Servicing New Vending Accounts Handling Money An interview with Larry Towner

In the last video in this series, Larry explains how to efficiently load a snack machine. In this video, Larry goes into detail Servicing New Vending Accounts Handling Money about handling the money from the machine.

In the vending business security becomes a big issue because the minute the money comes out of that machine, it is vulnerable to being stolen.

I can tell you from personal experience that being unprepared when handling the money can lead to theft. It happens if you aren’t prepared.

1. You need some kind of bag to put the money in.

• Bank bags
• Canvas bags
• Something that can handle lots of coin and dollar bills

I always did money last for a number of reasons, but you should either do it first or last.

2. When it’s time to handle the money, you want that bag ready and open.

• Use the door of the machine as a block/barrier
• Pull the coin box out and pour it into the bag
• Slide out the bill validator and into the bag it goes
• Close the bag up
• Hide the bag in a box of chips and cover it up

These are simple security measures that allow you to handle the money in the safest way possible.

As you leave the building keep your head on a swivel because bad guys won’t come after you if you’re looking around.

In the next video, Larry will tell us how to load a drink machine efficiently.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Tom Shivers:Servicing New Vending Accounts handling Money   I’m Tom, with the Vending Business show. Here again with Larry Towner. We are in the midst of a series where we’re talking about what to do once you land a vending account. In this particular show, we’re talking about New Vending Accounts Handling Money  how to handle the money and a few other things. Take it away, Larry.

Larry Towner: We left off where we had filled all the snack machine up. We had gone tray by tray and we had had everything handled in the most efficient way. Now, the question is what do you do next? Where are you at? You’ve got a couple of concerns. Let’s go to the big one. Everybody likes to handle the money, right Tom?

Tom Shivers: Maybe.

Larry Towner: Maybe? Yeah, now there’s the key word, maybe. I say that in that there are some concerns of course when you’re dealing with money. It is not what you think. It’s not all that great. If you haven’t paid attention, in the vending business security becomes a pretty strong issue. One of the big security issues is when you handle your money because the minute that money comes out of that machine, it becomes vulnerable to being stolen. It can get stolen out of the machine too, but generally if you’re keeping your machines locked, they’re gonna have to break into that machine. I can tell you from personal experience, if you take the money out and you put it in a bag or you happen to take the dollar bills out and set them down behind you because you’re gonna get a bag to put them in, guess what happens? You set them down, somebody walks by, and poof, they’re gone. I say it because it’s happened. Or, somebody distracts you and somebody else grabs the money. You think it doesn’t happen, but it happens all the time if you’re not careful.

Larry Towner: When we talk about handling money, we wanna talk about a couple of issues. One is you need some kind of a bag to put your money in. We invested in some nice heavy duty canvas bags that you can buy through the various different banking outlets. Your bank people can hook you up with that kind of information, and there’s some blogs around on the vending business, but you want some decent money bags. Something that can hopefully handle quite a bit of coin and quite a number of bills. That’s the first thing. You need to acquire some kind of a bag. In a pinch, I can tell you I’ve used lunch bags. Forget the money bags, stop at the local grocery store, grab some paper bags. It’s just not a great solution for a long term situation. Anyway, when you get done filling your machines, I always did money last. You either do it first or last, it’s your choice. Do it first or last. We always did it last because we took it to the truck and the truck left the scene at that point, so they would’ve had to run the truck down to steal the money from us, not break into the truck to steal the money.

Larry Towner: With that said, it’s your choice folks. You can do it however you want, but that’s just a tip that we use. When you get ready to handle that money, you want that bag ready and open. I myself, and I trained all my people to do this, I used the door of the machine as a barrier and a block. I would never handle money without having the door usually up against my shoulder. I would wedge myself between the door and the machine and have my body blocking how much money I was handling. Because they, meaning the bad guys or the people in the account … First off, let’s even step back from that. You don’t want the people in the account to know how much money you’re taking out of that account. You just don’t. You want to give the impression that you’re not taking very much money out of that account because that just makes it easier for you to be in the vending business.

Larry Towner: Anyway, I always blocked that money. I put myself between the doors. I always did coin first. I would pull that coin box out and pour that money into the bag. At that point then, I would turn with this arm, reach, and I would open the bill valve there and slide the money out. Into the bag it goes in one big sweep. Put it in, close the bag up. You think I’m paranoid, but trust me. There’s enough times, if you do it long enough, and like Tom said it’s been 20 plus years of being in the vending industry, only takes getting stolen from one time, just once, and you’ll learn your lesson. Right? Does that make sense, Tom?

Tom Shivers: Yeah, it does. Makes a lot of sense.

Larry Towner: You wanna be quick in getting that money. At that point, I always took that money and would put it into one of my boxes and bury it underneath the chips. Do not set it out on top of anything. Do not set it out where somebody can snatch and grab it and it’s gone. It’s common sense, but I’ve seen it done over and over and over again. Put the money into a box, cover it up. If you really wanna be sneaky, as it were, you’re picking up money from multiple machines, put your money into multiple boxes. Just so long that you don’t forget where you put the money. I’ll tell you a quick story. We used to do that in the truck too, when we would do multiple stops. We would put the money around in the trucks in various different places. One day, we lost a set of money from one of the machines and for the life of us, it was myself and one other guy, for the life of us we could not remember where the money went and we thought we had gotten stolen.

Larry Towner: About two years later, I was cleaning the truck out and I found that bag of money. We had done a really good job of hiding it, I’m just gonna tell you. It was really a good job of hiding it. It took us two years to find it. Anyway, those are some real simple security measures. I know, it’s hard to believe, but that’s what it went. Those are simple security measures that allow you to handle the money in one of the safest ways possible. As you egress the building, as you leave the building, keep your head on a swivel. Be looking around. There are people, and again it depends on the account. There’s lots of accounts where you’re completely safe. But, if you’re in a kinda public location, keep your head on a swivel. Be looking around. You don’t know who’s gonna come around. All they want’s the money most of the time. By the way, if you ever do get confronted by someone, give them the money. Save your life. Let it go. It’s not worth it. These are just little tips. You start looking around, and I swear to God, bad guys won’t come after you if you’re looking around. They just don’t, because they know that they’re coming after you. Little tip, big payoff. Big, big, big payoff.

Tom Shivers: Thanks, Larry. Excellent stuff. What’s the next topic we’re gonna be talking about?

Larry Towner: We still haven’t worked on drink machines, so I guess we better work on a drink machine next.

Tom Shivers: All right. You’ve been watchingServicing New Vending accounts Handling Money at  the Vending Business show, a publication of A&M Equipment Sales.