If you have a small business, medium sized business or even a large business, you must know that vending machines and other money machines can help increase your revenue and help to promote customer satisfaction. A soda machine can make a long wait seem less tiresome. An ATM machine in a commercial business can encourage impulse buying.
A wise choice to help increase sales, especially if you have other vending machines set up is a change machine. What if a potential customer has only large bills and wants to buy something for a dollar or two? Change machines encourage buying and making transactions more convenient for the customer and the vendor.
Small money oriented businesses like laundry mats and arcades often have customers in need of change. Change machines are also good for motels and hotels, where a person may want to use a pay phone, grab a snack or break bills into change. Kids in school need a rush of energy and definitely could use change machines after class or in lunchrooms. Corporate companies could also use change machines in break rooms for exhausted and thirsty employees.
They can be mounted on vending equipment, inside a wall or on a base. Most are made of heavy steel for protection and feature high-tech optical and magnetic sensors to detect counterfeit money. Usually owners are allowed to choose what kinds of bills and coins they will accept as well as their preferred level of security. Maintenance is generally easy on change machines and advances in technology now allow easy upgrades for currency changes. Batteries in change machines can last years, even decades, and thus ensure power outages won’t affect the machine.
These machines can vary in cost, depending mainly on the technology and the external design. A simple base bill changer can be priced at about $370.00. If you have heavy traffic in your business that investment could be made back within a week. A mini countertop model would cost about a $1000.00 because of the extra convenience. A medium sized front load model would cost $1700.00.
For peace of mind look for a company that offers at least a one or two year warranty on change machines. Shipping to most states takes about 2 weeks and could be as much as $150.00 depending on the model you select.
If you want your customers to relax, stay a while and check out your other vending machines or coin-operated services install change machines for their convenience. In the meantime, you increase your revenue.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Answering machine
In this day and age almost everyone in the United States has an answering machine of some sort. Whether it be an actual answering machine or a voicemail box there usually is an avenue to leave a message if someone is unavailable to speak at the moment they receive a call. With our busy lifestyles now, the answering machine is basically an essential item in every household. It has gotten to the point where if a phone call is made and no answering machine picks up, many will often call the number back thinking that the connection was not made correctly because there just has to be some sort of answering service on the other end of the line.
The answering machine has become a vital part of the business world, allowing customers to leave messages for stores, clients to leave messages for their contacts at companies, and even co-workers to leave messages for each other during the day. Without the answering machine, business would become much slower because we would have to wait to actually catch someone at an exact moment they are available to talk. With the answering machine we can leave a message with a question, and the person can respond to the call with the answer through another message.
In addition to being useful during the business day, answering machines are very useful in personal and family lives as well. With many families having both adults working outside of the home and kids in extracurricular activities after school, there are many hours during the day where people just are not at home and available to take phone calls.
The answering machine has helped to alleviate the frustration of not being able to reach someone by being able to leave a message and expect a call in return when the person you are trying to reach is available to talk. People let their personalities show through their answering machine messages, and it was quite popular a few years ago to have funny messages that sounded like a person answering the phone and leaving a short pause, tricking the caller into speaking only to have the answering machine message continue on. There are still several online services that allow customers to download funny messages, and many people are creative on their own.
When it comes down to it, answering machines and voicemail are an essential part of life in the 21st century. With such busy lifestyles, we are becoming more reliant on
technology to communicate with each other and the answering machine was on the forefront of this movement.
The answering machine has become a vital part of the business world, allowing customers to leave messages for stores, clients to leave messages for their contacts at companies, and even co-workers to leave messages for each other during the day. Without the answering machine, business would become much slower because we would have to wait to actually catch someone at an exact moment they are available to talk. With the answering machine we can leave a message with a question, and the person can respond to the call with the answer through another message.
In addition to being useful during the business day, answering machines are very useful in personal and family lives as well. With many families having both adults working outside of the home and kids in extracurricular activities after school, there are many hours during the day where people just are not at home and available to take phone calls.
The answering machine has helped to alleviate the frustration of not being able to reach someone by being able to leave a message and expect a call in return when the person you are trying to reach is available to talk. People let their personalities show through their answering machine messages, and it was quite popular a few years ago to have funny messages that sounded like a person answering the phone and leaving a short pause, tricking the caller into speaking only to have the answering machine message continue on. There are still several online services that allow customers to download funny messages, and many people are creative on their own.
