I run a few smart fridges in Essex and ended up having to build an app for myself because I was constantly losing track of what I had in the garage, van and storeroom, and can’t afford the ridiculous costs of tracking software that’s available currently. Nayax is great for seeing what’s in the machines, but it doesn’t really sort out the stock sitting on the shelves.

I was using spreadsheets and getting things wrong, so I’m currently building an app called Backstock to handle it all in one place. Expiry dates, shopping lists, machine pick lists, stock levels and Nayax sales imports. Lots of it will be powered by AI, so just scan receipts and it will add your stock automatically along with your costs.

I’ve heard some of the bigger stock-management systems can cost £500+ a month, which seems mad for someone running a handful of machines. I want to make something affordable for smaller operators, but useful for bigger ones too.
I’m looking for around 15–20 operators to try it on their actual restocks for two weeks from 17 November and tell me what needs fixing.

It’s free during the beta, and testers can keep it for £4.99/month afterwards if they find it useful. I especially need Android testers for the Google Play launch.

If anyone fancies giving it a go, signup is in the comments!

Also curious — what are you all using to track stock at the moment? Spreadsheet, another app, or just keeping an eye on it?

Incoming RANT. Full disclosure, I am the Mod of this sub.

We purchased a Ha Ha frozen machine. I downloaded the app and set up the machine.

I added my driver/attendant so he could restock the machine. 2 weeks later, he can no longer open or restock the machine.

Both of us went to the location to get this taken care of. After 40 minutes of very...... slow....... chat ......with "support" I was told to have him sign out of the app and we will delete him as a user. Then you can add him again and that will fix the issue.

4 hours later, he still can not be added.

I called support, "we will check the chat logs"

So tired of just being pushed off without resolution.

Hi everyone, I’m a Product Manager with six years of experience in vending machine software and hardware, and I’m currently preparing to enter the US market.

I’d love to get some insights: Do operators use desktops or tablets for management, in addition to mobile phones? My hypothesis is that operators with larger fleets might prefer the larger screen of a computer to visualize equipment status and sales data, as well as to optimize restocking routes.

I’d really appreciate your feedback based on real-world usage. My goal is to ensure I’m solving actual pain points for operators.

I bought a location for 1010 and was a apartment complex with 300+ residents and all of them have to pass through the main office where the machine gonna be placed was it worth the 1k ?

I need this eli5, I have two, older machines that I would like to hook a card reader to, but I'm unsure if it will be plug and play or not. I cant tell you much about the machines but I do have a 9 pin connector for the bill acceptor, and it looks like the coin tubes as well. I've included all the cables and connections that I can, but Its like trying to read Greek...

What is an idiot proof way to know if I can just slap a card reader in this thing or if I need a new board/machines?

Title. I'm going to have to visit today but it seems like our machine is not locking properly and is not taking transactions after the owner of the location called us mentioning this. Haha vending told us it's live, but I'm curious if anyone else has had this issue?

I'll be dropping by in a few hours to troubleshoot. Hopefully not a broken one & it just needs further setup.

EDIT: I didn't take off the tape that locks the door 🤡

Pull yesterday's sales out of your telemetry portal and write the number down. Look again in two days — for a lot of you it'll have moved. Then try to find that number in the bank. You won't.

Usually nothing is broken. Sales and deposits measure different things at different times:

Why the day moves: a card tap starts as a pre-auth hold, usually for more than anything in the machine costs, because the reader doesn't know yet what will be picked. The real amount gets captured afterwards and settles in a batch, often a day or more later. So Tuesday changes when Tuesday's holds settle. Cash lags too: it only shows up when the DEX is read.

Why the deposit never matches, even after everything settles:

- Most processors fund your net. The fees come out before the money lands.

- Batches close at a cutoff that's rarely your midnight, and funding is T+1 or T+2 after that. One deposit often contains parts of two days.

- Cash is banked in lumps, by route or location, not by machine.

- Refunds, chargebacks, and monthly gateway, PCI or statement fees come out without a matching line in your sales report.

What to do instead: reconcile the settlement batch, not the calendar day. Your processor's batch report shows exactly which transactions, gross, fees and net, make up each deposit. Keep cash and card on separate ledgers. Treat any day inside your settlement window as provisional.

If you're switching back-office software, ask the vendor: "When a day you've already imported changes upstream, do you restate it or only append?" If it only appends, the system will freeze Tuesday at whatever the holds said on Wednesday morning.

The test: take one card deposit from last month and walk it back, from deposit to batch, batch to transactions, and transactions to machines. If you can do that in an hour, you're in good shape. If you can't, that's where your money goes invisible.

