Pricing and Suppliers...My Experience...Have your say

[Vendingwarehouse]

Well, after all the recent threads about Bullying, Pricing, Suppliers, Perform , I decided it was time to inject some new life into my vending. Over the past 18 months I have only been operating at 80% due to health and such, but with the way my supplier have been f**king about I thought it was time to check them all out. AND I needed a challenge to motivate me a bit. I know everyone has their own supplier and are mostly happy with them so this is just my experience and opinion....which doesn't mean I'm right, just telling my experiences. I decided to put my money where my mouth is and ccheck if I really was getting the best deal , albeit a troubled one.

I rang tubz vending...got Simon...exchanged pleasantries...asked for current best prices...chatted, said thanks...received an e-mail with a Hurleys pricelist dated Sept 2011 and was told he would beat these by a pound a box...

I rang Hurleys...got Rob...exchanged pleasantries...asked for current best prices...chatted , said thanks...received an e-mail with Hurleys prices and a few incentives the more I bought of him.

I E-mailed Sweetfix,(didn't have their number)...got a text from Glenn saying they were working on a pricelist for me...I rang Jonny ... exchanged pleasantries...chatted, said thanks...pricelist arrived by e-mail...

All very civilised and professional...a good bit of craic with them all...no slagging of competition...no hassle.

Now here's the difference... Pulled out a recent invoice from tubz vending...Sept 2011 actually just for accuracy and comparison... Behold... the prices were cheaper than what I had just been offered by tubz vending...rang tubz vending who said OK they would give me those prices .

Didn't ring Hurleys back as I had nothing further to discuss,...already had their best prices...and Rob was already polite and said he wouldn't pressure me...just to ring him if I wanted anything

Rang Jonny... bad signal couldn't hear me...He rang me straight back...spent 1 hour 38 minutes on the phone... at his expense..interrupting his tea to do so...telling me where their company were at...how business was going... discussed prices, vending, new ideas, and said they would work very fairly with me. I learned a lot from him in that call...2 new ideas I can use...gave him 1 very useful idea which I will share later in another post...no pressure ...just ring if I need anything.

At that stage I had decided to change to Sweetfix...if prices suited...So I took the Sept 2011 invoice and using the same quantities , inserted the 3 suppliers prices...Remember individual box prices mean nothing unless you include your sales mix too....I didn't put the vat on but their individual carriage and sweet prices are included. Here's the result

Sweetfix £2033
tubz vending £2034
Hurleys £2067.50

Sweetfix were the cheapest...they have the best customer service although Rob was similar...they marginally have the best pot, because of the slightly brighter colors.
So after a call tomorro and a bit of haggling lol, I hope to be giving my order to Sweetfix from now on. It will take a while and be a lot of work to change over, removing stickers etc but that's what the hagglings for.
They are operators who understand the game and share their wealth of experience with others. I don't see a down side at all but will let you all know if |I find one. It's great to be an independant.

Nothing about Rob ****** me off, but the prices were a little too high.
What ****** me off about tubz vending was that they tried to get me to order with the higher prices first and only when challenged did they back down. AND they don't have their own pricelist , they use everyone elses. That's to find out what you are paying to others. I don't WANT to have to argue and second guess my supplier all the time. And I don't want to deal with someone who is trying to rip me off all the time. ESPECIALLY if there is a decent alternative like Sweetfix. Updates will come as the sweets arrive and start to sell.
Like I said this is just my experiences, I'm not shoving this down anyones throat. However after being in business 20 years and in vending nearly 5 years, Jonny still gave me a couple of new ideas. tubz vending never did that for me.

Regards

Noel

[Ade]

Well, after all the recent threads about Bullying, Pricing, Suppliers, Perform , I decided it was time to inject some new life into my vending. Over the past 18 months I have only been operating at 80% due to health and such, but with the way my supplier have been f**king about I thought it was time to check them all out. AND I needed a challenge to motivate me a bit. I know everyone has their own supplier and are mostly happy with them so this is just my experience and opinion....which doesn't mean I'm right, just telling my experiences. I decided to put my money where my mouth is and ccheck if I really was getting the best deal , albeit a troubled one.

I rang tubz vending...got Simon...exchanged pleasantries...asked for current best prices...chatted, said thanks...received an e-mail with a Hurleys pricelist dated Sept 2011 and was told he would beat these by a pound a box...

I rang Hurleys...got Rob...exchanged pleasantries...asked for current best prices...chatted , said thanks...received an e-mail with Hurleys prices and a few incentives the more I bought of him.

I E-mailed Sweetfix,(didn't have their number)...got a text from Glenn saying they were working on a pricelist for me...I rang Jonny ... exchanged pleasantries...chatted, said thanks...pricelist arrived by e-mail...

All very civilised and professional...a good bit of craic with them all...no slagging of competition...no hassle.

Now here's the difference... Pulled out a recent invoice from tubz vending...Sept 2011 actually just for accuracy and comparison... Behold... the prices were cheaper than what I had just been offered by tubz vending...rang tubz vending who said OK they would give me those prices .

