Do you know how long you sit at your desk during the day?

Have you ever wondered just how long you sit at your desk every day? The facts are somewhat startling. According to a workplace survey carried out by Fellows, 81% of UK office workers spend between four and nine hours a day just sitting at their desk, which equates to an incredible 67 sedentary days per person per year…

Stand (literally!) and take notice of the problem.

The figures only get worse. Despite the fact that our day passes by in front of a computer screen or endless levels of paperwork, the vast majority of employers simply aren’t doing enough to make their staff feel comfortable at their desk. 45% of employees up and down the country say their boss does not offer the necessary tools and equipment, which leaves 26% of them agreeing that this makes them less productive.

First-hand experience of more productive workstations.

Coinadrink has understood the role workplace refreshments play on our wellbeing and productivity for over 56 years and we have developed a solid reputation for improving workplaces up and down the region with our services. This includes our own! Our showroom is laden with hot drinks machines for our staff and visitors and there is of course our new Micro Market as well.

My role for the company sees me having to spend a lot of time at my desk behind a computer, but having refreshments available to me throughout the day encourages me to take constructive breaks from my desk. Whilst the article from Workplace Insight states ergonomic equipment may be the solution to low wellbeing at work, it’s clear that workplace refreshments make a valuable difference as well.

The benefits of vending are there to be enjoyed by all.

Think about how often you crave a hot drink and, more importantly, the reason why. Robert Deans, founder and director of the Coffee Tasting Club, says that drinking coffee can have a positive effect on mood, memory, alertness and wellbeing whilst the UK Tea & Infusions Association argues a cup of tea can bring countless health benefits.

Then there’s the Micro Market. Your very own refreshment hub invites you into an array of refreshments that persuade you to stay on site for your break time. Whilst the Micro Market conforms to the current demands of the working world and the need for grab and go, you can also relax in the designated area and take your mind off work for a while.

So we’ve established that vending can be a benefit to your workforce, but how do you go about enjoying those benefits? One of the reasons why we’re considered a well-respected vending company is due to our customer-centric approach, which you can enjoy the benefits of from the very beginning. We take the time to establish your requirements before using our knowledge and experience to tailor our services to suit.

We can make vending work for your business and all it takes is a phone call or email.

The post Do you know how long you sit at your desk during the day? appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/do-you-know-how-long-you-sit-at-your-desk

The new Merchant MEDIA

We’ve added an amazing new snack machine to our line-up this month. The Merchant MEDIA comes with a host of features that provide some real insight into the future of vending.

The Merchant’s remote management feature allows for precise control over product planograms and pricing, without the need to visit the machine on site. The system even allows us to set up advanced offers and discounts such as ‘meal deals’, as well as displaying nutritional information to help your staff make informed decisions.

From the user’s perspective, the Merchant is intuitive and simple to use, with a choice of either a large touchscreen or traditional keypad. A shopping cart function means you can easily purchase multiple products in one transaction, with payment options including contactless, Google Pay and Apple Pay.

The merchant is also the first machine to feature our new Service QR code. If anything goes wrong you can quickly let us know by pointing your phone camera at the label and clicking the link that appears on screen. We’ll add this feature to all our machines over time.

The post The new Merchant MEDIA appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/merchant-media

Our new customer portal is in development!

After our recent website redesign we are now working on an exciting new customer portal. As a Coinadrink customer you will soon be able to login via our website and have access to a wide range of new features.

The system will allow you to view invoices, confirm deliveries, and check the status of orders. Not only that, but you will be able to place service calls online, update your company details, and set preferences how we should contact you.

The site will also include the option to set up separate accounts for users with limited access, depending on their role. Your accounts department might only need to see invoices, so you can limit their access to just that page.

We believe My Coinadrink will deliver a personal, easy to use experience, that brings all the key information from your account into one place.

We will keep you updated on how this is progressing, so make sure you keep checking back.

We can’t wait for you to try it.

The post Our new customer portal is in development! appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/customer-portal

We’ve just been highly commended from The Vendies!

