Cashless

Crane Vending Machine Touchless Purchasing options.

What Vending Operators Need to Know to Be More Green
What Vending Operators Need to Know to Be More Green 1000 656 GAD Vending

THE SHIFT

Sustainability at the Forefront

Sustainability has never been more important. The pandemic, war and politics remind us of the fragility of our world, reaffirming our need to protect the health of both people and the planet. That’s why it’s no surprise that in the wake of crises, businesses and industries alike are taking active steps toward a more sustainable future. And it’s not just because it’s the right thing to do, it’s what today’s consumers have come to expect.

But where do vending machine operators fit into the sustainability equation? And how can they adapt to meet evolving industry standards and the needs of environmentally conscious consumers?

THE NEED

Making Vending More Planet-Friendly

Traditional vending solutions have come a long way in recent years, with today’s smart machines offering everything from freshly brewed self-service coffee to cosmetics, clothing, PPE and everything in between. But alongside advances in vending technology, a green revolution has also been taking place, challenging operators to reexamine the environmental impact of their products and their machines.

From increasing the energy efficiency of their equipment to offering more eco-friendly products, operators are doing their part to ensure cleaner, greener vending operations. And, we can all do more. Adding packaging that is easier to recycle or is biodegradable. Keeping vending machines cleaner with touchless payment options. Providing customers with recycling options near them. And, upgrading machines to more environmentally friendly refrigerants.

GAD Knows Environmentally Friendly Solutions (while remaining cost effective). GAD is an authorized Crane Distributor. Call us today to find out more about what we stock, how our service department can help you and how GAD can help you provide more Planet-Friendly solutions.

Where Do You See Vending Machines?
Where Do You See Vending Machines? 1800 1200 GAD Vending

Where do you see vending machines? Everywhere!

Sometimes we walk right by without thinking but so many times we run up and think “thank goodness”. That’s where the perfect placement of a vending machine rocks. And, with Crane vending + GAD, there are lots of ways we can create a positive vending experience.

  • A big success metric to vending is foot traffic.
  • Add exciting graphics.
  • Promote product mix with ad graphics on the digital display.
  • Allow customers to use touchless payment methods or cash.
  • Regular customers can be sent messaging of a special or a new product.
  • Keep your vending machine in good repair with regular maintenance and set up alerts if there is a problem.
  • Tie it all together with Crane’s comprehensive remote management systems.

So, where do you see vending machines? Office, warehouse, breakroom, hospital waiting rooms, cafeterias, café, shopping malls, sporting venues, concerts – anywhere and everywhere people are.

3 Ways Vending Is Providing Safer Retail – The Social Distancing Hero
3 Ways Vending Is Providing Safer Retail – The Social Distancing Hero 372 254 GAD Vending

From our partners at CPI Crane’s Cashless Solutions Division: You might be surprised to learn that the history of the vending machine goes back to first-century Roman Egypt, where Hero of Alexandria engineered a machine that accepted a coin and dispensed holy water. In modern times we’ve seen vending machines offer everything from postcards and stamps to candy, gum and cigarettes. Their popularity as beverage dispensers came with refrigeration and heating elements – and today we see an astounding array of products sold from vending machines. Making your way to the gate at an international airport you might pick up an iPad, a SIM card for your phone, a down jacket, a warm hamburger, and an aspirin – plus a cold bottle of water to help you swallow it!

Responding to the social distancing imperative presents multiple challenges for retail environments. We’ve seen limits on the number of people allowed into supermarkets, one-way aisles, distance markers at the checkout, food bars emptied, cafés and breakrooms closed, and Plexiglass shields erected around store personnel. These and other efforts by retailers to keep customers and staff safe and limit exposure are appreciated by all. But ideally, customers could shop for their essential items without interacting with a cashier or even going into a store. And retailers can make the ideal, real, with vending machines.

How can operators use their machines—the ultimate unattended retail model—to serve to the needs of social distancing? Read below to see how 3 retailers have already adapted.

