School vending machines kill
Childhood obesity is rampant in this country. We can point to a number of reasons including the outrageous advertising budgets of fast food restaurants and candy companies. We can also blame the lack of basic nutritional education that would let children know which foods are bad for them and turn them into unhealthy, obese teens and adults. But one of the main culprits is an inanimate object that sits in schools day in and day out. vending machine. These machines stay on all day and entice kids to buy junk food before school (a candy bar for breakfast, anyone?), between classes and even for lunch (is a can of soda, chips, and candy bar another meal?). Kids pack on the fat because there is a constantly available source of sugar, fat and simple carbohydrates. What should parents and schools do to cut the cord between students and their junk food? The answer is simple – school vending machines.
You may ask how schools, in this world of cuts and lower budgets, can afford to make this change. The sad truth is that schools make much needed money from vending machines in schools. If these machines were simply removed, schools would suffer revenue losses that could force them to cut back on supplies and student programs. The good news is that healthy vending machines generate as much, if not more, revenue for schools than the old fast food machines. Replacing your standard fast food packing machine with a healthy vending machine is simple. In fact, schools have many options to display these machines in front of their students.
1. Let health vending operators come to your school
Once you have made the decision to make your school a healthy environment for your students, you may choose to rent a healthy vending machine. This option is less expensive than buying a machine and health vending operators will do all the work. They will set up the machine, stock it with healthy food and drinks, monitor its operation, restock it when needed, and handle any maintenance issues. They will charge a small fee but you will keep the majority of the profits to put towards school supplies and programs.
2. Buy and operate your machines
If your school can, then you should definitely consider purchasing a health vending machine and operating it yourself. Or maybe you have rented a machine for a while and are willing to do the work yourself and make more profit. Either way, this option will take a little more time on your part but the returns are worth it. When you buy a health vending machine, it’s delivered to your location and with the help of some training videos and excellent customer support, your school can set it up and you’ll stock it yourself. Remote monitoring software allows operators to know what is happening with the equipment at any time and from anywhere. You will know when an item needs to be restocked or if there is a problem with the seller. For that little extra work, your school can see big revenue.
3. Set up a young entrepreneur program where students operate machines
Since healthy vending machines are really small, self-contained businesses, what better way to teach kids the basics of the business than to let them operate the machine themselves? Basic concepts such as supply and demand, profit and cost, and how to work with money can be taught with the help of a machine. This option is perfect for high school business classes or clubs for young entrepreneurs. Allow them to set up, store, monitor, restock and promote the device. Each machine comes with a programmable LCD display. Let your students decide what to display on the screen. School advertisements can appear, Nutritional information On vending machines, or even sell advertising and take advantage of the secondary revenue stream of healthy vending machines.
There are many ways to introduce these healthy machines into your schools. Whether you choose to buy, rent, operate yourself, or let your students do the work and learn valuable concepts, there’s no excuse for keeping your fast food machines around longer. Kids can reach for fruit, trail mix, pop chips, and protein bars instead of muffins, honeydew cookies, greasy chips, and candy bars. They can have a bottle of green tea or a carton of organic chocolate milk instead of a can of soda between classes. Giving students healthy options will not only make them feel better throughout the day, but it will also help them learn better and perform better on tests. Healthy children turn into healthy adults. And healthy vending machines could be the first step to their success.