Category: office vending machine

Customer Convenience with ‘Will-Call’ Technology

Posted on by John Van Horn

will-call

In the world of business, convenience translates into money. The fewer steps necessary to get from point A to point B, the faster you can supply a demand, the more revenue can be generated each business day. This is why ‘Will Call’ Technology is the answer to the needs of many companies.

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions has found an innovative way for many businesses to supply their customers with what they need without running into unnecessary expenses. With state of the art vending machine technology, vending can be broadened into all types of product dispensing. Using custom vending machines to help distribute products to your customers can cut down on costly payroll additions and human resource issues.

Who Can ‘Will Call’ Help?

‘Will Call’ Technology is an innovative service created by Intelligent Dispensing Solutions to help companies make their products available to customers in the easiest, most cost effective way. ‘Will Call’ is most beneficial to companies that deal primarily with online orders which customers need to pick up. Any customer who has ever experienced the long lines at traditional pick up centers can tell you, the old days of waiting in line and dealing with tired, annoyed pick up employees is not ideal. ‘Will Call’ technology uses retail vending machine lockers which entirely eliminates the need for an additional employee at the station as well as wait lines. ‘Will Call’ Technology is also beneficial for larger companies for use in supply dispensing. Employees can order supplies and pick them up when they are ready. This new innovation eliminates the need for extra employees to disperse supplies.

How Does It Work?

When an individual’s order is ready for pick up, they are notified through email or text and they are given a security code. Only this code will open the ‘Will Call’ Locker holding their order. This ensures that each order only gets to the person who ordered it. The customer simply puts in their code at the pick up station, retrieves their order and the transaction is finished. The locker is now available to be filled with the next order for the next customer.

Is It Safe?

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions is among the top vending machine manufacturers today. Their products are custom built to ensure that each client receives a machine that will suit their individual needs. IDS understands that each company is different and one machine can not fit all. That is why from idea to completed product, IDS works tirelessly to make sure the vending machine you wind up with is exactly the product your company needs to solve distribution issues in the most convenient and cost effective way.

Building Your Brand with Retail Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

Looking for a unique, eye-catching and even publicity-worthy way of offering your products? Retail vending could be right up your alley. Vending isn’t just for food and beverages anymore; today, they’ve become recognized as a convenient, cost-effective, customer-friendly solution for businesses providing a wide range of products.

Vending machines take your brand from the local landscape and allow you to cast your marketing net over a wider area. Portable enough to be located just about anywhere there’s electricity, retail vending machines can be customized to feature your brand logo or slogan and to promote sales and special offers, and IDS’ iQ technology lets business owners track inventory remotely so keeping machines well-stocked and responding to fluctuations in customer demand is a snap.

In addition to sales, custom retail vending can also help you track inventory of on-site supplies used in your business. For instance, many companies have begun using tool vending machines at their manufacturing facilities to track tool use and reduce the risk of theft.

Another advantage: Retail vending is still a relatively new concept, which means that if your company decides to use the technology, there’s a good chance you can use it to gain media attention for your company and your product. That means more exposure and greater customer interest, both of which can play an important role in building your brand and driving sales.

Office Supply Solutions to Enhance Your Business

Posted on by John Van Horn

When it comes to running a business, efficiency is everything. After all, wasted time spent dealing with any mundane matter eventually leads to a reduction in profit. Therefore, keeping an office running smoothly is paramount when it comes to owning and operating a profitable business. Read below to learn how custom vending machines could help businesses do just that:

Managing supplies: 

Paper goods, pens, sticky notes and paper clips are all items that are crucial to most offices. Unfortunately, keeping an office properly stocked is not always easy. Employees who are not held accountable tend to use more supplies than they actually need or end up taking office supplies home with them.

If office supplies are kept in custom vending machine designed to dispense office supplies, employers are able to keep up with what office supplies each employee is using. Furthermore, even if employees are responsible and do not abuse their access to office supplies, having office supplies dispensed through a machine helps employers keep track of what supplies are being used the most and allows them to better judge overall costs of materials for their businesses.

