Lazy Bear Blogs

Today is a shameless plug to try and sell my vending business.

One of the other hats I wear is that of a vending machine operator.   As  my main business hat, that of an IT business owner, demands most of my time (thus the reason why I never seem to write my blog anymore) I need to sell off my vending business as I do not have the time to dedicate to its growth.  So I thought I would put it out there to you my readers, to see if you were interested or knew someone who might be.  Below is information to assist with your decision.  Thanks in advance

The business includes:

12 MVT3 Towers (see image)

• 7 Retro Globes  (see image)
• 

• Full service policies and procedures and machine manuals to help with the transition along with a guide to assist in cold calling.

• Templates for locating machines who require a proposal.

• Guide to possible location options.

• Stock for all machines.

• Lifetime vandalism and theft replacement insurance included.

Machines are situated on the Gold Coast in Australia but obviously can be shipped anywhere.  They are currently set up to take a AUD$1.00 coin per vend.

Stock available are any bulk lollies from Mars confectionery.  But any bulk confectionery will work Bouncy balls and small capsule toys work equally well.

All machines are keyed alike for convenience, this also means that all machines need to be sold together as one unit.
These machines are just over 18 months old.

Ideal location will vend approx 5-6 vends per day per site equating to approx $3000 per month about $35,000  annually.  The figures quoted above are figures directly from Beaver Machines Corporation, whom we bought the vending package from.

Once the machines are located the work is easy.  Locators are available to those who are not sure what to do.

The Towers seem to do well in banks and the Globes seem to do well in take-away shops or places where people need to sit and wait.

The machines can be adjusted to control the amount of stock that is dispensed at point of sale, this is useful when the cost of goods increases, or you choose to dispense another item through the machine. (Such as in some machines I have placed bouncy balls – this has proven quite successful as parents often want to treat their child but not with lollies)

The advantage of these smaller machines is that we work in conjunction with a charity and most locations are happy to donate the space for the aid of the charity.  HeartKids only require $3.00 per machine per month.  We have been donating 10% gross profit.  To add to this stock will fit in the boot of your car.

The Beaver Corporation has been established since about 1963, here is their link http://www.beavervending.com/products.asp most of their products aren’t available in Australia but their parts and service is and has been since about the mid 1990’s (I just noticed that the home page has got a technical glitch at the moment)

Here are some other questions I’ve been asked:

• Cost of goods and any other major expenses so as to calculate the net return?
• Insurance for PI & PL is about $800.00 annually.
• Bouncy balls work out at COG 8.25 cents per vend. Sell at $1.00 per vend (all including GST) ($165 incl gst for 2000 27mm bouncing balls)
• COG for chocolate ranges at 35 to 40 cents per vend.  Sell at $1.00 per vend. (you use about 1/3 a box per hopper so that the stock is about 1/3 of the way up each hopper.
• What is the life span of the machines? Do they have an expiry date?
• The machines have a lifetime warranty and the coin mechanism is warranted for 20,000 vends. This equates to about 12 years.
• The ATO depreciates vending machines over 5 years – these machines are not yet 2 years old.
• How frequently are the machines moved and locations terminated?
• The only reason why any of my machines have been asked to be relocated was due to renovations within the bank branch.
• Some sites don’t do as well as others and therefore it is better to move them than keep servicing machines that are in effect just collecting dust and therefore costing money.
• How difficult is it to find new locations to install the machines and what are the barriers?
• The barriers to locating the machines are time, patience and franchises.
• I have found that banks are a fantastic option.
• Any business that is a franchise tends to need to get permission from head office and then they often want you to be able to service every store.  Not feasible on a national scale.
• There are locating services around that can locate these machines for you, they charge about $100 + GST per machine and often require a minimum of 10 to be located by them.
• Initially when I first started I had a great deal of success in locating the machines.  My biggest piece of advice – do not call on the phone you must visit the business face to face.
• I always approach the business explaining that I am helping to raise funds for HeartKids.
• Most businesses understand that you are a business and you need to make money as well but they love to be doing their bit.
• Every location that hosts a machine receives a certificate of appreciation from HeartKids – I have the template here, and they are also given a letter to say they are supporting HeartKids.
• Again the guide that teaches you how to approach people etc is very valuable here.
• Accept that there will be some no’s and that to get them located may take time.
• Cost of machines AUD$29500.00
• Sell AUD$9750.00

Like any business there is a adjustment/setting up period.

If you have any questions or would like more information.  Just make a comment and I will contact you.  Alternatively you can call 0410 690 344 (Australian mobile number)

Blessings

Kerrilee

Those of you who were regular readers of my blog, I apologize that I have not been consistent in my blogging.  I have other business interests and sadly my blogging has had to take a back seat.  I’ve found this interesting article and wanted to share with you today.  I’m not sure how often I’ll get back to my blogging but I hope that when I do you enjoy what I have written.  Take care and enjoy :-)

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery…….if you had to do this to survive you were “Piss Poor”
But worse than that were the really poor  folk who couldn’t even afford to buy a pot………..they “didn’t have a pot to piss in” and were the lowest of the low.

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!”

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence..

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, “Dirt poor.” The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, “bring home the bacon.” They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England  is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer…

So there you go. Who said History had to be boring :-)

Blessings

Kerrilee

Here in the land down under we are heading towards a very special part of our year.  BBQ season.  Nothing says Aussie more than a group of friends sitting out under the stars, a beer or a glass of wine in hand, catching up on the week’s chatter while watching the snags turn to charcoal on the BBQ.  I have to confess in our family we tend to BBQ most of the year round and even though the rules below seem a little one sided, it is not so in our family.  BBQ’s are great way for families to come together without the stress of the day interfering or for that matter the TV.  We live on the Gold Coast in Queensland and well winter here is not all that fierce so we can often throw steak on the BBQ and snuggle up out on our landing and enjoy an evening meal.  But there is nothing quite like watching the sun set with a nice glass of white and then sit around until the late hours sharing with friends.

So on that note I thought I would share with you, someone’s idea of how a BBQ should happen and I am sure that in many cases the below is true, I have friends who could even vouch for that.  But hey our men folk wouldn’t be men if we couldn’t tease them just a little. :-)

BBQ RULES
When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine…
(1) The woman buys the food.
(2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
(3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the BBQ – beer in hand.
(4) The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.

Here comes the important part:
(5) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine…
(6) The woman goes inside to organise the plates and cutlery.
(7) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat

Important again:
(8) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.

More routine…
(9) The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.

(10) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:
(11) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.

(12) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed ‘ her night off ‘ and, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing some women!

For those of you who are heading into your winter, I’m sorry but we are always happy to so you come on down to the most beautiful country in the world for a spell.

Blessings

Kerrilee