The Meat Guy Who Was Ahead of the Social Distance Curve

 

The owner of Applestone Meats was ready for social distancing years before the pandemic brought the concept into the mainstream. Wanting to serve customers without a retail counter-service location, Joshua Applestone remembered the coin-operated machines once used in cafeteria-style restaurants in New York and Pennsylvania. Applestone searched for and found Crane Merchandising’s refrigerated delivery system, The Shopper, which allowed his customers to pull meat packages directly from their container. And to be ready for card acceptance, he added the 4-in-1 Plus cashless reader.

Applestone customers liked the convenient delivery method well enough before, but after the pandemic? “We thought society might take a while to warm up to the machines,” says Applestone, “but for the situation we’re all in [now], they’re the perfect solution.”

From Healthy Snacks to PPE Provider

 

Healzzy2GO, a Netherlands-based vending company, believes that snacking should be accessible, fun, and most importantly, healthy. With the challenges of staying safe in a global pandemic, “healthy options” takes on new meaning. Healzzy2GO decided to make personal protective equipment (PPE) as accessible to their customers as healthy snacks. They worked with Crane Merchandising Systems to adapt their vending machines to dispense facemasks, hand sanitizer, gloves, and other personal equipment. Custom graphics and media were placed on the machines to educate consumers about the product offering.

The first Healzzy2GO PPE machine debuted in May, providing shoppers at the Alexandrium Shopping Center in Rotterdam and Hoog Catharijne in Utrecht the protection they need to shop safely.

The Healthy Machine Serving Frontline Workers

 

Farmer’s Fridge, a New York-based vending startup, gained popularity by providing vend patrons with healthy options like salads in plastic jars and fresh wraps, instead of the usual candy and soda. When offices closed due to COVID-19, many Farmer’s fridge locations saw a precipitous drop in usage. But, as they say, when a door closes a window opens, and in this case, it was true. Farmer’s Fridge saw a surge in usage in hospital settings – where cafeterias were shut down to limit spread of the virus. To meet the demand, Farmer’s Fridge added over 18 machines to locations that included Northwestern Memorial Hospital, New York Presbyterian and the Javits Center field hospital. Farmer’s Fridge also supported the efforts of front-line workers by adding more than 60 mini fridges that served complimentary meals in hospital break rooms.

Vending machines are typically a last resort for healthcare workers, but due to their value proposition of removing the roadblocks to eating wholesome, delicious food, Farmer’s Fridge is now serving fresh meals to over 30,000 workers per week at hospitals across the U.S. One surgeon at UChicago tweeted: “Thank you @FarmersFridge for keeping the trauma/ICU team fed during #COVID19.”

Vending Moving Forward

 

How does an industry so firmly rooted in serving sweet treats and soft drinks recreate its persona as the hero of a pandemic? “The Convenience Services Industry is uniquely equipped to assist the nation in this time of crisis,” writes Carla Balakgie, president and CEO of the National Automatic Merchandising Association, in a letter to the White House and U.S. Congress. Balakgie cited the unique distribution system of unattended retail as “the greatest source of ‘contactless’ nourishment” for healthcare workers. In other words, the machine invented by a man called Hero can now live up to that name.

Are you ready to adapt your machine to serve the needs for health and safety in these times of crisis? Ask a member of our GAD Vending team how you can make seamless and safe payment a part of your post pandemic vending strategy.

New at GAD: Micromarket Merchandizer Freezers
New at GAD: Micromarket Merchandizer Freezers 600 600 GAD Vending

With finding employees so difficult as people return to the office after COVID, many employers are looking for automated services to support their production employees. Micromarkets are a solution many employers are turning to.

A Micromarket is an automated food and beverage breakroom service area that is serviced by a vending route sales person. At set up, GAD Vending helps you design cameras, security and flow for social distancing. There are choices in vending machines, cashless payment solutions, profitability projections and product mixes to optimize your employee satisfaction.

GAD Vending offers complete employee breakrooms with microwaves, vending machines, condiment tables and freezers. GAD also sells ATM’s, coffee vending machines and digital background music.

New to GAD Vending are these freezer selections.