Convenience:

In addition to better managing office supplies, a vending machine that dispenses office supplies also is convenient for both employees and employers. When employees are in need of a particular supply, all they have to do is make a quick trip to the machine, use their employee identification badge and just like that they have the supplies they need.

By meeting a real need for inventory control for offices, custom office vending machine solutions offers employers a way to ensure efficiency during the day-to-day operation of their businesses.

Improving Hospital Inventory Control

Posted on by John Van Horn

Hospitals are busy places. The last thing anyone wants to focus on is organizing and monitoring inventory. Keeping track of everything from medications to supplies to scrubs is time consuming and labor intensive and uses a lot of resources to manage. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities can improve their inventory management and make it a lot simpler – and more cost-effective – by using vending machines with iQ technology. Thanks to these vending machines’ advanced, state-of-the-art technology, you can control how and when your supplies and medicines are dispensed. The iQ platform uses unique IDs that allow you to control your hospital inventory by restricting access and providing real-time tracking.

In addition to scrubs and other medical supplies, vending machines can be used to safely dispense controlled substances and other medicines. With iQ, all withdrawals are catalogued and time- and date-stamped, and dispensing can be controlled based on the authority level associated with the user’s ID. Learn more IDS healthcare medical vending solutions. Because machines equipped with iQ are able to track who’s using what, they also serve as a powerful deterrent to theft and inventory shrinkage. Even managing supplies of scrubs is made easier with ScrubTrak, which is designed not only to dispense scrubs but also collect used scrubs for cleaning.

A History of Vending Solutions

Posted on by John Van Horn

Innovations transform the world and the way people live. One of those innovations, intelligent supply vending machines, has a long, varied and interesting history.history of vending machines

The first vending machine appeared in public in 1822. England bookseller Richard Carlile wanted to distribute political literature from
remote locations. To solve his problem, he developed a book-dispensing machine that operated via dial turn and accepted coins.

Other early vending machines dispensed apples and postcards. In American, the first items dispensed in 1888 included Tutti Fruity Gum. By the 1930s, customers could also buy Pepsi and Classic Coke directly from a convenient, coin operated machine.

Vending machines began accepting paper bills as payment in 1965. John Greenwick developed that technology, and future machines continue to be just as innovative. Consumers may pay with credit cards and smartphone apps now, and they can obtain more than beverages and snack foods. Today’s machines also distribute fishing bait, socks, toys, salads, hot foods and office supplies.

From the 1800s to today, evolving technology and innovative designs from vending machine manufacturers meet the practical needs consumers have. A custom vending machine remains an essential staple in many environments, including offices, as it provides convenient and versatile snack, meal and practical solutions.

Ways to Keep Track of Inventory

Posted on by John Van Horn

Keeping track of your vending machines’ inventory is a vitally important part of maintaining strong sales: No one wants to see a half-stocked machine, and when an item is really popular, you want to make sure levels stay high so you can take advantage of that popularity.

There are three primary ways to track and control inventor:

  • Go “old school” and track by hand: Grab that clipboard and pen and get to counting. Tracking by hand may have once been the standard, but by today’s standards, it’s tedious and an unproductive use of time.
  • Use a spreadsheet: Excel offers lots of customizability and it’s certainly more efficient than keeping track by hand. But this method still requires manual entry, and that means it can still be time-consuming.
  • Tap into vending machine inventory tracking and management technology: IDS’ iQ technology vending machines represents the most advanced inventory tracking system available for vending machine operators. iQ lets you track your inventory remotely from your computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone – any device that has an Internet connection. You can even check the income from cashless machines that let customers use credit cards to securely make purchases.

Inventory control has come a long way in the last few years. Using an inventory tracking system like iQ lets vending business owners spend less time counting stock and more time building a successful vending business.

