Drinks Machines

riumplus · 26 October 2018 03:35

I skip restocking the drink machines for one week, just one single week, and this is what happens…

(182 cans loaded into the machines from just two weeks since it was last stocked. SO many cans)

The ever popular Pasito’s making another comeback. I think I forgot to change the label on the button though, and I can’t remember which line it’s replacing, but it’s either Creaming Soda or Raspberry. So I guess treat it as a second semi-random line until I’m next in to change a label?

This week’s random can is T.A.S. branded Aloe Vera with Lemon Juice. If you’ve never had Aloe Vera flavoured drinks before you probably think this will taste bad. But if you have had them before, you probably know it’s pretty delicious!

(Contains 18% Aloe Vera juice plus 12% Aloe Vera pulp, hot dang!)

So how about it, are you feeling drink-lucky, punk?

Redhatter · 26 October 2018 09:35

Will the vending machine have enough space for an Emacsto?

You know what they used to say… Eight Megs And Constantly Swapping…

riumplus · 15 November 2018 03:58

I’ve been too busy with Supanova to update this lately, but I haven’t been too busy to keep doing at least a little work on these machines.

To start with, as the container recycling refund scheme is finally in place in QLD, our can crusher has been removed and a new recycling bin has been added. For now it’s easier if the cans are intact so we can use the self-service refund thingos. From now on until further notice, please don’t crush your cans - the main reason why we’re not raising the prices of the vending machines is because we’re expecting to be able to get that money all back Also, I am not the person who is managing the container refunding business (my volunteer time is already stretched too thin as it is), so don’t ask me anything about it.

Good News, Everyone™! The bad micro-switch in the local cold drinks machine has been replaced, which means this machine now has all eight lines working again! In celebration of this, back by popular demand is Kirks Diet Lemon - which means we now have two diet flavours on offer again (the other being Vanilla Pepsi Max) as well as bottled water. Healthy food, taste so good. Thanks to @lhovo for the donor vending machine and @nogthree for ripping its guts out for spare parts.

(The new micro-switch, on the top, is Cherry branded. That should be good for a few million vends.)

There’s been two random can additions since the last time I posted - T.A.S. Lychee Drink and T.A.S. Guava Juice Drinks.

(This icy lychee’s not so pricey)

(Winner beware, this is another puree drink!)

The current full line-up is as follows:

Local drinks:

Coca-Cola
Vanilla Pepsi Max
Pasito
Fanta
Random
Diet Lemon
Ginger Beer
Water 600ml

Vigo’s Imported Emporium:

Cherry Dr Pepper
Cherry Coke
Dr Pepper
A&W Root Beer
Grape Fanta
Strawberry Fanta

Finally, sad news: between Tuesday the 6th of November at 11:34pm and Tuesday the 13th of November at 6:15pm, $1 was stolen from the change exchange.

nog3 · 15 November 2018 06:55

I’m reasonably sure this was me, sorry. Had a 1 dollar the machine ate and didn’t like the 2 dollar coin I put in so I grabbed one from the change exchange. Will return it to the exchange when I’m there next on Tuesday.

riumplus · 27 December 2018 07:55

So for those that don’t follow me on other social media, my health has been in a slow & unfortunately unstoppable decline for many years. The reason I haven’t been at the space since early November is because I’ve been in hospital for most of that time. In fact, when averaged over the entirety of 2018 I spent roughly one day a week hospitalised - and that’s not counting my time spent as a hospital outpatient or time spent seeing other medical professionals etc. This trend is predicted to increase next year. I can’t manage a full-time job either any more and these days the Disability pension is my primary source of income. As 2019 approaches, for my own health and because I unfortunately can’t always be reliable nowadays, I need to reduce some of my commitments & responsibilities throughout many areas of my life. I figured the best place to start is with the low-hanging fruit: things that aren’t too specialised or me-specific, things that don’t require much skill or knowledge to do, and things that people other than me could easily take over.