Didn't ring Hurleys back as I had nothing further to discuss,...already had their best prices...and Rob was already polite and said he wouldn't pressure me...just to ring him if I wanted anything

Rang Jonny... bad signal couldn't hear me...He rang me straight back...spent 1 hour 38 minutes on the phone... at his expense..interrupting his tea to do so...telling me where their company were at...how business was going... discussed prices, vending, new ideas, and said they would work very fairly with me. I learned a lot from him in that call...2 new ideas I can use...gave him 1 very useful idea which I will share later in another post...no pressure ...just ring if I need anything.

At that stage I had decided to change to Sweetfix...if prices suited...So I took the Sept 2011 invoice and using the same quantities , inserted the 3 suppliers prices...Remember individual box prices mean nothing unless you include your sales mix too....I didn't put the vat on but their individual carriage and sweet prices are included. Here's the result

Sweetfix £2040
tubz vending £2041
Hurleys £2120.50

Sweetfix were the cheapest...they have the best customer service although Rob was similar...they marginally have the best pot, because of the slightly brighter colors.
So after a call tomorro and a bit of haggling lol, I hope to be giving my order to Sweetfix from now on. It will take a while and be a lot of work to change over, removing stickers etc but that's what the hagglings for.
They are operators who understand the game and share their wealth of experience with others. I don't see a down side at all but will let you all know if |I find one. It's great to be an independant.

Nothing about Rob ****** me off, but the prices were a little too high.
What ****** me off about tubz vending was that they tried to get me to order with the higher prices first and only when challenged did they back down. AND they don't have their own pricelist , they use everyone elses. That's to find out what you are paying to others. I don't WANT to have to argue and second guess my supplier all the time. And I don't want to deal with someone who is trying to rip me off all the time. ESPECIALLY if there is a decent alternative like Sweetfix. Updates will come as the sweets arrive and start to sell.
Like I said this is just my experiences, I'm not shoving this down anyones throat. However after being in business 20 years and in vending nearly 5 years, Jonny still gave me a couple of new ideas. tubz vending never did that for me.

Regards

Noel

Noel,

A great thread, and well explained, congrats on coming over to the brightside, you will most certainly experience an increase in sales, but i want to take my hat off to you for having the initiative to do what you have done and wish you nothing but the best. and well done to sweetfix for being what they always have been from day one `honest` goes a long way

Regards

Ade

[Big Chris]

Noel,

Just re-iterating what Ade said, well done for doing this. Sweetfix certainly seem to impress a lot of people.

If you don't mind me asking a question about your thread...

Why did tubz vending charge you more than what was on a previous invoice? And did they give any explantation to why? Did you have to puh them on getting the prices back to what they were on the invoice previously?

Kind Regards
Chris

[Rossi fan]

Great post Noel.

I think it has become a little confusing lately with prices being quoted on the closed side that regular customers dont seem to be getting. I am happy with the relationship I have with Hurleys, but would welcome being offered a cheaper price if others are being offered the same. I think it would help everyone if suppliers published not only their lowest prices, but any initiatives they are offering for new customers, or established, so informed decisions can be made.

Thanks,

Paul

[PGBrew]

This reminds of that joke about, three tramps sitting on a park bench, all out of work ex tower snack salesmen. One tramp says to the 'and I thought I was the cheapest in the business and the other two said 'so did I'. The moral of the story is of course; If you're selling on price alone you're going under. Service and understanding your customer needs sre also important.

Pete

[Vendingwarehouse]

Noel,

Just re-iterating what Ade said, well done for doing this. Sweetfix certainly seem to impress a lot of people.

If you don't mind me asking a question about your thread...

Why did tubz vending charge you more than what was on a previous invoice? And did they give any explantation to why? Did you have to puh them on getting the prices back to what they were on the invoice previously?

Kind Regards
Chris

Chris they told me those prices were a deal they gave me early last year to keep my custom, when Sweetfix came into the market, and Hurleys were offering great deals and that I would always get it , it was just a mistake this time. But as you can see their lowest prices are still £1 dearer than Sweetfix. But their customer service is years behind. And yes I had to pull them on it, to get my old prices back. I've had sweets at the cheaper prices since 2010, they were just chancing their hand.
To me , that says they think I'm stupid and won't check my prices. Well this stupid boy is jumping ship. I am a loyal customer and have never left them despite all the things they have done on me. When they sold my area twice in two weeks I still stuck with them, even when the second operator jumped ship 2 years ago. They had their chance and now they've blew it.

Regards

Noel

[Vendingwarehouse]

And thanks Ade , Chris, Paul and Pete for the compliments and feedback.

Regards

Noel

[FlintVending]

Great post Noel!
re - your price comparison, is that for a 60 box pallet?

Cheers
Nigel

[Vendingwarehouse]

75 box pallet Nigel.

[FlintVending]

75 box pallet Nigel.

Wow Noel, you were getting a good deal off tubz vending!
Even after adding on VAT you were only paying an average of 34p per tub
I am paying a few pennies above this on average
Goodluck with your new supplier!
I have used sweetfix and those two guys are very eay to deal with and they dont spout off all the bull like the others either.

Cheers
Nigel