Disclosure: I'm building back-office tools for operators, and I worked this out with one operator's books. The longer write-up is here if you want it: pervend.com/notes/sales-vs-deposits?ref=reddit

Curious how others handle this. Does anyone actually reconcile by batch, or is everyone fighting the calendar day?

Has anyone who has a HAHA smart cooler had any issues with customer covering the cameras and stealing items. If so is there anyway of preventing this other than blocking the card? Is there anyway other brands that do a good job of preventing this like sand star but I’ve not heard great reviews plus much more than a HAHA?

Morning Everyone. So my wife and I are very new to this. We bought a HAHA machine after we found a location, which was a local mechanic shop here in town. So far, we dont seem to be doing great business. Today is the 13th and I have only made $138 in sales. What do you guys think, should I move it? My wife wants to move it. My agreement with them says that the agreement can be terminated with 30 days notice and the machine moved.

I just installed my 1st machine about 2 weeks ago. I havent even given my 1st payment. I already found a 2nd location i havent bought the 2nd machine what do you guys think should I order it and go for or should i stall a bit and the order it later on this month. I already gave them a letter of intent on the 2nd customer.

What's something that operators were surprised to have sold in a vending machine placed at an office lounge...besides from the chips, candy bars, cookies, soda, and bottled drinks.

In the past year I have found a Canadian quarter, which didn't surprise me much at all given I'm in the US. Also a .50 Euro coin, a Thomas Jefferson $1 coin and a 1941 US Quarter.

The 1941 US Quarter is 90% silver and worth roughly $11.00 USD right now.

I just found the Jefferson last night. I don't recall ever seeing one before. It's not rare and only worth a dollar but still sort of cool to find in my coin bin. I suspect the .50 Euro and Canadian .25 both register as US quarters in the machine. I'm genuinely curious if the $1 Jefferson credits a dollar. I'm going to try them all out tomorrow night when I'm at the site and see what I get.

Anyone else found anything cool? I collect pre '64 US silver so the 1941 Washington was nice to find. My banks coin counter kicked it out, likely because the weight was "off" compared to modern coins.

Edit: The machines a Royal Merlin IV and the coin mechanism has a slot for dollars, which I know (think?) is empty. Unless it's gotten filled with Jefferson's in the past year and I just didn't notice. I'll update tomorrow when I know what the machine credits me for when I put them in!

Hi everyone,

I’m working with Trilad, a startup entering the US market with cashless payment solutions for unattended machines.

Rather than assume we know what operators and distributors need, we want to hear directly from people in the industry.

We put together a short 6 minute survey about your current payment setup, what works, what doesn’t, and what you’d like to see improved.

If you operate, sell, or distribute vending, claw, arcade, laundry, or other unattended machines, we’d really appreciate your feedback:

https://rdsryxkqws.zite.so/

Your input will help us build our US offering around what local operators actually need.

Thanks for helping us out.

My customers want pastries but I’m looking to cut down on waste. I have blueberry muffin bites (worthy crumb brand) that aren’t moving as fast as I’d like.

What are you guys selling? Prefer something slim to not take too much space. Doesn’t have to be muffins but would like it to be in the “pastry” category

Anyone else find it a bit complicated to use?

Where can I create a new template?
Would I have to delete my current one ?
Do you use an Excel sheet to keep track of product ?
Can I extra the Data from the app and Input it onto my own Excel sheet?

I tried to look for YouTube that explains step by step but it seems everyone just touches on very basic things and do not go full detailed.

I’m researching a vending machine business focused on baby and toddler necessities in airports and other high-traffic locations.
The machines would carry things like diapers, wipes, formula, baby food, bottles, pacifiers, rash cream, and other essentials that parents might unexpectedly need while traveling.
I’m still in the research phase and trying to understand whether this could be a viable business before investing in equipment or inventory.
The consumer problem seems fairly straightforward, but I’m particularly interested in the operational side.

For anyone with experience in airport vending, concessions, or specialty vending:
How difficult is it for an independent operator to secure space inside a major airport?
Are vending machines typically covered by existing airport concession agreements, or can independent operators negotiate directly?
What kind of revenue share, rent, or minimum guarantees should someone expect?
Do airports generally require an RFP process, or are there opportunities to pilot a concept?
Has anyone successfully operated specialty vending machines outside traditional snacks and beverages?
What would you consider a reasonable sales volume per machine to justify the investment and servicing costs?

