NAMA Ethics

November, 2008

Dear NAMA Member,

As you know, NAMA has been working hard for the past several years to promote the highest levels of honesty and ethics in our industry.  That effort began with the NAMA Code of Ethics and was followed by the NAMA Vending Industry Accounting Best Practices, a document  designed to help accounts identify unethical financial practices when auditing vending companies.  This work has been at the core of NAMA’s work to improve our industry’s image and raise professionalism by driving business conduct beyond reproach.

Now, however, the time has come to go even further by providing tools that honest operators can use to help them demonstrate that they operate their businesses honestly and ethically.  As a result, we have created a Tool Kit that members can use to distinguish their operation from their dishonest competitors.  Inside the tool kit you will find a variety of materials you can use to help show accounts how they can identify unethical operators.  We’ve also included tools you can use to demonstrate that you operate your company openly, honestly and ethically.

Specifically, you’ll find:

• Talking Points:  “How to Help Clients Know You are Honest and Ethical,” will show you how to talk about this issue with accounts, and includes specific points you should be sure to make when you talk about this subject.
• Ten Tips for Working with Your Vending Operator:  How to Tell if Your Vending Operator is Honest and Ethical.  This document is designed to educate the account about how to identify an unethical operator.  You should take it with you as a leave behind when you visit potential new accounts
• Operating Ratio Report Charts. This document includes charts reprinted from the NAMA Operating Ratio Report (ORR) that document typical industry operating expense percentages and profit levels.  You can share them with accounts to help document why high commission rates might be questionable.
• Language for Bid Responses:  To help you in your new business proposals, NAMA has created these points that are designed to be included in those proposals to demonstrate that you are an honest and ethical operator. 
• Language for RFPs: This document includes specific points that an account should add to an RFP to help ensure only ethical operators respond to the bid.  Including these points in the account’s RFP will help steer business toward ethical operators like you, effectively shutting out unethical operators from the business.
• How Technology Can Help: Thanks to advances in technology, completely transparent accounting for all aspects of the vending operation is now available.  If your company has this technology – or is thinking of investing in it – this document looks at what’s available and how to position its benefits with your accounts.
• NAMA Vending Industry Accounting Best Practices document, which we encourage you to include in all of your vending proposals. 

We hope you find these tools helpful, as together we work to stamp out unethical and non-professional business practices.  The effort to do so will be no small task but bringing back true competition will benefit our clients, our customers and NAMA members everywhere.

Sincerely,

Craig Hesch, NCE5                       J.E. Eddie Hicks, NCE5              Richard M. Geerdes, NCE5

NAMA Chairman of the Board       NAMA Ethics Committee Chair           President & CEO

Click here for NAMA Ethics Statement.