Look out, we’ve just been highly commended from The Vendies for our two recent competition entries: ‘Best Regional Operator’ and ‘Best Operator Website’! The Vendies awards are recognition of the hard work and dedication of all the vending companies in the industry, so it’s pleasing to have been given strong recognition. How about that for a bit of ‘Friday Feeling’?

Whilst I wrote the two entries, it was a team effort for both, and departments including IT, Finance and Logistics helped emphasise just why we’re considered to be an elite vending company. The ‘Best Regional Operator’ category was looking for ways in which the operator benefits the customer through bespoke initiatives and industry innovation, whilst the ‘Best Operator Website’ was looking for operators who use the online experience to enhance the customer experience. You can see the exact criteria here.

As well as the digital copies that take centre stage as the featured image, it was also nice to receive the hard copies that will take pride of place somewhere here in the business. Well done, team!

The post We’ve just been highly commended from The Vendies! appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/2018/10/the-vendies

Could you have completed 30 squats for a free train ticket?

Remember the Winter Olympic Games back in 2014? Social media has recently been rife with a clever idea that the Russian Olympic Committee used to promote the event, where passengers visiting the Vystavochaya Station in Moscow could have chosen to pay for their ticket in squats!

Maybe you remembered it from back then, but I’m confused as to how it’s only seemingly made it’s way onto social media recently! The idea was to get people active and excited for the games and the only criteria is that you must complete the 30 squats in the allocated two minutes. If you fail, you must pay the 30 Rubles for the ticket, which is the equivalent of about 35p.

Seeing as it provided passengers with the chance to avoid having to pay, it’s no surprise that it caught on. If people can avoid having to pay for something in response for something so simple, they will, and it was certainly a different way of promoting the games. The Russian Olympic Committee said that whilst no count was taken of the number of free tickets issued, the interest was ‘enthusiastic’.

Being a big sports fan myself, it’s something I’d have been very keen on attempting and I’d welcome something similar returning, though I’m not sure how successful I’d be. Apparently if you failed you had to do the ‘walk of shame’, so the pressure would have certainly been on!

It’s clear, though, that this was a great way to emphasise that the Olympics aren’t just something to watch every two years. There’s more to the games than that, and they engage everybody in the sporting way of life. And in the days where vending has a greater emphasis on healthier eating and healthier lifestyles, it’s nice to see that you can receive your ‘items’ by engaging in a little exercise. Maybe other companies could follow suit…

You can check out people having a go at completing the challenge in the video below. How athletic are you, do you reckon you could have completed the full 30 squats in 2 minutes or less? In addition, would you welcome not having to pay for items in return for completing exercises?

The post Could you have completed 30 squats for a free train ticket? appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/30-squats-for-a-free-train-ticket

Death by chocolate bar? ‘Blonde’ chocolate? Five interesting facts on National Chocolate week!

This week is the 14^thconsecutive National Chocolate Week and it’s hardly surprising it’s been going on for so long really, is it? As far as themed occasions go, celebrating our love of the chocolate bar has to be one of the easiest to do. For this week, I have decided to do a little research into some of the facts behind the Nation’s favourite treat. Granted, none of us will care too much when we’re stuffing our faces, but they’re nice to know anyway, right? And some of them are particularly interesting indeed…

White chocolate is not chocolate!

I chose this as the number one because I think it’ll probably hit home with quite a few of you out there: for every person who hates the stuff, there’s another who adores it (including me!). Whilst the ingredients for white chocolate do come from a cocoa bean, it doesn’t have solid cocoa in it at all. It’s actually made with the by-product of a cocoa bean – cocoa butter – which is milk, sugar and flavouring to create the white chocolate taste.

The tale of the Jewel thief…

A very unusual one, this, I have to say, but rather amusing all the same. A jewel thief once made off with $21 million dollars worth (£14m) of gems in 2007 because he was able to gain the trust of the guards working the bank in Antwerp, Belgium, by offering them chocolate! In all fairness, I’d probably be as easily led in this instance as well…

The very first chocolate bar.

