Safety of an automatic vendor is above al.

Keeping up on foreign vending news one can observe reports about vendor breakings open, thefts, etc. – from comical cases with vice presidents to serial thefts of the vendor and whole vending networks.

Foreign recidivists boast that they can break open a typical vending machine within 4-5 seconds. To force a vendor they usually use special keys (wrench) and tin snips. The owner loses not only revenues and not so much revenues as equipment.

Bad statistics says the more vendors in the city the more vendor-involved crimes. So, within a year in Las Vegas thefts from the vending machines amounted to over 1 million dollars and the losses from harm done to equipment were several times as much.

When we buy vendors we certainly think about their safety – physical security of our capital investments from hostile buyers, vandals, thieves, etc. Vendor suppliers tell us about an anti-vandal body, protected locks and coin mechanisms. And only in practice we realize with time that the protection of the vending machines is a separate entry of expenses and it is not normally included into a specified vendor set.

The anti-vandal body is surely fine. Without it a vendor is like a baby with a sweetie – anyone tries to encroach on it. However, the anti-vandal body (as well as smart locks, reliable payment mechanisms) may be not enough for vendor’s safety and, moreover, excessive squareness of the body invulnerable to vandalism may be not to owner’s liking and more importantly it may scare away respectable customers.

1. Secure vendor location

Safety of a vendor depends on its location. If you locate it, for example, on a railway station or in a prestigious hotel hall – it will decide vendor’s fate: whether it will be a bright monument or a scratched box. But that doesn’t mean that the vending machines should be located only in elite places – you won’t simply earn money. A vendor should be folksy and be protected according to its location.

At any place a vendor must be under supervision, for instance, under supervision of the personnel of the establishment where the vending machine is located (sellers, security guards, doorkeepers, etc.). Better if the owner of the rented area accounts for the safety of the vending machine and the appropriate provisions are stipulated in the Lease contract.

A vendor certainly shouldn’t stand in a lonely “pigeon-hole” where it is left alone. Openness of purchase is a recipe for inviolability.

It is in the interests of the vendor’s owner to locate the vending machine within view of the monitoring camera and to post a warning sign about video surveillance visible to all customers. If there are no camera the possible alternative is to mount a dummy of it. Such simple trick will frighten an unfair customer off.

2. Equipping of the vending machines with signaling instruments.

A vendor may be equipped with a signaling system like car signaling. For that the vending machine is stuffed with a lot of sensors (sensors can control doors, a lock system, safety of glass windows, monitor tilt angle, vibration, etc.), siren (mini-siren), emergency power supply and so on. The principle of the signaling system operation: vendor’s tilt, its shaking, breaking and drilling of locks are recorded by a sensor and the siren snaps into action. Those around a vendor (if there are any) pay attention to the yelling machine. The personnel of the sales outlet notified of a possible breaking in take appropriate steps on protection of the vending machine and if necessary call the police or the owner of the vendor.

Alternatively or additionally the vendor may be equipped with a GSM-controller based warning system. In case of sensor triggering the system will send SMS messages to the specified phone numbers through GSM cellular communications: “Vendor #1. Such and such danger.” In Japan similar signaling systems notify of the theft not the owner of the vending machine but the nearest police station.

In case of stealing of the vendor GSM-controller allows to locate it.

There exist more complex protective systems used normally for ATM: mounting of video surveillance systems directly on the vendor; dispatch of videos and photos in case of worst-case situations; availability of voice communications between the vending machine and a control center. The cost of such security devices is too expensive for pocketbook of most vending operators, besides a control center must be maintained.

3. Use of physical security

Besides the anti-vandal body a vending machine on its workplace may be physically protected more effectively and first of all from stealing. Special metal bodies with roller blinds are used for a long time. They can be compared to a garage with rolling walls and roof for cars, but they are fully automated (there are mechanical versions as well).

Such bodies protect the vendor not only from burglars, but also from bad weather, they can be operated by timer and by means of remote control. They don’t deface the design of the vending machine, ideally blend with surroundings, and cope with incumbent tasks excellently. Their main disadvantage is high price. An ordinary metal body for a single vendor costs from 400$, depending on configuration the price can reach almost 5000 $ (the price includes automated mechanisms, timers, GSM-controllers, signaling, etc.)

Less expensive variant of the concerned protection is location of the vending machines in a special recess with the automated shutters. You needn’t buy an expensive body, automated blinds will do.

4. Equipment insurance.

Finally, an effective protective measure for your vending machines is insurance. After all, as the practice shows the more intensively you use the equipment the more problems it experiences. But you can insure against them in advance and … spend a sleepful night.