Tokyo Electric Power Company is trying to do something about it, at least during its peak seasons. Along with Coca-Cola Japan and Fuji Electric, TEPCO developed vending machines that achieve energy savings of around 10-15 percent through increased insulation and timers: During the summer, they cool the drinks in the morning hours and then automatically switch themselves off between 1:00 and 4:00 PM. According to TEPCO, if all the 2 million drink-vending machines in the country adopted the technology, Japan would produce a peak cut of around 900,000 million kwh. To achieve these savings, the electric companies in Japan (except Hokkaido, whose peak generation is in the winter rather than summer) pay a subsidy to vending machine manufacturers of 10,000 yen (around $80) for each Eco Vender installed. This will continue until 1999-at that point, according to Japans Federation of Electric Power Companies, the makers should have accrued enough money to compensate for fitting the timing devices to their machines. With promises from large vending operators like Sapporo, Kirin Beer, and Coca-Cola Japan, the FEPC estimated that by the end of 1997, there were 100,000 Eco Venders in Japan.
Of the 12 patients who survived, ten received fractures of the limbs and pelvis. One individual sustained a skull fracture with intracerebral bleeding and was still comatose at follow-up. Other injuries that were sustained by these individuals included nerve damage and ligament injury. All of the 12 patients who survived required hospitalization and eight required surgery. (JAMA, November 11, 1988, vol. 260, p. 2697.)
One morning in October, Mike McGee stopped to inspect the Coca- Cola vending machines that he had installed in a new student recreation center at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif. “Back in the old days, they came around here saying, `Sell our product,” recalled McGee, whose father started the business in 1961. “Now that we need their product, they say, `Well still sell it to you, but were also going to be in business against you.” So McGee pulled his machines from Harvey Mudd, just as he took machines out of nearby Scripps College and two accounts serving California city buildings a few months ago. “Theres just no way I can compete,” he said. Vending machines, a highly profitable market, have become an important new battleground in the soft-drink business, and Coca- Cola, through its bottlers, is by far the biggest and the most aggressive competitor. “Were in a period of intense competition between bottlers and full-line vending operators for the control of soft-drink vending machines,” said Elliott Maras, editor of the trade magazine Automatic Merchandiser. For consumers, the battle has led to greater availability of soft drinks at somewhat lower prices. But many Coke-vending-machine owners and distributors across the United States complain that the fight is not fair. They say that Coca-Cola, which owns 44 percent of Coca-Cola Enterprises and all the rights to popular brands like Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Sprite, is using its dominant position to take business away from them. The power of Coca-Cola bottlers over distributors, they say, is further enhanced by a 1980 federal law that gives local bottlers exclusive rights to sell soft-drink brands in a certain territory. More often than not, in Cokes case, the local bottler is Coca-Cola Enterprises, which did $3.2 billion worth of business last year, according to an earnings report. The complaints have led to investigations and lawsuits in several states, people involved in the inquiries said. A spokesman for Coca-Cola Enterprises said the company played by the rules. “We deal with our customers in a fair and equitable manner,” said spokesman John Downs Jr., “creating value for them and satisfying the refreshment needs of our consumers.” He added, “It is our policy to fully comply with all laws and regulations applicable to our business operations.” Distributors who are accustomed to selling Coca-Cola products — which have a 43.9 percent market share in the United States — but are troubled by the presence of Coca-Cola Enterprises as a rival say that they cannot simply switch to selling other brands: Their investments, market demand and other competition prevent it. At the same time, they have no choice but to buy from the local bottler because Coca-Cola will penalize any bottler that sells to customers from outside its designated territories. As a result, say many smaller vending-machine owners and distribution companies, a bottler can raise prices at will and otherwise dictate the terms of business. “My opinion is, they overprice us in order to keep us in a less competitive position than they have,” said Ladd Little, who runs L.C. Vending, his familys company in San Antonio. Like McGee, he is a customer of Coca-Cola Enterprises, which controls the Coke bottling business in most of Texas. Little says that the price Coca-Cola Enterprises charges him is higher than what he can find elsewhere. “I buy a truckload a week,” he said. “I can buy it for less at the grocery store. But they wont allow that grocery store to sell it to me in quantity, either.” Several New York distributors say they are trying to organize to resist the competition from Coca-Cola Enterprises. “We just want them to sell us the product for the same prices that they sell it to themselves,” said one distributor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Theres got to be something wrong with being the wholesaler, and the retailer, and being protected by the law.” Constance L. Hays prepared this article for the N.Y. Times News Service.
vending machines
No comments »