Henn – The Homeless Bird

When times are hard and jobs are not easy to come by, people start looking for small businesses to run. Sometimes these businesses serve as supplementary income; sometimes they become the main source of earning. Either way, an extremely popular small business unit, is a vending machine. Vending Forums: that ubiquitous glass-fronted, refrigerator like structure, visible at every nook and corner can actually be a profit-making venture for whoever manages it with proficiency. The United States saw its first vending machine in the latter part of the 19th century and there has been no looking back since. Today, a leading manufacturer of vending machines in the US is Planet Antares, Inc. Planet Antares is one of the few companies that are more inclined towards customer satisfaction, instead of a profitable bottom-line. And to that end, they communicate with their client base in a variety of ways.

Aside from using online forums that discuss opportunities and threats (that go with the vending industry territory) with customers, the firm also maintains a Planet Antares Complaints page. Representatives of the firm try and glean from clients the issues and concerns that most plague them at work. Insightful suggestions are then offered to them via this page and thus a dialogue is initiated between firm and customer. Customers in turn respond and keep the conversation lively and animated. This interactive exchange is known as social media and is one of the many spin-offs of the Internet era. Talking about social media, one of the most obvious manifestations of the same are social networking sites; a site like Twitter for instance. Representatives of Planet Antares, Inc are active users of Twitter and send quick messages that cover a host of subjects, from current affairs, to politics to business tips, to their members on a regular basis. Therefore, you too are requested to log on to twitter.com and join the chatter. Even you are not a part of the vending machine industry; your contribution to the conversation would still be more than welcome. Do join in and be a part!