Service Needs Your Kiosk Will Have During Its Life
Every kiosk and automated retail machine will have service needs at several main points in its existence. Your kiosk is an incredibly valuable employee, doing its job day after day without food, drink, or pay, but it’s not indestructible or immortal. It’s just a fact that people will sometimes have to give a bit of TLC and attention to your kiosk, so be prepared for these major milestones in the lifespan of your equipment.
Installation
The installation of your kiosk is a crucial part of gaining long-lasting profit from your equipment. A bit of intelligent and thoughtful feedback or a few crucial alterations at the moment of installation can save you a bunch of headaches down the road.
The installation process begins with a site survey. A site survey is a visit by a service technician who makes a detailed and thorough inspection of the proposed site where your equipment will be located. Knowing the facts from your site survey can save you from making an attempt to install the equipment only to run into an obstacle that causes you to lose money and time.
Your site survey should provide facts like these about the installation:
- Is there an adequate power source to the installation site?
- What are the measurements of the site (compared to the kiosk’s footprint)?
- Is the site exposed to the elements (UV light, rain, etc.)?
- Is it feasible for foot traffic to access the site?
- How much time is installation expected to take?
- What hardware and tools will be required to install the equipment?
Preventive or Ongoing Maintenance
No matter how well-constructed your kiosk is, it will still be subject to entropy because of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Preventive maintenance can help you to avoid costly repairs and downtime, as a site visit on a regular basis can identify problems before they become a bigger problem. The frequency and type of your preventive maintenance depends on the functions and activity that your kiosk performs, but here are some examples of what preventive maintenance can include:
- Lubricating parts
- Equipment or software upgrade
- Proactively replacing parts that are subject to excessive wear and tear
- Replacing batteries for battery-powered backup
Expected Repairs
Just like your vehicle comes with a schedule of when you should replace your fuel filter, spark plugs, serpentine belt, and timing belt, your point of sale equipment also probably has a repair schedule based on the expected lifespan of individual components. This may be anything from replacing a touch screen to replacing gears or belts that run moving parts.
Emergency Repairs
“Oh no! My kiosk is broken, and I don’t know why!”
You never want to hear these words, but it’s a possibility in the life of every kiosk to have to perform emergency repairs on short notice. Being able to diagnose the problem, get the correct parts, and have the right tools for the job is an essential part of the job for the service technician. When your kiosk is down, you lose money, so you’ll want to get your kiosk up and running as soon as possible.
Retirement
Your equipment has come to the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. Removing one piece of equipment usually means you’ll install a new product, starting the life cycle all over again.
Choose Site Services Now! Today
Site Services Now! can service your equipment over its entire lifespan. If you need kiosk repairs in the US or Puerto Rico, contact us today to get access to our nationwide network of skilled technicians. We can also perform many other services, from logistics to route management to compliance audits. Contact us today to get started.