The first chocolate bar had to have been developed somewhere, and you can thank Jason Fry for it. 1847 was the year, which means we have been enjoying ‘chocolately’ delights for 170 years now.

Death by chocolate…Almost.

Thanks to historic papers that reared their head in 2012, a Nazi plot to kill Sir Winston Churchill during the Second World War has been revealed! Adolf Hitlers’ bomb makers coated explosive devices within a thin layer of rich dark chocolate, which was then packaged in expensive wrapping. The Germans planned to use secret agents to place the bars amongst other luxury items that were taken into important meetings, and the lethal chocolate bars were explosive enough to kill anyone within a few metres. The evil plan was foiled, however, when British spies discovered the chocolate being made. They tipped off MI5’s most senior intelligence chief, Lord Victor Rothschild, and that was thankfully the end of that.

A blonde chocolate bar?

We all know about milk, dark and white chocolate, but what you probably weren’t aware of is that there’s a fourth variety: blonde chocolate! Yes, you did read that correctly. Blonde chocolate is actually caramelized white chocolate and was founded and created as recently as 2006 by Valrhona. It’s since gone from a well-kept industry secret to a mainstream delight, but I’m not happy about the fact that I’m yet to try it…

Which is your favourite chocolate fact, or do you have any good ones of your own that you’d like to share? Be sure to let me know in the comments below! There’s few of us here at Coinadrink who don’t like chocolate…

The post Death by chocolate bar? ‘Blonde’ chocolate? Five interesting facts on National Chocolate week! appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/national-chocolate-week

Acorns Children’s Hospice – Just how far does their support extend?

We always love hearing about updates to our chosen charities that we support. Acorns Children’s Hospice provide care and support to life limited and life threatened children and their families, within three hospices situated around the West Midlands. In the past year their support has extended to over 870 children and more than 1,140 families, but they need the continued support of the public in order to carry on. In fact, the charity require nearly £10m every year just to operate! That’s a lot of money…

It’s hard to believe that 2018 is nearly out, but what that does mean is that it’s almost time for our annual customer care survey. For years now we have been donating £5 for every customer care survey we receive back, and we’re hopeful of donating another healthy amount for 2018. The customer care survey’s also help us to improve our service to our customers, by identifying areas that need improving as to enhance the customer experience.

Acorns Children’s Hospice are an excellent organisation that we have always been proud to support!

The post Acorns Children’s Hospice – Just how far does their support extend? appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/acorns-childrens-hospice

National Customer Service Week – Time for us to shine!

Part of my role here at Coinadrink is manning our social media platforms and last week I noticed something that really caught my attention. One of our followers tweeted that this week was National Customer Service Week, an element of our business that we really believe sets us apart from the competition. Of course, then, I just had to get us on board with the trend. 99% of our customers say that they would recommend us, which says it all…

Service that exceeds customer expectations.

It goes without saying that providing a solid level of customer service is vital and it can make or break a company. The thing is, we go beyond that ‘solid’ level. I’ve been at Coinadrink for nearly two years now, and the lengths that we go to never ceases to amaze me. We consistently push the boundaries of what’s possible for our customers and we endeavour to ensure that all of our employees hold the same values in customer service. Only then can we provide our customers with a better experience.

When we say we can make vending work for your business, we mean it, and it goes beyond using our knowledge and experience to make our initial recommendations. Customer service often extends to aspects that you can’t see and there’s certainly a lot that goes on behind the scenes here. I should know, because I’ve seen it first-hand.

Service is often what you can’t see…

We believe that there is no limit to the potential of our staff and each and every person is placed on a continual training plan that is closely monitored. We only send engineers and operators to your machine if they have the required experience, in order to help ensure of a first time fix. Anyone can request further training even if it hasn’t been identified that they need it, emphasising that everyone connected to Coinadrink goes the extra mile.

Our IT team developed bespoke software that has been tuned to the way we operate. Our Customer Related Management System organises our customer care calls, which stem from our dedicated customer care team, though it is CIPS that really enables you to enjoy the benefits of vending in the workplace. Standing for ‘Continuous Improvement of Performance’ (you’re smarter than me if you knew that already…), helps us to be proactive rather than reactive in the eyes of customer service.