When it comes down to it, answering machines and voicemail are an essential part of life in the 21st century. With such busy lifestyles, we are becoming more reliant on
technology to communicate with each other and the answering machine was on the forefront of this movement.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Printing Devices And Latest Inkjet Technologies
ID Badge and Card Printers are easy to use devices, which compare well with consumer printers in their ability to be used straight out of the box. However, as most card printers work quite differently from ink-jet and laser printers, it's worth understanding a bit about their technology.
Dye Sublimation
Dye sublimation or dye-sub, is the most common technology used.Thermal printing is used to place layers of dye into the ID badge surface. In dye sublimation printing, colors are not laid down as individual dots, as is done in inkjet printers. Dye sublimation makes photos in particular look more realistic.
Inside a dye sublimation printer is a roll of transparent film that resembles sheets of red, blue, yellow, and gray colored cellophane stuck together end to end. Embedded in this film are solid dyes corresponding to the four basic colors used in printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The print head heats up as it passes over the film, causing the dyes to vaporize and permeate the glossy surface of the card before they return to solid form. The vaporized colors permeate the surface of the card, creating a gentle gradation at the edges of each pixel, instead of the conspicuous border between dye and card produced by inkjets. And because the color infuses the card, it is also less vulnerable to fading and distortion over time.
YMCKO
The printer creates the ID badges by placing layers of dye in the following order:
Yellow: (Y)
Magenta: (M)
Cyan: (C)
Black: (K) or Resin black
Clear: (O) or Overcoat
The colored image is a combination of the Y, M, & C layers which also produce a form of black. The K Resin layer allows very sharp defined black text, barcodes etc. to be added. The Overcoat layer acts as a protective film against wear and fading and can also carry a secure image, which cannot be photocopied - e.g. the Magicard Holokote security watermark.
Reverse Transfer
With reverse transfer, the printer prints on the reverse of a transparent PVC re-transfer film, which is then laminated onto the ID Cards & Photo Badges. This protects the image from handling damage and produces a brilliant edge-to-edge image. The quality and durability of the finished card is similar to that achieved by an off-set printing process but with the advantage that every card can be different.
Because the re-transfer film is laminated onto the face of the card, it is possible to print right to the edge, unlike dye sublimation printers which print almost to the edge leaving a small (less than 0.5mm) white border.
Lamination
ID badge and card lamination involves putting a clear layer of PVC over the card surface. Lamination is used to protect the card image, particularly where the card is regularly swiped through a magnetic stripe reader, where lamination will allow 10,000's of swipes before any visible wear of the image occurs.
ID card Lamination is either done at the same time as printing (with reverse transfer printers) or separately with a dedicated laminator. For added security, laminate films containing an optical security logo or hologram are available.
Dye Sublimation
Dye sublimation or dye-sub, is the most common technology used.Thermal printing is used to place layers of dye into the ID badge surface. In dye sublimation printing, colors are not laid down as individual dots, as is done in inkjet printers. Dye sublimation makes photos in particular look more realistic.
Inside a dye sublimation printer is a roll of transparent film that resembles sheets of red, blue, yellow, and gray colored cellophane stuck together end to end. Embedded in this film are solid dyes corresponding to the four basic colors used in printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The print head heats up as it passes over the film, causing the dyes to vaporize and permeate the glossy surface of the card before they return to solid form. The vaporized colors permeate the surface of the card, creating a gentle gradation at the edges of each pixel, instead of the conspicuous border between dye and card produced by inkjets. And because the color infuses the card, it is also less vulnerable to fading and distortion over time.
YMCKO
The printer creates the ID badges by placing layers of dye in the following order:
Yellow: (Y)
Magenta: (M)
Cyan: (C)
Black: (K) or Resin black
Clear: (O) or Overcoat
The colored image is a combination of the Y, M, & C layers which also produce a form of black. The K Resin layer allows very sharp defined black text, barcodes etc. to be added. The Overcoat layer acts as a protective film against wear and fading and can also carry a secure image, which cannot be photocopied - e.g. the Magicard Holokote security watermark.
Reverse Transfer
With reverse transfer, the printer prints on the reverse of a transparent PVC re-transfer film, which is then laminated onto the ID Cards & Photo Badges. This protects the image from handling damage and produces a brilliant edge-to-edge image. The quality and durability of the finished card is similar to that achieved by an off-set printing process but with the advantage that every card can be different.