Effective immediately, I will no longer be purchasing drinks for the Hackerspace’s drink vending machines. Someone else will have to do this job. I’m not going to be chasing to find a replacement nor will I be chasing to make sure they do their job regularly because I need to be completely free of this responsibility. If the machines run out of a flavour or you don’t like something on offer please don’t talk to me about it because I won’t be the one doing this from now on. I’ve been volunteering to do this job for over 5 years now; I think it’s time I pass the torch on to someone else.

I will still do my best to re-stock both the machines and the change exchanges for the weeks that I can make it to the space, as well as performing the regular general maintenance on these machines when I can too. I may be able to occasionally make smaller purchases for the random line to keep it interesting, but not for the bulk purchasing of the majority of our drinks. Technically by our rules the job of “Ensuring that adequate stock levels are maintained for consumable supplies” falls on the job of the Vice-President, but I’ve always interpreted this to mean it’s only the VP’s job to make sure it happens, not necessarily the VP’s job to do it, and I would highly recommend this job be taken on by someone that isn’t currently on the Executive or a Cause Leader (they’re busy enough as it is).

Many years ago I wrote some advice about maintaining these machines. Most of that still applies, but here’s a couple newer things just specific to those who are buying drinks:

The number one most important thing is to be reliable & dependable. Letting a line go empty acts similarly to “broken window theory” - it suppresses sales as people don’t like to be advertised a flavour then being told they can’t have it. If you’re really caught in a bind because you didn’t buy enough in advance, remove the label entirely from that line. Keep in mind that having these machines not operating correctly can potentially cost us over a hundred dollars per week in lost sales.
Similarly, swapping flavours regularly and frequently rotating what’s on offer not only keeps people happy so everyone can have their personal favourite sometimes in stock but also increases sales too. We “only” have 14 different drink lines and there’s way more than 14 different flavours out there. Variety is the spice of life and all that jazz.
These days members are much more accepting of sugar-free drinks like Pepsi Max, Kirks Diet Lemon, or Raspberry Coke No Sugar etc. I’ve been trying to have two sugar-free options in the local drinks machine, but keep in mind that diet drinks expire in a matter of months so don’t stock up on them. And definitely check the expiry date on any diet drinks you buy, so you’re buying only the freshest boxes on the shelf.
Wherever possible, buy official Coke branded products over the alternatives (such as Lift instead of Solo/Kirks Lemon, Fanta instead of Sunkist, etc). They sell way better, more than enough to make up for the price difference.
My suppliers for local drinks are Coles, Woolworths and IGA. Check the websites of the first two to find out what drinks are currently on sale at your local store. IGA doesn’t have an online store but you can normally find any drink deals listed in your local IGA catalogue, some of which are available online, but others are only available if you get one as junk mail. I investigated establishing an account with Coca-Cola Amatil directly a while ago but the prices they wanted were way higher than standard supermarket prices so I didn’t pursue it. Supermarkets during sales are where most small-time vending machine operators obtain their stock.
I have a bunch of suppliers for Import drinks that I bounce between depending on pricing & stock availability, such as Costco, Fairdinks (who basically buy from Costco then offer delivery for a fee), The Reject Shop, The Professors (who will give you an additional discount if you register & say you’re buying for a not-for-profit), Kelly’s Distributors, USAFoods, Funworks, and a whole swath of little back-alley foreign supermarket stores throughout Sunnybank and West End.
Don’t ever by Lemonade (it never sells & sits in the machine taking up space for a whole year until it eventually expires & has to be thrown out), or Irn Bru (it’s capable of permanently staining clothing, tables and even concrete if spilled which is too much of a risk).

jabelone · 28 December 2018 00:18

Thanks so much for all of your hard work over the years. Whilst not many people personally thank you, every single person appreciates the significant amount of time and energy you’ve put into the drinks machines over the years. It’s not an easy job organising the purchase of and restocking of hundreds of cans on top of the normal maintenance required for the machines.

I’ll definitely help out where I can in the purchasing and restocking of items.

Redhatter · 28 December 2018 00:47

Is there somewhere where the inventory could be tracked, and so if someone happens to see some soft drinks at a reasonable price and use-by-date, they can pick up a box or two for the space? Or if we know we’re low on a particular line, someone can say “Yep, I can pick some up on my way to the space”.

