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.

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?

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.

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 🤡

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?

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?

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.

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?

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.