Because the re-transfer film is laminated onto the face of the card, it is possible to print right to the edge, unlike dye sublimation printers which print almost to the edge leaving a small (less than 0.5mm) white border.
Lamination
ID badge and card lamination involves putting a clear layer of PVC over the card surface. Lamination is used to protect the card image, particularly where the card is regularly swiped through a magnetic stripe reader, where lamination will allow 10,000's of swipes before any visible wear of the image occurs.
ID card Lamination is either done at the same time as printing (with reverse transfer printers) or separately with a dedicated laminator. For added security, laminate films containing an optical security logo or hologram are available.
CTP Technology Takes Over Age Old Printing Technology
Computer-to-plate technology (or CTP) allows the printing file to be etched directly to the plate from the computer without the need for negatives, film processing or plate processing.
The process effectively cuts out three steps in the platemaking process.
CTP has been around now for a number of years and following it's appearance, a significant number of pre-press bureaus found themselves in the unenviable situation of having to replace a large portion of trade business.
Many graphic design houses (or pre-press bureaus) provided a pre-press service to printers who did not have the equipment to perform the task themselves.
The printers would send the artwork files to the pre-press houses who would output the files to film (negatives) and in some situations, output the plates as well.
After CTP was introduced, many printers decided to purchase CTP equipment primarily because it was much easier and simpler to operate than outputting the negatives, running them through a film processor then a developer then burning the image to a plate.
The graphic designer employed by the printing company could simply send the graphic file directly to the CTP unit and it would process a plate ready for printing.
Many pre-press houses were hit hard by this technology as trade work represented a significant portion of their business.
Then came the blinding flash of the obvious.
Many decided to employ printing sales people and grow a print broking arm to the business.
After all, every single one of their customers to whom they were supplying graphic design were having their printing done at a printing company, as they had been doing for eons.
A golden opportunity arose...for those who saw it
These days, many pre-press houses do very little bureau work having replaced this portion of the business with print broking however some still supply plates to printers.
But, there is a down side to this technology.
Since the technology was introduced, some printers still rely on pre-press houses to supply the plates. The problem arises when the printer needs to replace a plate for an urgent job or when printing after hours, and the pre-press bureau is closed.
In the past they would simply grab the negatives from the file and 'burn' another plate.
So the job is either lifted or they make a phone call & try to coax someone from the bureau to jump in their car and make another plate.
A logical way to go.
There were a few however that 'went to the wall' because they could not see what was happening or refused to accept what was happening.
They viewed CTP as innovative but not as a threat. They just could not see how it was going to affect their business.
The process effectively cuts out three steps in the platemaking process.
CTP has been around now for a number of years and following it's appearance, a significant number of pre-press bureaus found themselves in the unenviable situation of having to replace a large portion of trade business.
Many graphic design houses (or pre-press bureaus) provided a pre-press service to printers who did not have the equipment to perform the task themselves.
The printers would send the artwork files to the pre-press houses who would output the files to film (negatives) and in some situations, output the plates as well.
After CTP was introduced, many printers decided to purchase CTP equipment primarily because it was much easier and simpler to operate than outputting the negatives, running them through a film processor then a developer then burning the image to a plate.
The graphic designer employed by the printing company could simply send the graphic file directly to the CTP unit and it would process a plate ready for printing.
Many pre-press houses were hit hard by this technology as trade work represented a significant portion of their business.
Then came the blinding flash of the obvious.
Many decided to employ printing sales people and grow a print broking arm to the business.
After all, every single one of their customers to whom they were supplying graphic design were having their printing done at a printing company, as they had been doing for eons.
A golden opportunity arose...for those who saw it
These days, many pre-press houses do very little bureau work having replaced this portion of the business with print broking however some still supply plates to printers.
But, there is a down side to this technology.
Since the technology was introduced, some printers still rely on pre-press houses to supply the plates. The problem arises when the printer needs to replace a plate for an urgent job or when printing after hours, and the pre-press bureau is closed.
In the past they would simply grab the negatives from the file and 'burn' another plate.
So the job is either lifted or they make a phone call & try to coax someone from the bureau to jump in their car and make another plate.
A logical way to go.
There were a few however that 'went to the wall' because they could not see what was happening or refused to accept what was happening.
They viewed CTP as innovative but not as a threat. They just could not see how it was going to affect their business.
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