Return On Investment
Return On Investment
There are a number of ways RouteTech pays for itself. Below are some of the more common ones.
Handling Refunds properly can save a significant amount of money depending on volume. For example, Two route operators have the same deal with their account, say a typical 50/50 split. They both collect $1,000 from the locations and return say, $100 in refunds. Assuming no taxes, manager fees, adjustments etc. Route operator A, who doesn't handle the refunds because it's too much work, would pay $500 to the account. Route operator B, would deduct the refunds as unearned income and pay 50% of $900, which is $450, to the account. Not only did operator A overpay, their income from the locations is overstated by $100. In the extreme case, if 100% of the amount collected is returned, operator A would pay $500 and get no income at all.
Service Calls are part of keeping a route operating and producing revenue. As with refunds, service calls can be deducted. Even if they are not deducted, it is important to have a value so that it can be used in evaluating the true profit or loss for the location.
Many coin route operators like to say they collect their money one quarter at a time. The problems occur when the operator has to trust someone else to do the collection. RouteTech collects extensive statistics about each collection so that when a receipt is entered it can be evaluated for accuracy or further action. It is very hard for a human to determine if a bag of coin is a quarter short or within 4% of the last comparable collection. 4% is used as a guideline because that would be the equivalent of losing 2 weeks pay or going on vacation. The term "last comparable collection" is used as opposed to "last collection" because a campground collection in January has very little in common with one collected in August. A University collection in the last week of August simply can't be reasonably compared to the next one in September. More than 1 RouteTech install has resulted in the discovery of theft and led to more than 1 criminal prosecution within that organization. In one instance the money was recovered before it had a chance to leave the premises.
There are several types security provided. The section on Security provides details on how the application handles it's security but there are other aspects as well. An operator in New York, collects on a regular two week basis but needs to "shuffle" the route because if they collected the location consistently, they'd be "looking at a team portrait" of the local gang.
It is not uncommon for an operator to provide capital or improvements to a location especially if it needs to be completed or modernized. The capital (or other expenses) can then be recovered by deducting regular payments from the accounts end of the deal until paid after which the account gets their full share. Route salesmen find this feature very attractive because they can offer to complete a location and get in before their competitors have a chance. Building owners find it attractive because they can provide services without worrying about raising more capital or making monthly payments while still getting some cash flow.
Handling cash based collections requires the account to trust the operator to honestly report the collections. Most deals require some sort of verification such as running cycle counts, showing dates and amounts etc. Customized statements provide the necessary detail to ensure that the account is well informed and can trust the operator is acting in good faith. Most relationships do better with good communications and lead to better account retention.
The better and more accurately that an operator can implement a deal the better it is. A simple example is refund processing described above. If the operator can't handle them for whatever reason they have to "eat" the expense and income shortage. RouteTech has 100+ DIFFERENT deals built in. Chances are you and/or your competitors are using one or more of them. Several route operators purchased RouteTech in order for their salesmen to confidently say to the prospective account "I can do that too" when faced with a competitors deal. Another example is vend price increases, accurate detailed information is required in order to determine if a vend price increase allowed in the contract will actually result in additional revenue.
Software for commercial vending routes.