Habco SF28HCBXM

High Capacity, Froze Space Merchandiser™ designed for volume merchandising with premium impact and appeal. Wide format provides maximum LED illuminated merchandising in a robust, yet low energy package. Factory preset to -10°F (-23°C) for holding frozen product.
Call your vending route supplier or GAD Vending if you have questions about adding a Micro Market to your employee break area.

CoolBlu Cooler with Header Black Interior Propane

The CoolBlu Cooler deploys a world class control system allowing the user to use the cooler as a food cooler or beverage cooler. State of the art locking system is simply programmed to turn on/off through the control system. This eliminates the need for different types of coolers. CoolBlu can do it all.

NAMA certified, this cooler has built in Bluetooth Technology with the ability to track number of door openings, length of time the cooler has been without power, time between last power cycles and finally, the maximum temperature inside the cabinet. Telemetry is also an option with CoolBlu.

 

 

 

New Crane Vending Cashless Solutions
New Crane Vending Cashless Solutions 922 385 GAD Vending

The technology you choose matters, it’s not a commodity. When you invest in new enterprise software for vending, you’re investing in your company’s future. VendMAX is proven to help your business grow and stay ahead of the competition.

Crane vending has been busy the last COVID year upgrading, combining and creating new cashless solutions for vending and other cash acceptance machines. Here is just a hint of what’s coming!

VendMAX

VendMAX is the best in class vending management system with a proven track record of transforming over 200 customers’ businesses in the last 25 years. It provides the maximum return on your investment with the greatest breadth and depth of functionality. VendMAX has pioneered a vending model designed to help you improve operations from top to bottom, from the money room to the warehouse to the truck. VendMAX integrates with Lightspeed to improve inventory accountability when pre-kitting.

Crane Cashless Portal

The Most Flexible, User-Friendly Solution for Cashless

  • Powerful Cloud-based reporting and analytics tool enables performance tracking for cash and cashless sales
  • Remote management of machines for approved operational efficiency
  • Accessible deposits that correspond to the cashless sales for increased accountability
  • Designed as an flexible solution capable of offering online services such as remote management of planograms, advertisements and promotions.

While we are awaiting all the new innovations, GAD Vending has been working with Crane to learn what’s new.

Check in with your vending route operator or call GAD Vending for all the news on Crane Cashless Solutions.

 

GAD + Crane MEDIA2 Vending Platform
GAD + Crane MEDIA2 Vending Platform 628 266 GAD Vending

Crane Merchandising Systems Launches Next Generation MEDIA2 Platform, Featuring Powerful Performance, Engaging Experience

11/02/2019

Crane Merchandising Systems, a Crane Co. company, and the leading global manufacturer of innovative solutions for vending machines, cashless systems, enterprise software solutions, and wireless communications, announced today the launch of MEDIA2, the newly redesigned user experience for vending.

MEDIA2 delivers enhanced performance with faster touch responsiveness on its larger 9” screen, smooth full-motion video playback, improved dimensional graphics, and increased storage capacity.  To enhance service team efficiency, boot time is now less than a minute.

“We leveraged knowledge provided by thousands of MEDIA machines in the field, and excellent feedback from vending operators to deliver a powerful performing machine with a truly engaging experience for consumers,” said Kirn Reis, Vice President and General Manager of Cold Drink, Snack and Food.  “With improved screen performance, suggestive selling, and advertising features, MEDIA2’s average daily sales in our trials were consistently 23 percent higher than original MEDIA.”

The new intuitive user interface is designed to influence consumer behavior with suggestive selling through a patent-pending recommendation engine. Operators can highlight specific products by placing them into the “Featured Products” category which is ideal for exposing new product to consumers and promoting slow movers. Over a four-week trial period, the new suggestive selling feature more than doubled targeted item sales for a traditionally low-selling product.

The additions of full motion video and sponsored product suggestions allow MEDIA2 to takes Crane’s innovative digital advertising experience to a new height. Brand companies and vending operators now have four unique opportunities to advertise throughout the vending process.