Maybe this thread or a board on Trello might work for this.

It’s a big job really to keep up with what’s there, and @riumplus you’ve done an excellent job from what I’ve seen. I’m thinking it may be easiest if we can split some of the sourcing work up a bit though so it’s not a burden on one person.

It’s all too easy to forget that the cans don’t just materialise inside the vending machines on their own, someone puts them there.

Kuranes · 28 December 2018 02:28

I’d definitely be happy to assist if there were a way to spread it out, but I’ve got a pretty inconsistent work schedule and wouldn’t want to take on a responsibility I’m not sure I’d always be able to meet.

Pommygirl · 29 December 2018 02:03

Hey @riumplus, sorry to hear things aren’t going your way, but I’m glad you’re putting yourself first!

I figure that, as I’ve taken on stocking the food machine, that stocking the drinks machine could be part of one role that does both. I’ve already restocked drinks today and I was going to ping you about sourcing more stock, so thank you for reading my future mind and writing all your experience up!

I have a couple of ideas for making stocking smoother, and I like @Redhatter’s idea of making stocking levels visible so if anyone catches something on sale they can grab it (Particularly the harder to find stuff). I know @nogthree has talked about some sort of server reporting on top of the spacebucks system, but as that would fall under infrastructure I’ll leave it to him to comment on.

One of my ideas is to approach the local Woolies or IGA and talk to management about either setting up a regular purchasing order or having an account that could qualify for a discount. @jabelone recently shared the relevant spacebucks purchases from drinks, so I could take that and work out what a regular order would look like. Add that to regular lines for the food machine, and I think it could work.

Lastly, I’m adding my thanks to the pile, it’s always nice to be able to rely on grabbing a cold drink when arriving at HSBNE, and it wouldn’t have been possible without all the effort you’ve put in

nog3 · 29 December 2018 02:22

I’ve put together a shared Google Sheets file for people to refer to for stocks for the machines and what we have on hand and have audited the contents of the machines and storeroom.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WOB-Ahi5ew1DSLX6rg3MeH1ZZ67AWpmdMIwf3DFo2eo

@riumplus, you’ve put in an extraordinary amount of effort in taking on these machines for so long, your work has not gone un-noticed and it has certainly has been worth it. Thank you for the effort you’ve put in over the years.

riumplus · 29 December 2018 03:50

Couple more things while I think of them:

For knowing what to buy & when, my current system was to load the machines up (which gives you roughly 2-4 weeks of buffer depending on the line until they’re empty), then just taking note of what boxes are in the store room. I photographed the store room weekly, both to help me remember what was in there and to help identify any theft (which does happen). I also photograph the buttons of the machines every time I changed a line to know what was currently in them. Super complicated & advanced system, I know
Wherever possible I only ever filled the machines up with whole boxes. This makes it much easier to identify stock levels because you can therefore assume the boxes are all full, and it helps reduce theft (people help themselves to cans that are easily available but are less likely to open sealed boxes)
Don’t over-fill the lines, the motors will seize up and not vend anything. Max level varies per line but is around 2/3rds for most flavours, and around 1/2 for bottled water.
The point of having a stockpile in the store room wasn’t just so I could capitalise on sales, it was so I could buy 500 cans at once and be done with it for a couple months rather than dealing with the hassle of buying/carrying to the space/lodging for reimbursement a couple boxes every time with my usual shopping trips. Assuming an average of around 70 cans sold a week, you’d have to buy 2 24-pack boxes and 2 10-pack boxes every single week just to keep up. I highly recommend buying in bulk and using the store room to your advantage as a buffer to reduce the workload where possible. Just don’t stock up too much on diet drinks.
I still have copies of all the drinks receipts I’ve lodged from late 2016 to now through Xero (including if they were local or import drinks, number of cans, cost per can, total cost, etc), and potentially earlier if I did through my photo archive. Drinks bought is, unsurprisingly, a rough approximation of drinks sold. If someone has a need for those numbers I can dig through my records to convert them to a more accessible & public form, or if I’m busy the Treasurer should have access to do the same via Xero. I can’t remember if a summary of drinks expenses/profits was or wasn’t mentioned last AGM (I couldn’t find it from a quick search of the forums).

