How the money works

I will start with the vendor program.  

Ron went through several interviews and a qualification process (including a medical check to determine he was really blind), a brief internship downtown with another vendor, passed that and then off to a training program in Austin, about 200 miles away.  

You may not know I lived on my own during this period, I worked full time, took care of my business, laundry, shopping, etc. all on my own and then went to see Ron on the weekends.  I would take the Greyhound every Friday night and then take another one back on Sunday morning.  Ron would take the bus to the bus station and meet me.  But we lived totally apart.  I was fine doing that I got into soapmaking when I got manic.  

So he did extensive training they basically crammed a 2 year restaurant management course into 4 months.  He had things like HR, payroll, taxes, food cost, inventory, etc.  He also continued internship with a guy named Harvey who took a real shine to him, Ron has always been a hard worker and busted his butt in this program.  

The program cultivates the sort of blind person who attacks problems head-on, who doesn't sit round crying victim, independent problem solvers.  Ron certainly qualified.  They taught vending machines and cafeteria management.  

They had him work in kitchens and stock vending machines.  He graduated the program top of his class and came back to Houston.  

I had to have surgery on ovarian cysts, the doctor (!) left a tumor in me "to save my fertility" even though I said take the whole ovary if you have to, but I was in my 20's and he didn't believe it.  He was, unfortunately, a fertility specialist so I have a 3% chance of developing ovarian cancer now.  Thanks a lot.  You can look up dermoid cysts if you want but they are pretty disgusting.  

Anyway, I recovered and they put "our" location up to bid.  Ron and I began visiting the facility and getting acquainted with the other vendors.  She taught me how to do vending machines and Ron and the other vendor discussed various topics.  They had the big day when Ron had to go in, submit his proposal, have a panel interview.  He was awarded the location.  

What that meant we got  deli with supplies and 10 vending machines, I believe.  The deli always lost money, the vending machines were supposed to put money in our pocket and help cover payroll, taxes, on the deli.  That part was not clearly explained to either of us during this process...

We had the deli a year and a half up until the accident, they shut it down because the other vendor didn't want it again.  They opened it up again after we came back but it failed to make a profit and they finally consented to close it.  We had been wanting this for years and I actually screamed and did a happy dance when told.  

When they remodeled the facility some time later they took out what had been the deli and turned it into locker rooms.  The postal workers were quite upset about it.  But they hadn't built the deli area up to code anyway, the sink was wrong, the electrical was cords hanging out of a drop ceiling, etc.  

As a note, we had been living off the vending machines this whole time and had TWO stockrooms, but during the remodel they took both.  I talked to the remodel manager and played the "Your postal worker put my blind man in a wheelchair" card - only good for one time!- and they gave us a modest stockroom.   The other vendor took most of it but we have enough space there to run the business, I am happy and good will all around now.  

I doubt I can use that card again but glad I did.  

So, the machines.  We have 8 vending machines and 2 bill changers.  One bill changer takes everything including $20's.  The other one (older) only goes up to $10's.  They take our quarters and turn them into spendable bills, a fair amount of our income.  Ron sorts change every week or so - we have a machine, it has a bucket, you pour the mixed coins into the bucket and set the knobs for quarters, quarters come out the front only and all the other coins go out the side into a bucket you place there.  When you are done doing quarters, if you are diligent, you run a sort for nickels, nickels come out the front and dimes the side, and you are done.  The quarters go into big jars only I handle.  Then we put them into the machines.  When we come in, we literally just take the money out of the bill changers and put it in our pocket.  

For snacks and bottled drinks I go to Sam's Club and buy inventory, we pay Jack to help us bring it to work.  To be honest he does the unloading which is a nice change from the last guy we used.  The other guy just stood around gaping at me while I did it.  But Jack rocks.  

We unload it and bring it in, I stock it and put leftovers in the stockroom or fridge.  For sodas we get them delivered (most).  We have had problems lately with the Dr Pepper deliveries and they have not been bringing a lot of what we ordered.  We stock what we can.  

Any vending machine has the bill validator and the change bucket.  The bills go into a little box, when I open the machine I also open the box and take the bills out, fasten them with a rubber band and put them away.  Then I go count them, bundle them into $100 packs (bank prefers it like that), facing the same way (all heads), and tell Ron the total.  We go to the bank and either deposit or turn it into $20's., that's how I get my pay, $20's.  

We pay taxes, etc. out of the deposit.  

When I go to my bank (different) I make a deposit but I hold some cash back for tips, etc.  I try to always have $20 in ones, $20 in fives, and ideally a couple of $20's.  I also carry my bus pass at all times since an incident many years ago when Ron refused to give me a ride home and made me beg him for bus fare.  Learned my lesson on that one, and I always have my cell phone with the uber.  

The change comes out of the bucket in the machine into our bucket, and Ron sorts it, quarters go back into the changer.  If we are slack emptying the change bucket the coins will back up and jam the coin acceptor.  We try to avoid that.  

I think that covers most of it.