Automatic Merchandiser - 37

hospitals and food and
beverage retailers.
"Our industry services
essential businesses, and we
go from one to the other,
especially as we're losing the
non-essential customers,"
Duxbury explained. "And
that creates a pretty unique
responsibility and problem, specifically for micro
markets. If you have a micro
market driver going from
one essential business break
room to another, the odds
of that micro market driver
coming into contact with
COVID-19 is probably fairly
substantial.
"I can see our industry
spreading this into break
room after break room
if we don't take a lot of
responsibility for how we're
operating the markets," he
added, noting that training
the drivers properly and
using masks, gloves, hand
sanitizer and hospital-grade
disinfectants are additional
necessary steps.
Duxbury said that he
wanted to create an "air gap"
between his employees and
his clients' employees to
ensure safety.
"We're prekitting the
micro market, loading the
prekits on the palettes and
then delivering the palettes
to their docks," he explained.
"They've got a point of contact that's taking the prekits
inside. They're stocking the
markets and then bringing
crates back out to us. So, our
drivers aren't coming in and
out of their break rooms."
The company's longtime
affinity for technology is
also providing helpful ways

to prevent the spread of
COVID-19 in their clients'
micro markets. Duxbury
said they've been installing
365's 365Beacon devices in
all their customers' markets
so users can have an entirely
contactless payment option.
"We can plug the
device in and link to
the kiosks and create a
Bluetooth network," he
said. "After the employees
download the [365Pay]
app, they'll be able to make
purchases on their phones
instead of touching the
kiosks. We're trying to
eliminate the central point
of contact that everybody
touches - the kiosks."
While the effects of the
coronavirus pandemic on

the industry are yet to be
known, he advises that all
operators take necessary
safety precautions.
"I really want our
industry to pay attention
to how much responsibility we have to service
[accounts] correctly in
this time of COVID-19.
Because if we're not careful, we may be the weak
link that shuts these businesses down."
LOOKING FORWARD

As for what drives Duxbury
each day, he doesn't look at
the company's past accomplishments. Instead, he looks
toward the future.
"I love working with
friends and family. I like

that my children - and
my business partners'
children - can see an
entrepreneur's perspective," he said. "I like seeing
employees grow. When
you have an employee that
buys their first house and
they've done that using
their career with you, that's
pretty rewarding. I like the
creativity and I like the
freedom of being able to
work hard, but structure it
at my will. I have a 6-yearold, a 5-year-old and a
2-year-old. I still work
full-time and then some,
but four out of five days I
get to go pick up my kids
from school. It's a beautiful
thing; it really is." ■

FRIIA

marcobeveragesystems.com/friia

April 2020 * VendingMarketWatch.com

37
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