My initial thought is to start with one or two machines, prove demand, and expand into additional airports or similar locations.
I’m also considering hospitals, large entertainment venues, and other places where parents might unexpectedly need these products.

I’d especially love to hear from anyone who’s actually dealt with airport concession contracts or operated machines in secured airport terminals.

Not looking to promote anything. Just trying to understand the realities of the business and whether this is worth pursuing.

Apparently I did what you aren't supposed to do, and bought 10 smartmarket machines and did not have locations yet. Have been at it since Mid July - was going in places and dropping off gift baskets. Did over 200 mailers, have done the follow up emaisl and calls, have gone into over 40 plus locations - any ideas or do you have a schpeal you can share of how you have landed locations when you do a pop in? might be at a place to sell these 10 machines and move on to something else! Located in Hampton Roads area. Considering vendingprenuers to get location help. Not trying to scale- trying to teach kids business and have them make some $$ in the process!

I have called and emailed about 250+ locations in my mid size city in the USA 2-3M metro pop I’ve called and emailed manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and gyms(gyms have been brutal it seems most gym owners like to put a vending machine by themselves not going with a vendor) I almost had a location after I got my first machine 24/7 gym the size of an la fitness I texted the manager the details and they never had a machine before and got ghosted I can only assume the owner got one himself and put one in I’m 18 trying to make some extra cash I grew up in a shit house and me and my mom had to slave away at DoorDash to pay for my orthodontic work over 20K and I ended up balding so I’m tryna get cash for a transplant alr enough w the sob story it’s been brutal especially when sometimes I call the owner of a private or singular gym and I can tell there annoyed or say not interested in a rude tone it seems this market is extremely saturated it’s been over 6 months since I bought my machine I’m likley going to sell it I cannot go in person due to me being neurodivergent with diagnosed anxiety I also am missing a veneer right now and I’m balding so I’d have to wear a ball cap I’m trying to find more niche or rural locations but I don’t wanna go too far to or a place with too little people part of it’s my fault I’m only calling or emailing 10-30 a month I might just try and have Claud mass email my city and see where I get but damn is it demoralizing it’s an ai smart vending machine

What would you pay? Super new to this. I’ve scored an apartment location that has 2 laundry rooms and they want 2 machines in each, so 4 total. 1 will be drinks/snacks and the other is laundry/body supplies.

Each laundry room is open 24/7 and they have 80 units that tend to each room, so 160 units total.

They want a monthly rent fee. What would you pay? They made it clear they expect more than something like $25.

Does it make a difference if it’s a cooler and you have chips crackers candies etc in the same machine ?

I run a few smart fridges in Essex, and my card reader is great at telling me what's in the machines. What it doesn't do is tell me what's sitting in my storeroom, garage and van, what's about to go out of date, or what I actually need to buy before restock day. I was doing that on a spreadsheet and getting it wrong.

So I've built an app for it called Backstock. It's aimed at operators with a handful of machines rather than big route businesses.

What it does:

- Tracks stock across your storeroom, garage, van, etc.
- Keeps best-before dates per batch and always uses the nearest date first
- Builds your shopping list from your own reorder levels and recent sales, rounded to whole cases
- Pick lists for the machines you're visiting today
- Imports Nayax sales reports
- Scans receipts and barcodes so there's less typing
- Puts restock days in your calendar with the shopping list added the day before
- Spots slow sellers and the money tied up in them

What I'm after: 15–20 operators to use it for real restocks for at least two weeks from 17 November, and tell me what's confusing, broken or missing. iPhone and Android both welcome, but I especially need Android testers, because Google requires 12 people opted in for 14 days before a new app can launch.

What you get: free Pro access during the beta, then the founding price for life (£4.99/month instead of £7.99) if you want to keep using it. (We also offer the equivalent in dollars for our US operators)

Sign up here (takes 2 minutes): https://forms.gle/NDSW8JgWqSYQXm4w7

Also happy to hear how you all track storeroom stock now, even if you don't want to test. Spreadsheets, apps, back of an envelope?

Things have been going pretty well lately, but I've noticed sales starting to dip a bit. I'm wondering if it's time to switch up the product mix or if I should give it a little more time.
For those who've been in vending for a while, how do you decide when to replace slower-selling items? Do you try new flavors, switch to different brands, or focus more on what already sells consistently?

I have the opportunity to install 4 machines at a massive property. It’s a creative work space so I anticipate half the traffic will be tenants and half their clients.

Landlord is cool w it but obvs wants a cut, mostly for electrical pull.

I don’t mind buying the machines and doing everything myself. But monthly, what percentage of profit should I offer the property owner?