choosing the right automatic machine...made easy!

There are basically three types of fully automatic machines.
1. Machines that dispense Hot Drinks
2. Machines that dispense Hot & Still Cold Drinks
3. Machines that dispense Hot & Carbonated (fizzy) Cold Drinks.

This is your first choice.
Do you need cold drinks?
Will a Hot Only machine be sufficient?

Only you will know the answer for your particular application. There is a significant difference in price between a Hot Only machine and a Hot & Still Cold machine of the same quality. However the difference between Hot & Cold Still and Hot & Cold Carbonated is much less. I would therefore recommend that if you decide you would like to have the cold drink facility, that you choose the carbonated version. Most machines these days will provide carbonated and still drinks in the carbonated version. Having decided which machine type best suits your needs, there are several other options to decide.

do you want your staff to pay for all of their drinks, some of their drinks, or none of their drinks?
If you want your staff to pay for all their drinks then a coin mechanism is required. Almost all coin mechanism which are fitted to fully automatic machines these days, have a change-giving facility, indeed, it is unusual to see one that does not. Most coin mechanisms will accept all the coins of the realm, but will give change in either three or four coins, for example 1p, 2p, 5p, and 20p, or 5p 10p and 20p. The change givers are filled upon installation and under normal usage will be topped up by people buying drinks. As the change tubes empty they are automatically topped up by the next person who puts in the correct money. Only if just about everyone is demanding change from the machine, will they run out, and if this is a persistent problem, then it is a matter of educating the workforce to use the right money wherever possible. Vend prices of 12p 13p 14p, 16p 17p etc., can also create heavy demands on the change giver, so try to agree a price of 10p 15p or 20p wherever possible. If you want your staff to pay for some of their drinks, (for example, you want to give them 3 drinks per day free of charge, and they pay for any others) then there are several ways this can be approached. The traditional method (and by far the least expensive method) is to issue tokens. This is not altogether satisfactory, as tokens have a tendency to get lost, and there is considerable time and effort spent in the distribution of the tokens to the workforce. If you wish to give your workforce free drinks at certain times of the day, then many fully automatic machines have programmes built in which will enable this to be achieved by automatically putting the machine in free vend mode, at specific times of the day. This is achieved by means of a timing device. Free Vend control can also be inexpensively achieved by means of a “tag” system. This device slips onto a key ring and is about 1” (2.5cm) long. Then the tag is place against the reader on the machine, a drink can be dispensed.