Are Your Vending Machines Up To Scratch?

Introducing Coin Scratch PlateTM and COINRUBTM, new from Fairtrade Vending

BY IAN REYNOLDS-YOUNG

 

They’re a common sight: unsightly scratches around the coin mechanisms on vending machines. But, does rubbing or scratching a coin that a machine has rejected actually resolve the problem? Does it have any basis in scientific fact?

The answer, having searched through a host of discussions on the Internet, is ‘almost certainly not’. However, that doesn’t stop frustrated ‘punters’ from giving it a try – and that’s bad news for vending operators.

Evidently, it’s a global problem. Be it Swiss Francs, Euros; South African Rand, the Great British pound or what-have-you, scratching a coin against the metal of the machine seems to be ‘Plan A’ around the world when it is rejected.

DON'T SCRATCH
The ‘don’t do it’ option. Ugh! (Besides, it clearly doesn’t work).

There are two diametrically opposite responses to the scratching phenomenon. One is, predictably, ‘don’t do it’. The other is to provide a ‘scratch patch’ that’s placed on a vending machine as protection.

Mike Steel, of Fairtrade Vending, became so exasperated by machine damage that he decided to do something about it. ‘When you bring machines back in, you have to rub them back down, obviously prime them, re-spray them; with some scratches you’ve got to put a bit of filler in it so it costs a bit of money in terms of time and labour in addition to the materiel you need.’

Coin-Scratch-Plate-01
76mm x 50mm x 1mm

There was no ‘off the shelf’ solution available, so Mike and his colleagues took it upon themselves to design and manufacture a solution. The result was the Coin Scratch PlateTM and then the COINRUBTM. Available at a cost of £6.95 and £8.95 respectively, the numbers really do stack up and prove that in this instance, prevention really is better than cure…

‘There’s nothing like them on the market’, Mike said. ‘They’re manufactured of high-grade stainless steel in the UK, then we send them off to be laser engraved. We played around with different sizes and shapes and different tapes, but what we’ve got now works’, Mike added. ‘We’ve got them on all our machines and it’s stopping people doing it.’

Before
Before and…
AFTER
after.

At just 1mm thick, the Coin Scratch PlateTM measures 76mm x 50mm and the COINRUBTM, 7-mm x 103mm. ‘They’re simple to fit’, Mike says, ‘just peel off the protective film and stick them on to your machine. We use high-bond, double-sided weather-proof permanent tape with a seamless bond, that was developed for the automotive industry. You’d need a hammer and chisel to get them off! Having said that, if required, we can supply them pre-drilled for pop riveting.’

It’s worth noting that, with orders of 200 plus units, your company name, web address or phones numbers can be added for free and there are also discounts available ‘for volume’.

A major car-park ticket machine company took quickly to the new product and aside from that sector, Mike sees huge scope in launderettes and with councils – in fact, anything that’s coin operated. ‘Schools are the worst’, Mike said, ‘they just scratch the lives out of the machines. We had four come back in a short space of time that were right down to the bare metal. The machines looked unprofessional and ugly, they look tatty and old; and on site, it puts people off using them.’

SCRATCH 2
Scratch away – the machine is protected.

Mike freely accepts that scratching coins does nothing to improve their acceptability by vending machines – but that’s not to say that frustrated potential vending customers won’t give it a try. ‘The whole thing’s a total fallacy’, Mike says. ‘Rubbing a coin makes no difference at all’.

If you’d like to inspect the Coin Scratch PlateTM and the COINRUBTM, you can request samples of both products for the price of postage and packaging. To order yours, e-mail info@fairtradevending.co.uk

More on Fairtrade Vending Ltd? It’s here.

Interested about what’s been said in Web forums about scratching and why people do it? Follow these links…

Scienceforums.net
Yahoo Answers

The Naked Scientists

 

About the author

The Editor

Planet Vending’s Editor is Ian Reynolds-Young and it’s Ian’s unique writing talent that has made PV what it is today – the best read (red) vending blog in the world, and vending’s best read (reed). Ian ‘tripped and fell into vending’, in the capacity of PR executive, before launching a specialist agency, ‘reynoldscopy’, dedicated to the UK Vending business. The company continues to represent the interests of many of the sector’s leading brands.

‘It’s all about telling stories’, he says. ‘We want to make every visit to PV a rewarding experience. By celebrating the achievements of the UK’s operating companies, we’re on a mission to debunk the idea that vending is retailing’s poor relation.’

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