Vending Isn’t Just for Food

Posted on by John Van Horn

Vending machines have come a long way in recent years. For example, machines that were at one time used for food items only are now meeting a wide variety of

needs for corporate offices, garages, doctor’s offices, hospitals and many other locations all across America. A recent article featured on Bloomberg Businessweek highlighted a new cupcake vending machine and referenced other items such as fresh fruit and smoothies now found in many a custom vending machine today. Read below for one of our innovative uses of vending machine technology:

Office:
In an office, there are many wasted resources, which costs companies thousands of dollars each year. However, we now offer office technology vending machines set up to provide flash drives, keyboards, pens, and anything else that an employee would need in an office setting. All an employee has to do is swipe a card, which allows employers to track who is using what. It also gives employees in need of office supplies instant access to them, meaning there is no reason to make a trip to the office supply store or call in IT.

Because the vending machine keeps track of who gets what out of the machine, there is greater accountability. As a result, many employers find they are saving a great deal of money because their employees no longer see office supplies as their personal property but instead consider them the property of their employer. This cuts down on waste significantly.

We hope you have been inspired by our innovative vending machine designs. Contact us for more information on retail vending.

Track Inventory Remotely with Custom Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

One of the cost-effective advantages of a remote vending machine is that they don’t require an attendant. Unlike a snack bar that needs to have at least one person overseeing it during hours of operation, a vending machine is ready to dispense food, drinks of other items at any hour of the day without the need for a cashier or server, saving you unnecessary costs while making you money. However, that same advantage can also become a concern to vending machine owners or lessees: Left unattended, stock can run low, making the machine less profitable. What’s more, it can be difficult to keep track of the revenue the machine is generating, or to make changes in the types of stock it dispenses based on use levels and customer preferences.

The good news is that custom vending machines with iQ technology let you track your inventory and your revenue remotely from any device that has an Internet connection–including your smartphone. You can even track usage levels so you can tailor the products you offer to the changing needs of the customers you’re serving and even identify when machines may be underperforming. And that means you can be responsive to changes that have a big impact on your machines’ profits and your own bottom line.

Free Your Office Manager from the Drudgery of Managing Office Supplies

Posted on by John Van Horn

In many businesses, one person (often the office manager or an assistant) is in charge of controlling access to the office supplies. If this is how your organization allocates resources, you should know that a vending machine is an ideal solution for keeping track of office supplies.

The office vending machines provided by Intelligent Dispensing Solutions will free up your manager from having to keep track of who is getting notebooks, pens, staples, USB drives and other items that workers need on a daily basis.

This is a waste of your employees’ valuable time. Why make a person keep track of supplies when an intelligent vending machine is a quick and efficient office supply management solution?

Employees only need to swipe their ID badge in the vending machine’s card-reading slot, enabling you to effectively keep track of who is obtaining office supplies, the types of items they are getting, and how often  they use the device.

What’s more, with the vending machine connected to the Internet, it’s easy to manage your office supply inventory remotely with this office inventory system, which is especially useful when you are managing multiple office locations. You can quickly get reports about which items are running low and need to be replenished. The result is easier office supply inventory management and greater accountability, while cutting down on employees pilfering office supplies for private use at home.

Staying Informed on Office Supplies

Posted on by John Van Horn

With the information available to businesses of all sizes through software that measures everything from specific sales figures to website visits and even employee productivity, businesses are steadily becoming more efficient than ever. Some things are easier to track than others and things that happen electronically are much easier to track than things that require a piece of hardware to track each event or things that need to be manually counted and recorded before they can be recorded electronically.

Office supplies are a notorious culprit for things that are difficult to track. Especially if you have a larger office or rely heavily on expensive office supplies for your facility to operate effectively, keeping track of physical inventory that can be accessed by anyone is a daunting task.

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions has made this process easier by developing an office supply system that not only tracks the office supplies and products that are dispensed, but safely and securely stores them. By not having to restrict access to employees and being able to measure and track office supply usage, these office vending machines give you the information you need to run a business efficiently and your employees the ease of access to supplies they need to do their work.