I begin my work day the same way every day. Once I fire up whatever mode of technology I happen to be working from, I look through my emails. Unfortunately most of my emails in the morning are sales messages, and of course, it’s not just one! I enjoy subject lines of emails and if you’ve ever noticed, most marketing email subject lines don’t compel me to do anything with it other than mark it as junk, but this particular day, I saw the subject line of “Fend off the evil vending machine” and I couldn’t help but open up the dang email just because it ticked me off. I wanted to see how this company was going to magically save me from the vending machine. This company, which I will not name, has created a “healthy” snack box that you can customize from their menu of choices, order online and it can be delivered to your home or office for the great price of only $6.99.
Now, I’m not going to nit-pick at their business model, because when I want a snack, I want it now and not in 2-4 business days. This isn’t what this column is about. You have to appreciate someone with an idea and an attempt to make a profit off of that idea. What gets my blood boiling though is that this company has done, like what so many before it have done, and that is to vilify the vending machine and industry. I for one am sick of being the evil villain! I understand that every story is more compelling when there is a villain and a hero. How many of you were really cheering for Darth Vader to defeat Luke Skywalker and the Rebellion in the Star Wars saga? We as people just inherently want to root for the hero, the one that can “save the day”, however, here’s my issue, since when was the vending industry the evil one?
Vending as the scapegoat
Unfortunately, the vending industry has fallen victim to being the scapegoat. In this day and age, people have a need to point the finger at someone else for their problems. This is the knee jerk reaction, the easy way out and outside competitors are swinging in to rescue us from ourselves. The industry has come a long way making great advances in the products that are available in vending machines and micro markets. Walk any of the trade shows and we are inundated with better for you choices to offer consumers. Those products are being tested in machines and markets, whether they be lower calorie, lower fat, gluten free, freshly prepared and my personal favorite, low carb. I know many of you have been speaking with your accounts and prospective accounts about your offerings and have made adjustments to meet the demand. The vending industry is certainly not the villain, in fact, we joined the fight a long time ago. It’s time for us to propose a new story. This story is called, “With personal freedom, comes personal responsibility”. Consumers have always had the freedom to choose. However, the villain and hero is not the vending machine in this story. Instead, it plays a part in the story, but the real hero or villain is the consumer themselves and in this story, we teach them to understand that they hold the key to how the story ends. Let’s have a wonderful 2015!
