if that machine falls it could lead to serious injuries or even death.
Written by: Katie from WestWays
Posted by linda
You may notice that as well as new machines WestWays also sell refurbished equipment. But, as a customer – what does refurbished equipment mean for you?
We have several sources of supply for refurbished machines: customers who are replacing their current equipment, refurbished machine suppliers and we also buy vending equipment from people getting rid of theirs. These machines come into our warehouse and are assessed by our trained engineers. The engineers may decide that it may not worth refurbishing the machine as it may require too much work or they won’t be able to bring the machine up to grade for a customers premises. If this is the case, the engineers will strip the machine: take off parts that they can reuse. This is part of our environmental policy: we will never scrap anything that we can reuse with a bit of work.
If the engineers deem the vending machine as good – then their work starts. Obviously, it varies from machine to machine- as refurbishing a coffee machine is different to a cold drinks machine and what state the equipment is in to start with. As a rule of thumb: the engineers start by cleaning the machine: which is what Will was doing when he was on work experience with us. People tend to think that being an engineer is quite glamorous, but they spend quite a large amount of their time with their hands in rubber gloves cleaning parts! When the clean is over the engineers start testing the machine, normally this means seeing what is working on the machines. If a part isn’t working they replace it if they cannot repair it.
After they test the machine, make sure everything is doing what its supposed to be doing, they then PAT test it. Sometimes problems that will come out in the future, such as boilers not heating, show up in the PAT test and it also gives our customers piece of mind that their electrical equipment has been properly checked out. I heard a horror story about a machine being delivered directly from manufacturer onto site which had been wired wrongly: when the machine was plugged in it gave whoever touched it an electrical shock!! We have never had a problem like this as we thoroughly check the machine over before it leaves and the engineers test fully with products to make sure there are no safety issues.
Once the engineer is happy that the machine is performing well, their last job is to make sure the machine looks good. The WestWays general rule is that the machine needs to look like new and not to give our engineers big heads but they normally achieve this high standard. Sometimes it just takes a bit of spit and polish and the machine scrubs up alright, but sometimes glass has to be replaced in snack machines, decals changed on can machines and whole doors on beverage machines. Our engineers do like a challenge!
All in all, we like to give our customers piece of mind that while their refurbished machine may not be new and had a former home that our engineers will do all that they can to make the machine like new. A second hand machine does not mean a second rate machine.
Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending
Posted by linda
After Cadburys had been taken over by Kraft foods- owners of the Kenco Coffee Company- we knew there would be changes in store. Kraft would want to make this popular brand even more popular. It looks like one of the ways that they are looking at to diversify Cadburys is buy agreeing to launch the Cadbury Cocoa House - their own coffee shops. It is thought that Kraft will not be financially backing this venture- but a group of retail entrepreneurs will be.
It will be a hard market to penetrate as the coffee shop market is already saturated. Early reports say that the shops may have in house chocolatiers to make giant versions of our favourite chocolate bars such as Twirls, Curley Wurleys and Flakes that are able to wrapped up to take home. The Cadbury Cocoa House is also going to launch affordable afternoon teas and yummy hot chocolates.
It looks like the first Cadbury Cocoa House will be opened in London by the end of the year… I can’t wait!!
Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending
Posted by linda
A group of us enjoyed a fantastic day at the Kenco Coffee Company yesterday to experience the new Tassimo Professional. As part of Kenco Local Business Service, WestWays is one of the first distributors to offer this exciting new concept. In Kenco’s Centre of Excellence, we had the opportunity to make, taste and experiment with the Tassimo Brewer and the delicious range of T discs, to make consistently great cappuccinos; lattes; hot chocolate (to die for!)- and a good old cup of tea (with Earl Grey being my favourite!) All this at the touch of a button! So simple, even I can do it. It’s like having your own barista!!
At the end of the day, we all agreed that there will be a high level of interest in the Tassimo Professional and its delicious range of well known branded drinks, including Kenco, Suchard, PG and Twinings. Tassimo Professional is stylish, compact and would look great in any situation. If you like coffee shop quality drinks, but don’t have the facility to make them, then this is the machine for you.
We can provide demonstrations and taste trials on request. In addition, the remainder of our team has now been fully trained by the Kenco Coffee Company to provide maintenance, training and support to purchasers of the Tassimo Professional, ensuring that we continue to deliver the highest quality service to our customers.
To see this exciting innovation at the earliest opportunity, give us a call. We look forward to adding Tassimo Professional to our range of coffee vending machines.
See Tassimo Professional- Works for you!
Posted by linda
We have a lot of customers asking how we know how many times a week we need to visit their operated machine.
I would like to say that Mike, our operations manager, is psychic. Even though I have my suspicions that he is, the answer lies in our computer system, VendMan. We use VendMan for everything at WestWay Towers: it has all of our lovely customers names, addresses, ordering history, service calls and anything else we need to know about them!
For the operators it all starts in the morning- they log onto their handheld scanner which has the information on where they are headed to that day. When they come to a machine that we operate they scan a unique barcode located inside it, then using their knowledge of the machine and the planagram they fill the machine up scanning in each item, which can be in-cup PG Tips or Mars bars or Lucozade Energy drinks. This information gets stored in the handheld.
The operator after finishing their day on the road, will come back to WestWay Towers to load up on stock, have a chat and a cup of coffee and will download their handheld onto Mike’s super-computer (when you turn it on it sounds like a space rocket about to launch, the engineers say that it needs another fan, but we know the real reason: its a far superior computer!). This information goes straight into VendMan and Mike is able to see how many vends the machine has done, how many products were put inside and which products are running out. Mike is constantly analysing the data and knows all the sites and most machine numbers by heart. He is able to see if the machine is being used more than usual- if so he puts extra visits on or if products keep running out, then he re-planagrams the machine ensuring your favourites are inside.
