A long road to the edge of the country
Our cabinets had never travelled this far before. The journey was long and difficult: we got shaken around plenty and ran on very little sleep. It all started with the client constantly pushing us on deadlines. A familiar situation: the client puts off placing the order until the last minute, then calls almost every day asking, "so where are we at?"
Though, believe us, that question doesn't make the machines run any faster, doesn't get suppliers to deliver components any sooner, and doesn't grow a second pair of hands for our workers to assemble lockers faster. Tried and tested.
Why ordering ahead of time matters
We've been in this business for a while now, so we have one big request for our clients: place your order in advance so we have time to assemble the equipment and thoroughly check every component beforehand. We need enough time to test all the equipment and pick the best delivery method, especially when vending equipment is heading abroad.
You should build in at least 3-4 weeks of buffer for customs clearance and to cover any time lost to unexpected circumstances. This particular order got stuck at the border because of political factors and constantly shifting rules for goods crossing through.
A test at the border
The lockers first got stuck at one border crossing for three full weeks. We then pulled the truck back out of the buffer zone, and the whole time we had to live right there in the cab. When we tried crossing through a different border instead, our lockers were held for inspection for another 2 weeks. A lot of time, energy, and money were lost at the borders.
The order finally arrived. We paid out of our own pocket to repair the cabinets that had been damaged along the way, and handled the full turnkey commissioning ourselves. The airport terminal's management was genuinely pleased: they hadn't expected to receive station lockers with computer hardware of this caliber.
