From Dinosaurs to Cadillacs-My Journey Through the Beverage Tech Time Warp

Yes, when I started delivering beer, there was a such thing as refrigeration. It wasn't that long ago! O.k., yes it was. I wasn't even old enough to drink beer. Heck, I wasn't even old enough to drive the truck that carried the beer. Back then, in Florida, you needed a Chauffeur's License to drive a big truck and you had to be 18 years old. I was only 17. Don't ask me how, but I must have made a mistake when I filled out my DOB on the paper application. Anyway, I'd get to the warehouse around 4:45 a.m. to get a good parking spot and wait the usual 10 or 15 minutes until the warehouse manager, Joe, showed up to let us in. We were so anxious to see what kind of route we had waiting for us. Too often, we ended up disappointed at the number of stops or cases. So, there I was, behind the wheel of a 45,000 lb low-boy trailer, without a lick of experience on how to make a right turn, let alone back it up. Next to me on the bench seat sat my aluminum clip board we called a "tin". Inside the tin, were my invoices for the day. Pre-printed on continuous form paper at night by company elves and left on each driver's cubicle. Triplicate sets of invoices, still attached at the perforations. White (customer), Yellow (cash) and Pink (charge).We'd tear off each set and sort them by address and then place them in order according to how we will run the route. The thought of separating invoices each morning now annoys me to no end. But, those were the good ole days, and I didn't know any different.

Continuous form invoice- the edges would always end up on the floor in your truck

 I remember when I went to work for Coca-Cola Enterprises, they too, had the same system of pre-printed invoices. Like half-asleep robots, we'd tear those invoices apart and sort. I always wished the company elves could do this for us rather than leaving a big stack, but they never did. Then one day, it happened. We were told we were switching to hand-held computers which the drivers would take with them and print once you arrived at the customer's location. This was my first real experience with streamlining the delivery process. Wow! So big time, we've finally arrived. Introducing... The Norand 4500! A complete computer processor that did all we needed it to do; print the invoice, and a duplicate, if need be. Oh yeah, speaking of printing, the printer was a separate unit that weighed about 10 pounds, but seemed much heavier at the end of the day. It had to always remain plugged in at night so the batteries could charge.

 

Norand 4500

It wasn't always so smooth. There were times when you'd arrive to work in the morning and none of the hand-helds had the day's routes in them. Of course, we had a guy, Pat, who was the "super user". He was basically self trained on these things. You'd have to go to his office and stand there in the door with your hand-held until he looked up and said "what do you want?", even though he knew. He could reboot them and bring up all kinds of weird menus with small fonts and he'd press buttons so fast, you couldn't keep up. Yes>No>Yes>Yes>No>Yes>Enter. That should do it. He'd hand it to you and tell you to go put it in the cradle on the wall. And don't even try touching the hand-held while it's "thinking", he'd yell at you.

Motorola MC 9090

Around ten years later, the company upgraded again. This time, to a Symbol by Motorola with a wireless printer. Whoa! A whole new set of problems. Except Pat was in another department, as if he knew what was coming. This time, it was me who was the unofficial super user. In all honesty, we managers picked up on them pretty quick. The worst part was trying to troubleshoot over a Nextel. That was frustrating, but it was how we evolved.

Nowadays, it's has evolved even more. Sales reps and drivers can look at real-time inventory on their iPads and iPhones, swipe credit cards and perform countless other functions in the Cloud. Some operations have even gone paperless, except for a little thermal receipt, and large chain customers can now link directly to the distributor's system and place orders.

I'm curious to see where technology will take the beverage business in the coming years. It changes so rapidly, the next great advancement will be here before we know it.

This blog is the opinion of the author. None of the companies mentioned here have any affiliation with this blog, nor do they endorse its contents...but they should. Gregg W Shore is a 23 year beverage veteran who writes his blog @DrinkPro, A View of the Beverage Industry, from the Inside Out. Connect on LinkedIn and follow on Twitter @DrinkPro