While we do everything that we can to ensure all of our machines are looked after and filled before they get too empty, we still do need our customers to call us if they have anything different going on. Even though Mike is vaguely pychic and is training all the time, he still would like to know if you would like extra visits.
There is nothing as sad as an empty vending machine!
Posted by linda
I have asked of our engineers if they can build one of these:
Happiness Machine
He looked doubtful, but if anyone can they will be able to!
If you would like an old fashioned cold drinks machine that just gives out cans and bottles when you put money in- give us a call!!
Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending
Posted by linda
I don’t know about you, but I was bought up knowing the Kenco brand. As a child I thought it was synonymouswith coffee as my mum would always ask guests if they would like a cup of Kenco coffee (this was one of her many Keeping Up Apperances moments). I was surprised about how little I actually knew about the brand past the products they sell. After doing a bit of research this is what I learnt about the quality brand:
- Kenco Coffee started life as The Kenyan Coffee Company Limited in 1923. It was originally a co-operative set up by a group of retired coffee planters.
- The co-op set up fashionable chain of coffee shops in places such as Vere Street, Mayfair.
- A lot of their business was selling coffee by mail order. They advertised in publications such as Tatler and Country Life to appeal to large country houses.
- As demand increased they moved to Long Lane, Bermondsey – next door to a food merchants called John Gardiner who ran a whole sale business, restaurants and provided outdoor catering.
- After World War 2, a Gardiner employee- Tom Kelly- persuaded his company to buy the Kenyan Coffee Company. After it was purchased by them, he was put in charge of new business and to expand the company.
- Kelly diversified the company- opened coffee shops outside of London and sold to catering.
- In the 1960’s Kelly acquired the rights to sell Gaggia machines and began to sell these to other cafes.
- It was during this time that the name was changed from the Kenyan Coffee Company to Kenco Coffee. This was due to a decrease in Kenyan coffee beans that were imported.
- In the late 60’s the organisation was sold to Truste House, which in turn during the early 70’s sold it to Cadbury. Cadbury then sold the brand on mid 70’s to Premier Foods (are you keeping up?!) It stayed with Premier Foods for a while until 1987 when it was purchased by General Foods (whose successor is Kraft Foods)
- Kraft Foods continue to run Kenco as a premier brand.
Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending
Posted by linda
At the moment in society people see the current health and safety warnings as overbearing and irrelevant to their lives. We know of the stories where schools have banned conkers in playgrounds, we see the warnings on most food products that they may contain nuts and we hear about the father told he cannot take photos of his son in a shopping centre.
Sometimes I feel that people regard health and safety warnings as white noise, just in the background telling them to stop doing the things that they always do. But, if you think about it- for every official warning there must be some reasoning behind it. For schools banning conker games there must a parent somewhere who complained because their child had been injured, if they had not have banned the games and someone else’s child had been hurt the local authority would look so irresponsible… I can see the no win-no fee solicitors thinking about the payout now!
As a vending company, with machines on private and public sites we know the problems about people not listening to warnings. Luckily, we have a really good relationship with all our customers and our operators are extremely vigilant so we are able to spot the signs early.
While reading the headlines this morning I came across an article about a woman in Croydon who got her arm stuck inside a vending machine and needed 13 firemen to help her escape. All for a packet of crisps! I can sympathise that while it is incredibly irritating having spent your last few coins on a snack that will satisfy you through the work day, a little pick me up, and then the snack getting stuck in the machine… just inches away from your hand….
But, if you put your hand through the vending machine’s flap to get the snack out and realised that you can not get your arm out, that would have ruined your whole day. Imagine also getting crushed underneath a cold drinks vending machine and never making it back home that day just because you needed to give it a good old shake to get your cold Diet Coke out? Scary, but it has actually happened.
Before I scare you so much that you can’t go within 5 metres of a vending machine, new machines do have safety devices on them to prevent injury through attempted theft and shaking of machines. But, as with everything, these devices can not cope with every eventuality. If there is a problem with your vending machine, please go back to the company who operates it. Never try to shake the machine or put your hand somewhere that it should not be!
Written by: Katie from WestWays Vending
Posted by linda
Those Japanese seem to love their vending machines. According to Wikipedia (the fountain of all my knowledge!) there are 23 vending machines per person in Japan. That is an amazing number! I can hear my boss, Ian, working out how many we could have in Kent, Sussex and Surrey if we had such high demand!
I found a woman in Japan who has actually made a dress to look like a vending machine. At first I thought she would make it out of boxes, but no it’s an actual dress that looks like a Coke machine. Click on this link to watch the video on YouTube. (Watch until the end when the man trips over!)
We don’t sell Coke vending machine dresses to protect you from the harsh cities of erm, Canterbury or Brighton. But, we do sell traditional vending machines, such as cold drink, snack vendors and coffee machines.
Written By: Katie from WestWays Vending
Posted by linda
Here at WestWays we sell a lot of Traidcraft products. We sell Geobars and Cookies (the chocolate ones are yummy) in our operated vending machines. They have proven themselves to be a big hit and sell well against the big hitters such as KitKat and Twix. This is not an easy feat- we have tried and tested many healthy eating and ethically friendly snacks and many of them haven’t faired well in the ultimate challenge: selling through vending machines. People may say they want healthy and ethical snacks- but we have found in the ten years that we have traded that people actually buy confectionary that is branded in the media as ‘unhealthy’.
I have been particulary interested in this weeks Guardian You Ask, They Answer featuring Traidcraft. It is on until Friday 26th February and allows people to question Traidcraft on issues surrounding the company.
Written By: Katie from WestWays Vending
Posted by linda
