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Appreciate any Feedback on Smart Vending Machine Concept

Travtail

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Jul 30, 2020
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Hello all,
We are a startup company called Travtail. Our mission is to merge travel and retail into one space to give customers immediate access to essential products in their moment of need.
Travtail has created a completely self-service intelligent vending machine that fits in any location, from cars to malls. These vending machine stores can help store owners make an additional supplemental income between $200-$1000 selling products.
Each store uses QR codes for quick and easy payments. For each item sold, Travtail takes only a 6-8% commission. If you pay the full price, you will have access to several tools that will help you prevent stockouts and manage your inventory.
Prices and designs of our stores can be found on our website, https://travtail.squarespace.com/stores
Here are some links to videos that demonstrate how Travtail works:
View: https://youtu.be/jTiBYTL19GA
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hJAiTDcBRM



We would love to hear any feedback that you might have about our product and services. If you have any questions, feel free to send them to contact@travtail.com.
Thanks!
 
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Last edited:

minivanman

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Mar 16, 2017
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So this is your first post, without offering help to others or anything and you post this confusing thing wanting people to eventually give you money?

I think I'm confused. Cool idea for the Uber store and cool idea for the other store but what did picking up luggage have to do with anything? What does a personal shopper have to do with it? I do seem to remember something like the store front some where..... maybe last year? Maybe someone pitched it to me at one point? Anyway, are you selling the store fronts or the service that takes money by offering services/goods? Or maybe all of it? Are free milk & cookies involved?
 

josiison002

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Jul 31, 2020
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So this is your first post, without offering help to others or anything and you post this confusing thing wanting people to eventually give you money?

I think I'm confused. Cool idea for the Uber store and cool idea for the other store but what did picking up luggage have to do with anything? What does a personal shopper have to do with it? I do seem to remember something like the store front some where..... maybe last year? Maybe someone pitched it to me at one point? Anyway, are you selling the store fronts or the service that takes money by offering services/goods? Or maybe all of it? Are free milk & cookies involved?

Hello, thanks for the feedback. We are selling the vending machines and also giving them for free - it depends on the revenue structure that works best for the buyer. We have heard from other people that combining the services and vending machine is confusing - they are two separate products. Here is the link to our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and answers to some questions we have recently been asked:

What if someone accidentally grabs 2 of an item they paid for 1 of, but puts the second back?
Our algorithm accounts for these types of edge scenarios - customer selects one item and picks 2, customer selects two items and picks 1, customer's credit card is no longer active, customer takes one or more items and puts them back etc.. We'll be happy to give you access to a full demo of how all these works if you are interested.

What if someone puts something in there that doesn’t belong?
If a customer puts items in the wrong section or puts an item that was never in the store, we will notify the store owner to place the item back in the right compartment or remove the item, and charge or penalize the customer as needed. Note that for most models, only the compartments with the product that the customer selects opens up. However, we know exactly where the item is and will charge any other customer that picks the item.

What if someone misunderstands and pays for one item but thinks they paid for everything they can grab?
Our algorithm accounts for this. In this case, the customer will be notified that they will be charged for all the items they grabbed. If the customer proceeds with the transaction, they will get charged. If they return the items (including putting the items in the wrong compartments), they will not be charged.

What if someone damages the other products?
If a customer damages the product and it is reported by the store owner with evidence, we will charge the customer. For unmanned locations, this is definitely a risk that we continue to develop/explore solutions for including offering theft, loss, damage insurance etc.

How do you handle defective/damaged products?
Are you asking about store owners selling damaged/defective products to customers or customers damaging the products? If the former, we will investigate any reported product defects/damages and penalized the store owners based on our terms of service.

How do you handle the vending machine malfunctioning and not allowing the customer to grab what they paid for?
We have the ability to remotely troubleshoot the vending machine. If the vending machine still refuses to work after troubleshooting, we will send a repair partner to the vending machine location.

How do you handle vending machine owners who try to cheat their customers, sell expired foodstuffs, try to use it to sell illegal items, etc?
We will investigate any reported product defects/damages and penalized the store owners based on our terms of service.

As soon as you think you’ve idiot-proofed something, there’s always a bigger idiot. There’s also always going to be people trying to cheat the system.
We totally agree with this and continue to explore all possible edge cases for theft that we may not have accounted for. This will be an ongoing process as we learn more about customers and store owners.

In terms of services (luggage storage etc), this is an entire different product and we will be updating our product videos to eliminate confusion.
We agree and have separated the two products to eliminate confusion.
 

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