Fighting the vending machine company

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edicehouse

edicehouse

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Suffolk, VA
Recently at work the company that does the vending machines jacked their prices up to $1 for a bag of chips, $.75 for a pack of gum. Well a group of us put money together and had someone go to Sams club and we got a bunch of stuff for ~$180. Needless to say the drink machine was about empty, and the vending machine was about full.

The biggest reason I am gloating about this, is the guy that fills them is a jerk (using a cleaner word than what describs him). If you ask him for change he gets a real crappy attitude, and things like that.

Yes I am waiting for a book I made to be reviewed so I can print it out for a meeting.
 
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A few of us at work got really fed up with our vending guy, so we also went to Sam's and bought our own vending machine. Of course we got the go-ahead from the boss, but we now make a small profit to pay for the machine. When it is paid off, we plan to fill it and just charge cost of product. Employees are very happy.
 
edicehouse said:
Recently at work the company that does the vending machines jacked their prices up to $1 for a bag of chips, $.75 for a pack of gum. Well a group of us put money together and had someone go to Sams club and we got a bunch of stuff for ~$180. Needless to say the drink machine was about empty, and the vending machine was about full.

The biggest reason I am gloating about this, is the guy that fills them is a jerk (using a cleaner word than what describs him). If you ask him for change he gets a real crappy attitude, and things like that.

Yes I am waiting for a book I made to be reviewed so I can print it out for a meeting.
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Where I once lived that could have gotten your house burned down....

I am not sure what this is related to??????
 
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Our vending is contracted and the one with the contract is the SOLE vending allowed. Period. Don't even ask to DIY.

I just bring my own snacks.
 
Smitty37 said:
edicehouse said:
Recently at work the company that does the vending machines jacked their prices up to $1 for a bag of chips, $.75 for a pack of gum. Well a group of us put money together and had someone go to Sams club and we got a bunch of stuff for ~$180. Needless to say the drink machine was about empty, and the vending machine was about full.

The biggest reason I am gloating about this, is the guy that fills them is a jerk (using a cleaner word than what describs him). If you ask him for change he gets a real crappy attitude, and things like that.

Yes I am waiting for a book I made to be reviewed so I can print it out for a meeting.
Click to expand...
Where I once lived that could have gotten your house burned down....

I am not sure what this is related to??????
Click to expand...

Boredom, that is why I posted that.
 
Many moons ago, I had a co-worker named Frank who was a very industrious individual and was always looking for a way to save a dime or two. He was in the break room trying to get something out of the vending machine and ,after making his selection, realized he was a little bit short on change. Being frustrated, he begin to repeatedly mash the selection button for the candy bar or whatever it was he was trying to buy. The machine increased what he had put in by a dime. He mashed the button again, and it gave him another dime, and he was able to make his "purchase."

Over the course of the next week or so, Frank systematically emptied the machine of its contents using all the "free dimes" the machine was providing him.

It turned out that the guy who filled the machine had left it in a diagnostic mode, where you could test things a dime at a time by repeatedly pressing one of the buttons. Upon finding his empty machine, he quickly turned that mode off and probably didn't make that mistake again.

Needless to say, poor Frank was disappointed that the machine got "fixed."
 
In the old days I know of a group of employees at a trucking company that got fed up with the vending company and one night when the boss wasn't looking they loaded the machines (15 of them) on a outbound trailer and shipped them to Chicago, took a while for the company to figure out what happened to the machines.....
 
One place I worked went on weekly trips to Sam's and stocked our own snack bar. We sold everything at half the price of most vending machines. At the end of the year we would have about $2500 that we used to have a Christmas party. It was a win for everyone. And, it was on the honor system.
 
jsolie said:
Many moons ago, I had a co-worker named Frank who was a very industrious individual and was always looking for a way to save a dime or two. He was in the break room trying to get something out of the vending machine and ,after making his selection, realized he was a little bit short on change. Being frustrated, he begin to repeatedly mash the selection button for the candy bar or whatever it was he was trying to buy. The machine increased what he had put in by a dime. He mashed the button again, and it gave him another dime, and he was able to make his "purchase."

Over the course of the next week or so, Frank systematically emptied the machine of its contents using all the "free dimes" the machine was providing him.

It turned out that the guy who filled the machine had left it in a diagnostic mode, where you could test things a dime at a time by repeatedly pressing one of the buttons. Upon finding his empty machine, he quickly turned that mode off and probably didn't make that mistake again.

Needless to say, poor Frank was disappointed that the machine got "fixed."
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Many years ago (when vending machine cigarettes were a quarter a pack) we had a mechanical cigarette machine that if you jerked just right on a couple of the levers it would give you a free pack of cigarettes. It stayed that way for many months until one of the workers go greedy and emptied 4 brands all in the same day. Two days later that machine disappeared.
 
Haynie said:
Our vending is contracted and the one with the contract is the SOLE vending allowed. Period. Don't even ask to DIY.

I just bring my own snacks.
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That was the case at the facilities I worked at. One supplier for all the machines...for the contract the vendor agreed to provide the products at a little lower price than his other machines. Interesting thing was that the vendor was "connected" to some unsavory elements and eventually got hauled away for extortion or whatever they called it for strong arming folks to put in his machines.
 
