Locwil Cadburys Dairy Milk(Sold! More after Xmas)Locwil Polo(Sold! More after Xmas)Locwil KitKat(Sold! More after Xmas)Self-Serve Poppets Single Column Machine (Sold! No more for now)- Stamp Machine
Firstly, if you want a machine for Christmas 2022, here are the ones that are in stock and can be posted up until the 19th for ‘guaranteed’ pre-Xmas delivery, and up until the 22nd for ‘fingers crossed’ pre-Xmas delivery although couriers are struggling due to the knock on effects of Royal Mail strikes. We will upgrade at no cost and choose appropriate couriers as the dates change.
Also, while not likely to arrive in time for Xmas, but available nonetheless, we also now have our Poppets Dual Column machine ready to dispatch.
Secondly, a Post-Shepton Post. It’s the nature of social media, and especially so the corporate sort, that only success ever gets posted, and negative things of any description never reach the light of day.
If the organisers of Shepton Giant Flea market are reading this (can’t imagine why but I feel duty bound to say) the event itself is reasonably priced and felt friendly and well organised. It isn’t sour grapes or even bitter lemon that I’m saying we managed to generate a lot of interest and goodwill, with a lot of stories being shared about people’s memories of vending machines, but not a lot, in fact, no, direct sales from the day itself.
We shared a stall with a pal and that was fantastic from a friendship point of view but perhaps a bad one from a business standpoint! I wanted to avoid an otherwise empty stall with a handful of machines but actually, that might not have looked so bad with a nice tablecloth and the fantastic light up sign from our office. The machines would then truly have been the stars, though I still don’t think we would have sold any more and wouldn’t have changed what we did on the day.
From chatting to people we also clearly struggled to get the point across that these are not new machines aimed at business operators, perhaps they have been refurbished a little too well! Maybe the whole concept comes across better on a webpage with a description below.
The weather was a minor factor too with snow on the Mendips and elsewhere, some prepaid stalls being left uncovered by opening time, and visitor numbers affected (though I was amazed to see a number of outdoor stalls, the bitter cold meant some of these were packing up by mid-day). No-one seemed to be taking a huge amount in and as one lady said to another afterwards, almost certainly regarding the act of selling; ‘I don’t know, why do we do it?’. Considering some of the sellers I suspect it’s more of a retirement hobby than a business, and I’m not going to criticise that.
Unlike Arnie, we probably won’t be back at least not in the same way. It’s always good to try new things and it was a fun day with family and friends, so no complaints 🙂