The Different Levels of DEX Data

Several years ago, the early adopters that tried to utilize DEX complained that most machines didn’t support DEX correctly. This is a situation that has been remedied. Here is a broad summary of the different levels of DEX in vending machines in the field today.

No DEX support. There are some machines that were designed before DEX was adopted. There are audit boxes available that can be installed in these machines and thus provide DEX support. These DEX kits which are compatible with about 90 percent of the older equipment, can be installed in as little as five minutes, and can cost anywhere from $120 to $200 per machine. If your Antares vending machine doesn’t support DEX then you can have the DEX kit installed.

Cash meter only DEX support. Some of the earliest equipment made to support DEX did not provide all the information needed for a full DEX cash audit. At that time there weren’t too many of these types of machines produced. They are still capable of giving you a cash meter reading via the DEX port. This is certainly better than the driver manually recording a cash meter.

Full DEX cash audit support. All Antares vending machines that are being produced today are capable of supporting a true DEX cash audit. These machines can tell you how much cash comes into the machines, how much change was given out and what coins went into the coin box versus into the change tubes.

Full item –level DEX support. All snack and soda Antares vending machines that are being produced today are capable of reporting item-level sales (and price) by column or button. This information married to a planogram (or product list) in your driver’s handheld can help the driver service the Antares vending machines more quickly. The vending company will also be able to easily collect line –item sales information and make use of this information in a variety of profitable ways

Soda and snack venders take priority. A snack or soda Antares machine that is retrofitted with a column-level DEX retrofit kit is capable of supporting both DEX cash audit and item-level DEX reporting.