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When I was in HS we discovered you could take the wrestling mat tape, the tape they use over the seams, and attach it to a dollar bill. Feed it into the drink and snack machines and snatch it out. The only problem with that was most of us could not eat/drink from them to make weight. Ironic.
 
Our vending machines at 7 hospitals and 30+ clinics (14,000 employees) are all controlled by a single vending company with direction by "corporate wellness" and management. They control what can be put in them and how much it costs. For example, want a drink with sugar in it - add $0.25 ($1.50 vs $1.25 for diet). All "chips" are baked. All chocolate (all 2 items) is dark chocolate. The other options are things like Skinny Cow garbage and the like. There's a couple of options like sliced apples but the prices are ridiculous - $2 for an apple! WTH?!
 
Not a surprise considering the "heart healthy" garbage they feed you at hospitals when you have a heart problem. My hogs would have turned their noses up at some of it.
 
Yeah I know this is "off topic" forum, but is there nothing else to do? Besides, no one forces anyone to patronize these machines.
 
Vending machines have failed as long as there have been vending machines. I think I've lost money in them a lot more often than they ever gave me a freebee. There are few things more frustrating than dropping your last quarter in the soda machine on a hot day and not getting your cold coke or whatever.....(I used vending machines a lot more when a soda pop cost about a quarter)
 
Joe S. said:
Smitty37 said:
Not a surprise considering the "heart healthy" garbage they feed you at hospitals when you have a heart problem. My hogs would have turned their noses up at some of it.
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You raise hogs too!?
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Not any more - I raised a few hogs every year for about 15/16 years though. Mostly buying them in the spring at 25 or 30 pounds and selling them at about 200 pounds. Also raised beef, turkeys, lambs, roasting chickens, and kept laying hens and a milk cow. I also bred and raised a few Standardbred Horses.
 
wouldentu2? said:
What would everyone be saying if someone wrote about people stealing their pens or displays, or damaging their property?
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Well you take I was a teenager when the dollar bill thing went around, I don't know if it would still work. If I would have been caught I would have been in trouble. So I would say it is more like someone choosing not to get our pens. :biggrin:
 
Smitty37 said:
Joe S. said:
Smitty37 said:
Not a surprise considering the "heart healthy" garbage they feed you at hospitals when you have a heart problem. My hogs would have turned their noses up at some of it.
Click to expand...

You raise hogs too!?
Click to expand...
Not any more - I raised a few hogs every year for about 15/16 years though. Mostly buying them in the spring at 25 or 30 pounds and selling them at about 200 pounds. Also raised beef, turkeys, lambs, roasting chickens, and kept laying hens and a milk cow. I also bred and raised a few Standardbred Horses.
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I've got two hogs growing for market at the 4H fair. It's great because in a 4H pig auction, the minimum price per pound is $2.75! Fun to do, I learn a lot, and make a bundle of money! Plus the winner of the auction will get an incredible pen!
 
Joe S. said:
Smitty37 said:
Joe S. said:
Smitty37 said:
Not a surprise considering the "heart healthy" garbage they feed you at hospitals when you have a heart problem. My hogs would have turned their noses up at some of it.
Click to expand...

You raise hogs too!?
Click to expand...
Not any more - I raised a few hogs every year for about 15/16 years though. Mostly buying them in the spring at 25 or 30 pounds and selling them at about 200 pounds. Also raised beef, turkeys, lambs, roasting chickens, and kept laying hens and a milk cow. I also bred and raised a few Standardbred Horses.
Click to expand...

I've got two hogs growing for market at the 4H fair. It's great because in a 4H pig auction, the minimum price per pound is $2.75! Fun to do, I learn a lot, and make a bundle of money! Plus the winner of the auction will get an incredible pen!
Click to expand...
My kids raised hogs for 4-H as well and we raised a few "extra" to sell on our own....never got anything close to $2.75 per pound though. I think the best we ever got was about $.75 for the reserve champion market hog...great pig.
 
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We raised a few hogs, they had names. We told the kids they went to a cooler climate.
They caught on. Martin tasted really good. Center cut chops.
I can't wait to meet some of you guys at the MAPG on Friday and Saturday.
I think the first guy to find is Smitty.
 
Tom T said:
We raised a few hogs, they had names. We told the kids they went to a cooler climate.
They caught on. Martin tasted really good. Center cut chops.
I can't wait to meet some of you guys at the MAPG on Friday and Saturday.
I think the first guy to find is Smitty.
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Don't look too hard or too long for him...Smitty would like to be there but won't be.
 
We had names for the market animals, but only once. Our neighbors bought it and kept telling me how good it was, which was always followed by an awkward silence.
 
Smitty37 said:
edicehouse said:
Recently at work the company that does the vending machines jacked their prices up to $1 for a bag of chips, $.75 for a pack of gum. Well a group of us put money together and had someone go to Sams club and we got a bunch of stuff for ~$180. Needless to say the drink machine was about empty, and the vending machine was about full.

The biggest reason I am gloating about this, is the guy that fills them is a jerk (using a cleaner word than what describs him). If you ask him for change he gets a real crappy attitude, and things like that.

Yes I am waiting for a book I made to be reviewed so I can print it out for a meeting.
Click to expand...
Where I once lived that could have gotten your house burned down....

I am not sure what this is related to??????
Click to expand...

No, but I understand what you are saying. :eek:
 
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