Guide / vending operations
Inventory software for vending machines
A vending machine is a small unstaffed warehouse: stock sells itself and nobody is there to count it. Here is how operators track it honestly — and where telemetry gaps remain.
The short answer
- Machines work as locations: each machine holds a known planogram of slots, and stock per machine is a location quantity.
- Restock runs work as picks: a run sheet per machine, loaded from the record, with variances caught when the machine is opened.
- The honest gap: without machine telemetry, sales per machine are discovered at the visit — the record reconciles, it does not stream.
- BSimple runs this pattern — multi-location stock, picks, counts — from $180/month (AUD) with a free trial.
- 01The short answer
- 02The vending stock problem, precisely
- 03What the workflow looks like on BSimple
- 04Who this pattern fits
The vending stock problem, precisely
Vending inventory has three quirks. The point of sale is invisible: a machine sells at all hours, and without connected telemetry the operator learns what sold when the machine is opened. The slots are fixed: each machine carries a planogram — specific products in specific slots — so "what is in machine 12" is a structured question, not a general one. Cash and stock must reconcile twice: what the machine took in money should match what left in product, and shrinkage hides in the difference.
Software helps by making the machine a first-class location: known quantities per machine, a restock run that behaves like a pick list (load X of each product), and a count at the service visit that reconciles the record against the machine — surfacing sell-outs, jams and shrinkage as variances instead of surprises.
What the workflow looks like on BSimple
We build BSimple, so weigh that. The pattern: each machine is a location in BSimple's multi-location stock; the planogram is the list of products that location carries; a restock run is a pick against that location, loaded from what the record says is missing; the service visit counts the machine, and variances show what actually sold versus what the record believed. Supplier purchasing sits behind it — products below their reorder level trigger purchase orders across the whole fleet, not per machine guesswork. If machines belong to customer sites — an operator placing machines in offices — the projects feature keeps the machine as an asset under that customer, with service history per visit. From $180/month (AUD), with the free trial as the test on one real machine.
The boundary, plainly: BSimple has no machine telemetry integration — no live vend data feeding the record. Sales are reconciled at visits, not streamed. If route scheduling, cash reconciliation or telemetry dashboards are the core need, those are vending-platform features and you should weigh a specialist. The hardware reality check covers what runs the floor alongside the record.
Who this pattern fits
Operators running their own machines with regular service rounds get the most from the location-and-pick pattern: the record is honest at every visit, purchasing is driven by the fleet rather than by memory, and shrinkage becomes a visible variance instead of an unexplained loss. Product suppliers who stock machines on customer sites — the vending-within-a-wholesale model — get the same record with the customer dimension attached.
Where the pattern strains: very large fleets needing route optimisation and live planogram testing belong on vending-specific platforms; BSimple is the stock record underneath, not the route planner. The inventory management overview shows the record this pattern runs on, and the vending-industry view covers it from the industry side.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can BSimple track stock per machine?
Yes — machines as locations: each carries its product list (the planogram) and its quantities, with transfers loading a restock run and counts reconciling what the machine actually held. Stock per machine is then a lookup, not a memory exercise.
Does BSimple connect to machine telemetry?
No. There is no live vend-data integration; what sold is discovered at the service visit when the machine is counted, and the record reconciles from there. If streaming sales data per machine is essential, a vending telemetry platform is the right tool, with BSimple as the stock record behind it if needed.
How do restock runs work?
As picks against the machine's location: the record shows what each machine is short, the run sheet loads it, and the visit count confirms what landed. Variances — a jammed slot, a sell-out, a discrepancy — surface as data at the visit rather than as folklore between visits.
Can we track which machines belong to which customer sites?
Yes — through the projects feature: machines grouped as on-site assets under each customer, with service and maintenance history per visit. That is the trade-install pattern BSimple was designed for, and it keeps the customer relationship and the asset record in the same place.
BSimple