In short, CIPS helps us to identify any interruption to your service and take the appropriate steps to put it right. Issues may even be highlighted before the customer knows about them, and could identify whether an employee needs extra training, support or possibly even a manufacturer error. Everything is reported back to us in real time and discussed at the weekly quality meetings, so you can be sure that your vending experience is as hassle free as possible.

More than just a vending company.

Whilst we have never claimed to be the cheapest vending operator out there, we believe that you cannot put a price on quality and holding the ISO 9001 accreditation shows that our efforts are consistently recognised. You may think of vending as hot drinks, snacks or food, but what makes it a success is a lot, lot more.

That’s why we have always considered ourselves to be ‘more’ than just a vending company…

The post National Customer Service Week – Time for us to shine! appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/national-customer-service-week

Hot drinks to help you handle the pressure of Lord Sugar!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that The Apprentice is back on our TV screens from tomorrow, Wednesday 3^rdOctober.

Lord Sugar and co will again start the ball rolling to find his next apprentice, or two if last year is anything to go by, with the contestants competing in a series of business related challenges for the grand prize.

I live a very sheltered life when it comes to reality television, so I’m not going to pretend that I’ll be watching Series 13 with a great deal of enthusiasm. However, I have managed to identify a growing link between the nature of our business and the BBC based show. And I want to share that with you…

“When we looked into how coffee affects productivity, we found evidence to suggest that drinking coffee can have positive effects on mood, memory, alertness, well-being and energy. Obviously all of these traits can positively affect productivity in the workplace,” says Robert Deans who is the founder and director of the coffee tasting club.

Without wishing to bang on about the same thing, having a hot drink, most notably coffee, at work really does boost productivity. It’s no wonder, then, that some of the best business decisions stem from a mug or two.

How many times do you see the stars from The Apprentice come together for a challenge over a hot drink? It’s a lot now you think about, isn’t it? And there’s the reason why.

Even in the Bridge Café, or the ‘Losers Café’ as it’s otherwise known, sees those dismissed come together and engage. It’s quite comical to see the team arguing amongst themselves or blaming each other, in fact it’s probably the only time I actually watch it, but what’s consistent throughout is they do so over a cup of ‘something’.

It’s unlikely that your role sees you working under Lord Sugar, nor is it likely that you’re being filmed for BBC with each passing moment (imagine that!) but the same applies with the average you and me in the workplace. We all crave a hot drink.

Even as I write this I’m doing so over a cappuccino. Most of us don’t think too much about why it is a cup of coffee makes us feel better, but what we do know is that caffeine is often the key ingredient for a higher work ethic at work.

Which hot drink would you trust to see you through the stresses and strains of working under Lord Sugar?

The post Hot drinks to help you handle the pressure of Lord Sugar! appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/Lord-Sugar

MacMillan Coffee Morning – Delicious goodies for a great cause.

This years’ MacMillan Coffee Morning has come and gone but what a morning it was. In fact, it was so good that we extended it over both the Thursday and Friday! Colleagues at Coinadrink excelled themselves with a terrific display of delicious goodies: I only wish I was there to see it myself! Without wishing to blow our own trumpet, Coinadrink and charity work go hand in hand and we managed to raise a total of £80! It’s clear our staff pulled through once again for such a fantastic organisation.

Just look at how great our coffee morning looked last week!

Just like with previous years, we hosted the coffee morning in our showroom and it looked great with the flags, bunting and banners that MacMillan provided us with. The highlight, however, was on the cakes and bakes. I’d have loved to have tried everything that was on display and seeing the photos from last week makes me wish I’d selected a different week for my holiday! Alongside our range of authentic hot drinks, it was certainly a morning full of premium refreshments…

Did you host a coffee morning this year? If so tell us how it went in the comments below: we’d love to hear from you!

 

The post MacMillan Coffee Morning – Delicious goodies for a great cause. appeared first on Coinadrink.

source https://coin-a-drink.co.uk/coffee-morning