As with earlier MEDIA products, vending operators have the opportunity to earn incremental revenue by signing up to participate in over-the-air managed advertising campaigns. Crane’s advertising program has delivered significant results over the past two years and offers the ability to influence more than 12 million consumers monthly in the US alone.

The new generation of MEDIA2 products also offers Crane’s remote management services. This allows operators manage their machines on the go, reducing costly visits to machines, improving efficiency, and keeping content fresh for consumers.

About Greater America Distributing

Greater America Distributing is a authorized distributor of Crane Co. (NYSE:CR).  Greater America Distributing is a privately owned distributor dealer and servicing company of vending, digital music, arcade games, pinball and ATM’s to commercial and residential customers. Greater America Distributing has offices located in Nebraska, Kansas City and Iowa. 

About Crane Merchandising Systems

Crane Co. is a diversified manufacturer of engineered industrial products. Crane Co. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:CR).

One of its segments, Crane Merchandising Systems, designs and manufactures a diverse, yet integrated portfolio of automatic merchandising equipment across multiple verticals, including hot and cold beverage, snack, and food. It also offers other vending solutions including cashless processing, payment devices, vending management software and wireless communication technology. Its legacy of brands (Automatic Products®, Dixie Narco®, GPL®, National Vendors™, Stentorfield™ and Streamware®) enables Crane to provide customers a complete, cross-platform solution while maintaining innovation, quality and service.

New in Vending: PPE
New in Vending: PPE 613 767 GAD Vending

COVID has brought about interesting challenges for all industries. Vending has to adapt as well.

The newest vending offering is from Crane providing configurations for dispensing personal protection products.

These new vending machines continue to be placed in hospitals, malls and shopping centers were people continue to frequent.

Dispensing masks, gloves and hand sanitizers to employees and guests.

The vending machines can feature touchless payment options, large touch screens for direct customer communication, and configurable shelving for maximum flexibility in product display.

Contact your representatives at Greater America Distributing to purchase a quality Crane vending machine or find a route sales person to service your locations.

Looking to Remote Control Your Vending Machines?
Looking to Remote Control Your Vending Machines? 1440 250 GAD Vending

There are many new software upgrades in the remote management world of vending machines. As we move beyond COVID, there will remain residual desires to keep your equipment clean, well stocked and managed. Crane Remote Software solutions give you many options to control your vending business.

Learn More About Crane Vending Cashless Touchless Options
Learn More About Crane Vending Cashless Touchless Options 711 608 GAD Vending
Crane_Cashless_Brochure

Crane is the industry leader in cashless, touch-less options for vending and game machines. GAD Vending is an authorized distributor for Crane in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.

How Can A Cashless Kiosk Work for You!
How Can A Cashless Kiosk Work for You! 1813 424 GAD Vending
crane kiosk pdf

Featuring enhanced recognition technology, faster note-to-note speed, and improved bar-code recognition, the Crane MEI® SC Advance™ offers a variety of cash box options to ensure best fit. Additional product enhancements can add functionality to this banknote validator resulting in tailored solutions for gaming, retail, financial service, or parking applications.

The SC Advance offers a lower cost of ownership with its reliable, field proven technology. Low jam rates and exceptional performance create more machine up-time resulting in higher revenue and increased user satisfaction.

Talk with GAD Vending about how the Crane Cashless Solutions can work for you!

GAD Vending

Greater America Distributing (GAD) is your premier marketer and servicing distributor of vending equipment and amusement games in Mid America.  The company has been operating for over 40 years with offices in Omaha, Nebraska; Kansas City, Missouri; and Grimes, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines.

Omaha

6161 Grover Street, Omaha,
NE 68106

1-402-553-2812
[email protected]

1-402-553-2812
[email protected]

Kansas City

3230 Roanake Road, Kansas City,
MO 64111

1-816-531-4300
[email protected]

1-816-531-4300
[email protected]

Des Moines

2105 SE 37 Street, Grimes,
Iowa 50111

1-515-278-4455
[email protected]

1-515-278-4455
[email protected]

Greater America Distributing

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