riumplus · 14 January 2019 08:19

So as I originally announced, I’m not physically buying drinks, but I’m still doing servicing & maintenance work on these machines when I can. The second line from the top on the local Cold Drinks machine is still playing up - sometimes it automatically vends a can from this line the moment you tap your RFID card or insert correct change, similar to if the button was stuck depressed. The problem is, the button isn’t stuck depressed - the entire front button area has been completely checked & ruled out, piece by piece. The microswitch has been replaced with a brand new one (Cherry brand at that), the plastic sheet swapped, the button entirely removed & lubricated, etc. So the problem has to be somewhere deeper in the machine.

Because the fault is intermittent it’s hard for me to diagnose it (can’t check stuff out if I can’t reproduce the error), so I’m going to try swapping components from this line to other lines in the machine and we’ll see if the problem moves or if it stays in the same line. This means this line will be going in & out of service, and the machine may or may not do the error on you and auto-vend a can. If that happens to you, please be sure to mention it on Discord to me asap with the time/date, how you paid and what auto-vended. I’m going to attempt setting up the machine so it will only do this when I’m on-site, but as you’d expect I can’t 100% guarantee anything with an error I can’t figure out yet.

In other news, there’s a new fancy can in the random line! Teptip branded Piña Colada - Taste of the Caribbean. Non-alcoholic with 40% Pineapple juice, this is sure to relax you like getting caught in the rain.

(Not suitable for those who do Yoga. Must have half a brain to consume.)

In fact I’ve bought a whole stash of new flavours to seed the random line over the coming months. A couple may be liked so much they may turn into a dedicated line, but others… Well let’s just say that surprises are always fun.

(…Aaand I purposefully photographed them in an opaque bag. Mwahaha.)

MilesW · 15 January 2019 09:16

First for cherry switches rule

riumplus · 15 January 2019 13:02

Just a little update - I swapped over the three microswitches that are directly against the dispensing motor mechanism. The problem persisted and it stayed in line 2, so those can be ruled out as the cause. I’ve disabled line 2 again for now until I can next be in.

I’m starting to run out of potential causes, heh…

riumplus · 1 February 2019 04:25

I haven’t had a chance to do much more diagnostic work on why line #2 is still playing up, but I’ve found & fixed at least one potential problem. A small nick in the insulation was found on one of the motor grounding connectors by line #1 and it could’ve been shorting to ground. As these are all daisy-chained and it’s right next to line #2, it’s possible this could’ve caused it (or at least contributed to it), but I don’t think it’s likely to explain everything. As always, someone who isn’t me is very, very welcome to start tracing wires & inspecting them for damages because there’s only so many hours per month I can devote to volunteering for the hackerspace - the keys are in the server room.

(Damaged insulation in the wire at the bottom here, that’s never a good thing)

Another new interesting flavour is in the random line- Coffee! Or should I say, “WINCOFE”. It’s made by Hey-Song Corporation, comes from Taiwain, is “strong”, contains a small amount of Green Tea Extract mixed in, should probably have caffeine & dairy warnings on it, and probably tastes better if heated to 55’C instead of drinking cold. Don’t ask me any questions beyond that though because I can’t read 95% of the can’s writing.

(For the WinCovfefe!)

riumplus · 26 February 2019 14:45

I’m up late due to anxiety attacks, so I thought I might as well try to be productive until the sedatives kick in. Apologies for not having my usual playful candour.

Two new random cans have been stocked in the machine since my last update. The first is “Hola Tequila Sparkling Apple”. Coming from Korea, this one has non-alcoholic Tequila flavour in it, but don’t ask me what it tastes like. I don’t try 'em, I just buy 'em!

