The varied and often unmanned and seldom checked nature of vending machines in open spaces or in bars renders them easy targets for vandals and thieves. Premises that use this service are left to consider security measures including CCTV to deter would be vandals, fixing machines to prevent ‘rocking’ and theft, regular checks and emptying cash rather than leaving it over night.

Manufacturers are rising to the challenge and we are now seeing greater use of inbuilt camera systems, alarms, brackets and cages to secure the machines and heavily fixing machines to floors in an effort to beat the vandals.

“As the global vending industry faces the challenges of a world recession and the difficulties this places on all our businesses, there has never been a more important time to look at, and tackle, the high cost of vending crime on your operation. Good security need not be expensive, but it must be practical and easy to use,” says Safer Systems UK. The company has designed a series of products which are practical, easy to use and offer effective barriers to costly crime, including: high security vending machine locks and keys - with codes unique to your business; anti-vandalism machine cages - for vulnerable sites, keeping your machines working and self-locking cash bags for quick and discreet cash removal from vending machines.

Machines that fail to dispense products or refund money are at increased risk of vandalism which is why manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to improve the technology at hand. SecureVend is an infra-red vend security system which is standard on all Westomatic SnackPoint machines. This system guarantees that a product will be dispensed or credit returned thus ensuring customer satisfaction and reducing the chance of machine vandalism.

Instrumental in the fight against theft has been the introduction of cashless vending and the use of smart cards. Machines that now use a system of ‘top-up’ cards, where customers can pay without the hassle of change, have made vending machines a less attractive proposition to would-be thieves.

However, the more sophisticated the technology, the more sophisticated the crime. Electronic ‘swipe-and-pay’ machines may open vendors up to a higher level of theft in terms of fraud.

As cashless electronic vending has advanced in use, security measures have become increasingly more sophisticated to tackle these threats and for vending to remain a viable, effective revenue resource for operators looking to keep costs to a minimum.

Dave Ward, MD of N&W is pretty philosophical when it comes to the question of security in vending. “The more secure you make a machine,” he says, “the more damage is done when somebody breaks into it. You have to ‘do the math’, really. I mean, what’s the point in incurring a £500 repair bill in a bid to protect maybe £50 of takings and a few chocolate bars?

“I must say, that if a person really wants to have a go at a vending machine, there’s not a lot we can do to stop him.” But it’s not just about stopping someone getting into a machine, it’s also managing who can change what is in the machine settings and in all modern machines, this is achieved by software.

“Where a machine is located in a public site it’s sensible to consider the use of cages, vandal-proof coin mechanisms and ‘indestructible’ keyboards. These will deter the casual vandal tempted to ‘have a go’ at a machine,” Dave agrees. “But, as I said, if somebody is really determined to break in…”

For operators, it’s about understanding the level of security required and how cost-effective it will be to implement and run. For machine manufacturers and suppliers of security equipment, the focus must be on reducing the likelihood of theft and vandalism through product development.

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