Our Answer to High Vending Sales at an Express Exterior Wash –VendPro-iG4EE

[Uncle Sam]

We have always recommended that the window-style vendor be installed in the vacuum area of the wash so it is highly VISIBLE and close to the customer for high impulse sales. That means the vendor must be built robustly to withstand the assaults from the “Hoodies” at night and, at the same time, not look unsightly or be aesthetically ugly. Since we think the ShurVend models are good looking, our first thought for increasing the SECURITY of the vendor at an EE wash was to see if we could use all this new technology we have using motion sensors, shock sensors, and alarms to “scare the hoodie” away at night. We would use a timer in the vendor to shut off the power when the wash closes and set all these sensors to working until the wash is reopened in the morning. We also did not want alarms going off during the day when customers are using the vacuums. The more I studied it, the more complicated and expensive it got and, in my testing, I found the sensors unreliable. If you have ever heard false car alarms go off like I have, no one pays any attention to them other than to get irritated at being awakened at 3 AM in the morning!! The local police certainly don’t. Our conclusion was that technology was not the way to go. We already use technology to operate the vendor and attendants at an EE, many of whom are women, are sales people, not technicians. A simpler way had to be found.

Since we believe in the “KISS” method for design (Keep It Simple, Stupid), I bounced some ideas off some friends in the car wash business who have given me real world ideas about vending in the past. One suggested that we add a second steel door that can be closed to cover the window and all the openings in the door. Essentially turn the vendor into a locked steel box at night that is already secured in the vacuum area of the EE.

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[Uncle Sam]

The trick is to make it close around the vendor door at closing and then, upon opening, fold out of the way against the side of the vendor cabinet to serve customers.

The security door that emerged after a number of versions closed around the vendor door allowing a space of 2 ½-inches for a credit card reader on the door, and then folded around the opposite side allowing two socket head bolts to be tightened with plug locks as the door closure. Access to the window, credit card reader, coin handling, drop box door, and coin return were all closed off. When the door is opened, it opens up the vendor and is folded out of the way against the side with a latch on top to hold it in place. Easy to do, mechanical, simple, and with clean lines so it doesn’t look ugly. Any Express Exterior attendant must be able to do it.

This new machine is the ShurVend VendPro-iG4EE model that is designed for the Express Exterior business model that can be installed in the free vacuum area of the site for high sales volume and be secured at night as part of the wash closure procedure. The VendPro-iG4EE would have a timer inside to shut the power off at closing time, so the attendant would only have to unlatch the door, swing it around to the other side, and lock the two closures. In the morning the vendor timer will turn the machine on so the attendant only has to unlock the door, fold it up against the side, and latch. Simple and quick!! Those of you with attended self-serve washes may be able to use this model if you have the personnel to do the locking and unlocking.

We will have this new door at the Car Wash Show in Las Vegas in a few weeks in Booth #3138, so come by to see how it works.

Uncle Sam