The other one in the machine is a Lychee Drink. This one’s Taiwanese. Y’know, just in case you thought I wasn’t serious about trying to get drinks from as many different places as possible for you all.

riumplus · 3 May 2019 11:10

There’s been no updates for a while, but that’s mostly because I haven’t had time to post them. Stuff has still been happening. So here’s a quick photo dump catch-up!

The international drinks machine has been fully restocked. It took just a few boxes of drinks to make that happen.

(So many boxes you’d think it’s the upcoming election’s ballot paper)

Here’s some of the recent additions to the Random line, making sure it lives up to its name… At least one will be returning shortly, so fear not if you missed them!

(Apple Sidra, “without chemical colors” - if that’s not disturbing enough, note that its ingredients list “apple flavor”, “natural apple concentrate”, “natural apple flavor” and “apple juice” all separately!)

(Frantelle Sparkling Water with a hint of Lime & Lemon, sugar free)

(Frantelle Sparkling Water with a hint of Raspberry & Blackcurrant, sugar free)

(Hola Tequila Flavor Calamansi Sparkling, Mexico Style - quite a mouthful in the name. If you’ve never tasted one, Calamondins are a citrus hybrid between kumquats, mandarins & limes. As always, this is a non-alcoholic Tequila flavour)

(drinho Chrysamthemum Tea, which contains a hint of liquorice roots and the can is printed in four languages!)

We now return you to your regularly scheduled hacking.

riumplus · 16 October 2019 12:00

Just a small little update this time because I’m bad at documenting all the maintenance work these machines receive and there’s only one way to fix that. The condensation drainage hose for the Vigo machine managed to clog itself and water started leaking over the lobby area. I’ve removed the hose, given it a good cleaning with some pipe cleaners and reinstalled it. Okay a hose isn’t exactly a pipe, but still, using a pipe cleaner to clean something like a pipe amuses me.

(Did you ever think that maybe hoses are called hoses 'cause they have O’ses at each end?)

The machine should be fully functional again now.

riumplus · 15 June 2020 15:04

During lockdown, our vending machines were turned off to save power and almost all stock was moved off-site to discourage any opportunist thieves. Since we’re starting to slowly open up again, I’ve returned my carload of stock to the space and got the drink machines running again!

(Drinks Return - The Sequel You Never Knew You Wanted)

Supplies are a bit all over the place right now, which means the things on offer are a bit different from usual, and it means some new flavours too!

First new flavour, Pibb Xtra from USA. Officially called “spicy cherry soda”, it’s something similar to Dr Pepper or Cherry Coke.

Second new flavour, Lilt Zero! Hailing from the UK, tasting like Pineapple and Grapefruit, with zero sugar and only 50kJ per can. And just a reminder since I know many doctors fail to mention this, if you’re on a medication that means you can’t have things with furanocoumarins/Grapefruit in it, such as some antidepressants, anti-anxieties, statins and a bunch of random others, steer clear of this one. Wikipedia has a handy list you can check.

Third new flavour, Ben Shaw’s Cream Soda from the UK! No this is nothing at all like the Kirks “Creaming Soda” you can get here, this stuff’s much smoother and, well, creamier.

The random line is also back, with these two flavours somewhere in there:

(Wincofe)

(Foco Soursop Juice | Jugo de Guanabana)

The current line-ups are as follows:

Local machine:

Coke
Unicorns (out of stock)
Coke No Sugar
Sunkist
Random
Solo
Water 600mL bottle

Vigo’s Imported Emporium:

A&W Root Beer
Mountain Dew Energized
Pibb Xtra (cherry)
Ben Shaw’s Cream Soda
Lilt Zero (pineapple & grapefruit)
Cherry Coke

Unicorns continue to be out of supply; apparently it has to do with businesses using them to bypass travel restrictions.

The popcorn machine will also return soon; I’m prioritising my time getting HSBNE infrastructure up and running again before I get my own machine going.

Happy hacking!

riumplus · 10 August 2020 02:47

Time for another new flavour in the local drinks vending machine! Frantelle Sparkling Water with a hint of Pineapple & Orange. This is a sugar-free sparkling water that doesn’t have any artificial sweeteners and still has only 8kJ of energy per can, so have at it!